King Crab Cooked in Creative Ways

King crab with fried rice and truffle, topped with pine nuts

This evening we were treated to a gourmet dinner at the Michelin Bib Gourmand Seaport City Seafood Restaurant in Vancouver where the highlight was a 13lb king crab! 

They are the largest of the commercially harvested crabs and are highly prized for their high yields in meat that tastes sweet. They also have very hard shells and the body and legs are covered in spines. 

Crab legs with a wasabi-mayonnaise sauce

We had the classic preparation of the meaty legs sliced lengthwise and steamed with lots of minced garlic and scallions, and then another plate of legs smothered in a slightly scorched but bright lime green sauce that turned out to be wasabi-mayonnaise.

That was slightly nasal intensive, clearing out the sinuses!

There was yet another preparation that was bright yellow in colour -- the leg joints were served with finely chopped yellow peppers on a large platter with steamed rice rolls. But bite into the crab and it had a spicy chilli kick!

Finally, the shell of the head was served with fried rice that combined white and wild rice, with prawns, crab meat, hint of truffle, and pine nuts. 

Crab joints with rice rolls and minced peppers

Some creative ways to cook the crab, though we still prefer the traditional way, with the sauce soaked up with egg noodles...

Shenzhen: Hanging Out in the Mall

MixC is a massive retail development in Shenzhen Bay

During our stay in Hong Kong, we also did a day trip to Shenzhen. We had heard a lot about how the city had changed in the last few years, how people and families go there on the weekends to shop, eat, and have massages with really good ambience and service at a fraction of the cost in Hong Kong.

And it's easy to see why seniors love going across the border, because with a JoyYou card, they can travel to the border for just HK$2. That's even cheaper than regular fare going one stop on the MTR line.

The mall looks sleek, but hardly any shoppers

We took the longer route of taking the MTR from Admiralty to LoWu, and the border control on the Hong Kong side hasn't changed much.

Then we crossed the bridge to the Chinese side where at first foreign passport holders were expected to fill out an arrival card online. There were technical difficulties and the officers gave up and handed out paper forms instead.

I downloaded the app Didi ahead of time and ordered a car -- but as we didn't know the Shenzhen train station well we got lost trying to find the meeting spot! The driver called us and we saw the Shangri-La Shenzhen ahead of us and rushed over there to meet him. Thankfully he was very patient despite only making 36 kuai from us!

He drove us about 30 minutes to a new shopping mall that friends had recommended we check out. It's called MixC and it's been around since 2017, but we went to a new location near Shenzhen Bay, which opened in October, which might explain why it was pretty empty? Or is it a sign of China's slow economy? 

Vietnamese lunch of vermicelli with pork

The mall is sleek and modern-looking, filled with luxury brands from Louis Vuitton to Christian Dior, Gucci Kids (I couldn't even afford a child's handbag), an upscale supermarket called Ole, and a movie theatre.

In the supermarket one could buy a giant king crab, or palm-sized hairy crab, blueberries the size of 5-cent coins, and even Nicholas Tse "low-temperature processed black pork luncheon meat".

For lunch we ate at a Vietnamese restaurant in a kind of food court in the basement, which was busy. We ate pho with beef and sausage, and warm vermicelli with spring roll and pork slices, and a plate of young water spinach that was delicious. We went to another kiosk for gelato that other people were lining up for.

We walked off the calories by wandering the mall. Seeing there was a roof garden, we checked it out and were impressed by the design of the space -- global firm CallisonRTKL, which my architect cousin says is only interested in massive projects like these, with lots of space to design.

The mall is spread over several city blocks

The concept is "city crossing", where we would wander through one part of the mall, emerge outside and see a bridge to the other side, cross it, and enter another part of the mall, and it would continue like this for several city blocks. 

The stores were pretty much empty except for the staff inside them, and the restaurant calibre looked impressive. There was DaDong Roast Duck from Beijing, a Shanghainese restaurant that had a nice decor and menus that were large books filled with big pictures. 

MixC is next to a bullet-shaped tower that had no obvious signage, but it is a China Resources building, as the entire development is owned by the state-owned enterprise. And next to this futuristic building is a nice open space, with water features, and a Monet-like sculpture with figures dancing in a circle.

We ended up having dinner in a vegetarian chain restaurant called Qing Chun Perma, which gives of a zen-like vibe with its minimalist decor. Diners walk into the open kitchen, seeing staff preparing dumplings, stir-frying or making desserts wearing white chef jackets and gray fedora hats.

Mushroom xiaolongbao at Qing Chun Perma

Each table is set in a booth-like atmosphere and shielded with bamboo screens so that you can't see the people sitting at the next table, but you can hear them.

The menu has a mix of Chinese and Western dishes: The mushroom xiaolongbao were big, generous dumplings with thin wrappers, and lots of flavour in the fillings. We also had an asparagus and morel mushroom warm salad, a pumpkin soup with coconut milk, braised tofu with morels, and stir-fried pea shoots.

For dessert, a bowl of glutinous rice dumplings in sweet rice wine, and mango sago cream with pomelo.

At times it was hard to flag down the servers -- all women -- but they were friendly and helpful. When we finally got a hold of someone asking for the bill, she told us to scan the QR code at our table and pay that way. No need to tip. Just pay electronically and then you can leave.

Then we made our way back to Hong Kong, getting a car to drive us back to LoWu, and then after going through Chinese immigration, we took the train back, very tired!

Tokyo: Eating Well in the City

Eating lots of seafood at Andy's Shin Hinomoto in Tokyo

We ate pretty well in Tokyo, but probably not as good as most Japanphiles who specifically head to the Land of the Rising Sun for the marvellous food at cut-rate prices.

Last Thursday we arrived in the evening and by the time we checked into the hotel, it was almost 8pm. Before I went on my trip, my Japanese hairdresser suggested that I try the food at McDonald's because the items would be different than in Vancouver.

McDonald's food in Japan is... different

Even though I hadn't eaten McDonald's in years, that's what we did -- with mixed results.

We tried an ebi filet-o or Filet-O-Shrimp, chicken teriyaki Filet-O, a grape soda, medium fries and two desserts, one that looked like mini churros with a strawberry filling, and strawberry daifuku pie in sakura pink packaging.

The Filet-O-Ebi substituted fish for shrimp with lettuce and mustard and it was not bad, tasting slightly sweet, while the chicken teriyaki burger was smothered in the dark sweet sauce to make the chicken patty palatable. 

Meanwhile the Qoo white grape soda was far from natural juice, but still refreshing, though the fries seemed undercooked, but we ate them anyway. 

Like other McDonald's meals, you wolf down the food, but then don't feel full. For dessert, the chocolate churros, called hitokuchi kuro churros were baked rather than deep-fried, and the strawberry filling was not jam, but artificially flavoured pink. The pie, available for a limited time, had a filling that was part mochi, part strawberry jam which was strange. Nevertheless it was the latter that made the pie taste extremely sweet. I finished off the fries to balance out the saccharine taste.

Meaty king crab served cold

Needless to say, we did a lot of walking afterwards to try to keep the calorie count down.

The next evening we went to an izakaya called Andy's Shin Hinomoto in Yurakucho. It is located under a train overpass, so you can periodically hear trains going by. There are several eateries in each of these moon-shaped deep alcoves that are quite cozy. 

Andy is Andy Lunt, an Englishman from Leicester, who in 1978 married the izakaya's owner's daughter and in 1986 came to Tokyo to help out with the business, and then taking over in 2010.

People can put their bags and umbrellas in little nooks or up above in fishing nets suspended from the ceiling. What a great idea to save space!

Our host had already ordered the king crab and it was boiled, but served cold, and the parts chopped up, but not cracked liked they would be in Chinese restaurants. Instead they were cut open with incisions here and there to help make it easier to extract the sweet meat aided by a skinny long metal tool.

Large plump clams cooked in sake

We were also served a plate of sashimi, long, meaty gyoza, tempura, and wagyu croquettes. The tempura were subpar, same with the croquettes, which were actually three patties of minced beef mixed with mashed potato. However, the highlight was the large clams cooked in sake, and the meat was so plump and juicy.

With beers, highballs and a plum drink, the total came to 26,000 yen for three. Again we walked off the meal by walking to the Imperial Palace, which had strategically placed strong headlights to prevent people from coming too close. 

We walked to a place near the subway station that sells taiyaki, a fish-shaped pastry that has different fillings. We had the custard and red bean one. They were very hot out of the waffle iron, and a good way to keep warm as the temperatures began to drop. 

Tender cuts of beef for yakiniku

Another excellent meal was at Yakinikutoraji Honten, which has several branches, and we ate at the one in Shibuya that had three floors. Our host did the ordering and we didn't mind not knowing what we were eating over a hot charcoal-fired grill.

We started off with thin slices of beef tongue that were delicious and then moved onto other cuts of beef that I was unfamiliar with, but everything was tender, despite not being marbled. Some cooked meats we wrapped in lettuce or shiso leaves, and grilled the odd slices of peppers.

Service was great, as after each round the staff came by to replace the metal wire rack over the charcoal. For dessert I had two scoops of soybean ice cream with a caramel sauce drizzled on top. This meal cost 2,000 yen less than the izakaya!

Our final dinner was at Savoy after our visit to Tokyo Skytree. The pizza place opens at 5.30pm and we didn't know we could make reservations so when we arrived there was luckily a short lineup ahead of us. The first group ahead of us was eight people including four young children; the parents couldn't decide if they wanted to order take away or eat in... Luckily we didn't wait too long, perhaps half an hour or so and we were the next batch of people to go in.

The best seats in the house were near the entrance where the pizza oven was located, with a roaring fire, but we were led to the back kitchen where salads were prepared and dishes were washed. It was kind of strange to have a open view of the back of house, but perhaps they felt they could take advantage of hungry diners eager for any kind of view.

A watery Margherita pizza at Savoy

The pizza menu had changed since my friend last came, with fewer pizzas to choose from. Nevertheless we ordered the classic Margherita and the Blue fin tuna from Yamayuki which looked intriguing. But first we ate an appetiser of octopus with peppers and fennel lightly dressed with oil, vinegar and parsley. Delicious.

We also had some meatballs covered in tomato sauce and some sprinkled melted parmesan cheese that were very tender and total comfort food.

Not long after we finished the meatballs the Margherita pizza arrived. It looked great, with the slightly burnt crust. But when I pulled a slice away to eat, I could see the tomato sauce was quite watery, which dulled the taste of the pizza. I still liked the crust which was airy and held up to the watery filling.

Excellent blue fin tuna pizza

Our waitress thought we were finished after this pizza and began collecting our plates when we told her we were still waiting for the second pizza. Guess they are in a hurry to get the next batch of hungry customers in.

Finally (and giving us a bit of time to digest), the Blue fin tuna pizza came with a side of wasabi and we were not disappointed! This was definitely a memorable pie. Since there's only a few slices of tuna, they were all bunched up in the middle and seared from being in the pizza oven; some bits were still a bit raw. 

The combination of the slight sashimi taste of the tuna combined with cheese was so smooth and sweet, and the roughly chopped spring onions added a bit of crunchy texture. We did not need the wasabi to liven things up. It was already so good.

For dessert we didn't only have one but two tiramisus, very light, almost fluffy light and a hint of the espresso-soaked ladyfingers underneath. We walked out feeling sated and happy to make it to this place. Our total eating time: 45 minutes. 

Eat King Crabs for the Environment

King crab populations started from the Soviet Union

While there's a big rush on eating king crabs at the moment in Metro Vancouver Chinese restaurants, apparently because China is not accepting these crustaceans or the economy there is slowing down, and with it demand, we all should be eating more of this species of crab anyway.

That's because there are too many of them and fishermen can't catch them fast enough.

Each female king crab produces 400,000 to 500,000 eggs in her lifetime, and as a result several thousands of these crabs survive and develop into maturity, and with no natural enemies or food competition, these crabs are spreading fast.

Originally they were around northern Russia, but have now spread to the west coast of Norway.

You can blame Josef Stalin for setting off the explosive population of king crabs.

In the 1930s Stalin wanted to support the Barents Sea fishery in the North Pacific, and these crustaceans soon became the delicacy of choice for some Soviet generals, and it was more convenient to have live king crabs delivered from this northern body of water to Moscow.

Then in 1961 a Soviet biologist by the name of Yuri Orlov released 1.5 million king crab larvae into the Barents Sea on state orders. 

These king crabs pose an environmental threat, as they eat everything it comes across, including worms, snails, fish eggs, mussels and sea urchins.

The crabs could also affect fish stocks in cod, herring and pollock in the next few years.

However, it seems global warming is affecting the king crab population, not overfishing. The crabs are moving further north to colder waters, which makes it harder to catch them.

So if you need a good excuse to eat king crabs, do it for the environment. The seafood industry will thank you.

Picture of the Day: King Crab Bonanza

Our king crab this evening cooked three ways

Psst! Did you hear? King crabs are only C$30 a pound! 

Yeah! There's a bumper crop these two weeks! We gotta go eat them now!

Crab legs steamed with lots of minced garlic 

That's the conversation that's being heard around the Chinese community in Vancouver, though the secret is out with Chinese restaurants putting advertisements in newspapers with their king crab menus.

We hastily organised a table at Tao's Kitchen and enjoyed our feast tonight.

Our crab was 8lbs and that resulted in two platters of legs that were sliced open with copious amounts of minced garlic on top then steamed perfectly. The crab meat was so succulent and sweet!

Next came the body chopped into pieces and deep-fried with garlic and chillis. Again it was so meaty and fresh.

The final dish was saang mein or wheat flour noodles cooked with the sauce from the steamed crab legs as well as any bits of meat left on the crab shell, together with bean sprouts. 

Deep-fried crab meat with a hint of chilli spice

Oh so good.

Tao's Kitchen

#110 - 5701 Granville Street

Vancouver, BC

(778) 379 2218

Picture of the Day: Emperor Crab with French Fries

Want fries with your spicy emperor crab dish at Sun Sui Wah?

Since I've been back to Vancouver I've had the opportunity to eat emperor crab five or six times, and savour every bite.

I do have to admit feeling terrible for the giant crustacean that is paraded to the guests before it is slaughtered for our benefit, but as omnivores we finish every bit of the crab in three ways.

Steamed crab legs with garlic and scallions

The legs are steamed with tons of minced garlic and a sprinkling of scallions on top, the leg joints are stir-fried or deep-fried, usually with a dash of spice, and then any leftover bits and the shell are made into a curry rice.

Another time the roe from the crab was made into a sauce mixed with a very thin noodle that was divine.

Last night we went to Sun Sui Wah on Main Street for another round of emperor crab to treat out-of-town guests and friends we hadn't seen in a while. You do need at least a dozen people to eat this dish, but we only had 11 people, and one was a child.

This time the crab was 9 pounds and the almost 7-year-old boy managed to hold it up! Impressive.

The first course was good, perhaps slightly overcooked, but nevertheless the meat was still sweet and succulent. 

Curry rice with crab meat and shell

And the last course of the curry rice -- but by this point we were so full that most of it was brought home.

However, our second course raised some eyebrows.

It was a spicy deep-fry of the leg joints -- with French fries????

How bizarre was that. We joked this was the restaurant's way of trying fusion, or inflation had caused the business to turn to French fries because noodles were too expensive.

Either way we were really surprised to see French fries with crab -- in a Chinese restaurant.

If you like spicy fries then it was fine, but the sauce was dry, not wet so it didn't seem like a good combination.

Interestingly we also had another "fusion" dish of beef cubes stir-fried with Brussels sprouts...