Devouring Sri Lanka’s World-Renowned Crab
If you love seafood like I do, then add Colombo’s Ministry of Crab restaurant to your must-eat list when visiting this incredible island nation.
When asked if I like seafood, my favourite saying is always: “I seafood, and I eat it.”
That includes devouring deliciously tender crab. But I shy away from eating crab in public. There’s absolutely nothing sophisticated about eating a whole crab. It’s messy. The shells are hard to break. But the sweet, juicy morsels are so enticing. That’s why I prefer eating it at home.
However, on my recent trip to Sri Lanka, this wasn’t an option, so I booked a table at the Ministry of Crab restaurant. It’s no ordinary fish and chip joint or beachside crab shack. It’s a multi-award-winning restaurant renowned for the best crab meals on earth.
Housed in the repurposed 400-year-old historic Dutch Hospital building in Colombo, Ministry of Crab was founded in 2011 by Japanese-born celebrity television Chef Dharshan Munidasa and partners, Sri Lankan cricketing legends Mahela and Kumar Sangakkara. Its swank of awards since include eight consecutive years on Asia’s Top 50 Restaurants list. As the only Sri Lankan restaurant on the list, it's placed this teardrop island on the world culinary stage.
An obliging waiter cracks open our crab for us.
While this section of the old hospital was where the mortuary was situated, you won’t find any frozen crab here. It’s all about freshness in everything they serve. Sourced directly from the fishermen, the crab scampers over the pot to your plate.
I also quickly learned that not all crabs are created equal. Size also counts. You can choose from small, half-kilo to jumbo and colossal, with ‘Crabzilla’, the showstopper, beginning at a minimum of two kilos! Crabzilla only comes in limited quantities, so if you’re going gigantic, you must pre-order.
Flavours are just as varied, with the most popular being locally grown pepper, curry, and butter or garlic and chilli or a combination of chilli and garlic.
The entrance to Ministry of Crab in the old Dutch Hospital.
The necessary tools are also at hand on your table, but as a damsel in distress (not wanting to get my hands dirty in public), the obliging waiter cracked and opened the shells, revealing the chunky delights of my crab for me. And to soak up the delicious chilli and garlic sauce that my crab was cooked in, there was a mountain of freshly oven-baked kade bread on the table.
As I looked around the room, though, everyone else was happily using their hands, sucking every ounce of juicy gorgeousness from those lanky shells and getting messy from bib to toe as they hoed into their feasts.
If crab isn’t your thing, there’s an array of other fresh seafood that will have your taste buds salivating as you simply read through the selection. The choice includes local oysters, prawns, and lobsters – again, in varying sizes. But my mission this time was crab tasting, and I ordered virtually everything: crab – baked, crab with avocado, crab liver paste, and even crab rice. It was just as mouthwatering, and each dish was decorated with red crab shells or served in ceramic crab shell-shaped dishes. It was perfection. I was in crab heaven, that’s for sure!
A well-stocked bar augments the superb food offerings.
Feeling a bit like a Buddha after my crab feast, I surveyed my surroundings while sipping the last of my French champagne. The classic but modern-designed rose gold chandeliers, dark wood vaulted ceilings, vibrant orange accents, even the neatly folded tangerine jacket-style napkin on the plate, and long-stemmed crab claw tropical flowers complement the preserved floors and walls for a charming interior. The open kitchen allows guests to witness their dishes being created with tender love and care. Like my meal, the ambience was exquisite.
Sri Lanka exports their best crabs and seafood, and Chef Dharshan’s philosophy for starting the Ministry of Crab was to allow locals and visitors alike to enjoy them. He’s been so successful in doing this that you’ll also find equally rewarding Ministry of Crab restaurants in Singapore, Bangkok, Shanghai, Chengdu, Mumbai and Maldives, ensuring wherever you are, you can eat your crab to your heart’s delight! If you’re a foodie and a seafoodie, put Ministry of Crab on your must-devour list.
All images: © Nannette Holliday
