Crab in the Lake
DINING in HUANGPU
16 Apr 2019
Ministry Of Crab Inside People's Park, No.231 West Nanjing Road
Listing Page 021-63180220
Location
Due in part to its scenic People's Park setting, Barbarossa has been a Shanghai urban landmark for well over a decade. Since the beginning of the year, it has housed one of Asia's great restaurants. Nobody with a taste for crab will want to pass it by.
Restaurant Exterior
Brand Story
Ministry of Crab was founded in Sri Lanka in late 2011. The original restaurant was located in the renovated Old Dutch Hospital in Colombo, a "very ministerial building" which had once served the Dutch Port and later served as a police headquarters. The restaurant at Barbarossa in People's Park opened in October 2018 as the Ministry of Crab's first "overseas outpost." Two others soon followed, in early Spring 2019, in Mumbai and Manilla.
Ministry of Carb
Restaurant Interior
About the food
"The crab is the hero here," said the company's Shalini Canagasabey. "It's all about the crab." When your reviewer threatened to stray off message, Canagasabey politely but firmly brought conversation back to the main point. "If there's anything to communicate, it's crab, crab, crab."
Chef in the kitchen
Ministry of Crab sources its star crustaceans from the waters around Sri Lanka. Long-appreciated by the Singaporeans, it took a while for Sri Lanka to fully appreciate its own local off-shore treasure. Ministry of Crab played a critical role in the discovery.
The Australians call them "mud crabs" which thus provides their usual English name. These are serious crabs. Those used to Shanghai's tasty but modestly-sized hairy crabs, for instance, will need to re-calibrate their expectations. Weighing-in at something over 1.3 kilos, a mud crab is unmanageable by any single diner of less than gargantuan appetite. In fact, they make a generous dish for two.
Ministry of Crab prepares these awesome beasts in two main ways. Its Garlic Chili Crab is a fusion dish, in which "Mediterranean and Japanese food philosophies" conspire mouth-wateringly over the great Sri Lankan crustacean. The Pepper Crab is a no less triumphantly successful, more deeply pungent alternative. One of these astounding signature dishes is likely to occupy the center of most diners' meals. Additional crab delights include Crab Liver Pate, and Avocado Crab, both even more delicious than they sound.
To be judged one of Asia's 50 Best Restaurants, as Ministry of Crab was in 2019, it's necessary to do everything well. Straying beyond the crab core is therefore both safe and tempting. The dessert options, for instance, will not in the slightest disappoint. The Almond Nougat Ice Parfait, and the Cheese Cake on Glass, both merit special recommendation.
This is a restaurant that will do justice to any special occasion. The recommendation comes armored-plated.
One of Asia's 50 Best Restaurants