When we think of crabs, the Alaskan king crab or the meaty claw dipped in butter as we often see on food tiktoks is what comes to mind. Shanghai's Mitten Crabs, more commonly referred to as hairy crabs, may seem unimpressive. However, packed with creamy crab roe and extremely sweet flesh, it has a very distinctive and powerful flavor profile. To make it an even more valuable treat, you can only eat fresh hairy crabs from September to December. Before we continue with the restaurant introduction, let's delve a little deeper into mitten crabs.
Mitten crabs has recieved its name because of the furs on their claws that resemble mittens - definitely a much cooler name that hairy crabs. They're about the size of your palm, and most of its culinary value comes from the roe of the female mitten crabs. Interestingly, due to the rarity of these, many have tried to pass off a different species of Yangcheng Lake crabs as Shanghai mitten crabs. They're invasive in many other areas of China and has even spread to other countries, so you don't need to feel bad about eating them!
Now, let's talk about the restaurant we're introducing today. It's a chain restaurant, which doesn't mean it's automatically bad despite what some people think. This specific spot adopts a hybrid of Japanese and Chinese interior design.
They have lines and lines of MOUTAI displayed on their shelves, a famous Chinese alcoholic drink that pairs well with heavy dishes and seafood. You could say that its the national alcohol of China, with a very strong concentration of around 53% alcohol.
Dishes:
Chinese cabbage is tender and perfectly crunchy when well-prepared. With a sweet chicken stock, reduced down to a thick sauce, the chinese cabbage with crab roe is a great appetizer. Granted, the crab roe is really there for decoration. The leaf parts of the cabbage soaks in all of the chicken stock , making it extremely flavorful.
This is a classic combo at every Shanghai restaurant that serve hairy crabs. The roe and crab meat-sauce on the side is salty, sweet, and briny. The crab roe, mixed with the other components of the sauce, brings an overwhelming creaminess to the dish. While it may seem simple to make, the crab roe sauce is an extremely tredious and painful (in my opinion) process. Usually, restaurants use scrapers to pick out pieces of row and the flesh that cling on to the shells.
The dish is multi-step and finished table-side. They bring out an electric stove with a bubbling hot and aromatic broth. They carefully place the tofu and drizzle the crab roe sauce on top. Finally, they whip up an egg and place that into the mix. It makes the tofu delicate and warm and seeped with an umami flavor.
The cover photo of this blog post is how the crab roe rice is served. They bring out a stove with crab roe and meat above, and rice below it. Then, you mix it up for a bowl of delicious crab roe rice. A unique feature of the dish is the texture of the rice that they go for. It's more mushy and soft, which complements the dish. The crab blends nicely and isn't overpowering, but also isn't cut into extremely small pieces so that you can't taste it. One of the best-sellers here and I can see why.
These are some of the appetizer/side-dish options at the restaurant. None of them dissappoints. Although kimchi is a strange pairing, it works to cut through the richness of the other crab-roe dishes. The pickled long beans have a perfect snap and crunch to them. The wood-ear mushrooms in a sweet and sour soy dressing have a jelly-like texture. They're all acidic complements to the rest of the rich menu.
Overview
The “蟹家宴" restaurant specializes in Shanghai's mitten crab delicacies, from crab tofu to spring rolls. Their dishes are served in a unique style, often coming inside stove pots to preserve the hearty warmth of the crab-roe dishes. The appetizers/cold sides are just as impressive, cutting through the richness of other dishes and adding an acidic tang. While it's not THE best mitten crab spot in Shanghai, it's wide availability as a chain restaurant and affordable set menus make it a worthwhile visit!
Address: Madang Rd., No. 388, SOHO Mall, F1-D110
Alternative Locations:
-Jingan District, Nanhui Rd., No. 74
-Huangpu District, Tianjin Rd, No. 513
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