Causeway Bay Spicy Crab @ Desa Sri Hartamas, KL
Apparently spicy crabs are a major Hong Kong thing. It’s not a crab species, but a special cooking style from the Tanka people; something about living in boats as shelters during typhoons.
I do not know much about the history or popularity of spicy crabs as I am not into Hong Kong TVB dramas. Also I was not paying much attention to Eric, the manager of Causeway Bay Spicy Crab who told us the story of the restaurant’s origins. There was food on our table and I had to eat it. Priorities!
Three months ago, Causeway Bay Spicy Crab from Hong Kong opened its first international branch at Desa Sri Hartamas, Kuala Lumpur. That’s Malaysia and not any other ASEAN countries! We should be gratified that we’re internationally well-known foodies!
Since I can’t possibly repeat myself throughout this blog post, I’m going to summarise everything that we had to eat at the restaurant with: it was good and you should go try it. Eric wasted no time in bringing out their signature crab dish, the…
… Authentic Garlic & Chilli Crab (RM80)! Crabs covered in a mountain of crunchy fried garlic, very aromatic and tasty! You can choose the level of spiciness that you’d like your crabs to be. We had it medium spicy which I thought was not very spicy (according to our Malaysian tastebuds) but a safe level to order. You can’t have it TOO spicy, else the taste and flavours of other spices would be drowned out.
According to Eric, they use 400g of garlic for every such crab dish. They easily use up 100kg of garlic every few days, for reasons you can see in the photo above! In Hong Kong they use Sri Lanka crabs, but here in Malaysia they get Sabah crabs, which are also big and juicy, yum!
When you’re done with the crabs, you may find yourself munching off the rest of garlic as we did. Either by itself or creatively combined with other dishes. Pure addiction, I tell you…
Chicken Gristle with Chilli and Salt (RM16 for a Small portion as per photo shown). The gristle is yun kuat in Cantonese, otherwise known as soft bones or cartilage. When it comes to bak kut teh, I love the meats to be yun kuat because they are just so much nicer. I wasn’t so sure about the chicken’s as I never had it before. Not bad, the meat is soft and tender but I easily got annoyed with the cartilage itself. Didn’t stop me from eating.
Fried Squid Rings with Salted Egg Yolk (RM22 for a Medium portion as per photo shown). Absolutely fantastic, as how squid in salted egg yolks should be. Not too wet and not too dry; if you love this dish then you’d understand what I’m saying. Causeway Bay Spicy Crab’s squid in salted egg yolk is a close favourite after my ultimate favourite at Wong Ah Wah, Jalan Alor.
Here are the things that I do not eat, the Duck’s Tongue with Chinese Chives (RM24 for a Medium portion as per photo shown) and Sauteed Frogs in XO Sauce (RM35 for a Medium portion as per photo shown). My dining companions loved them, so I suppose they were good. I saw in the menu that they have ‘Steamed Frogs in Lotus Leaf’, something that I’ve not seen before so it’s rather unique.
Among other ‘exotic’ dishes that I spotted in the menu: Sauteed Chicken Feet with Ginger Paste, Deep Fried Silverfish with Chilli and Salt and Crispy Pig’s Intestines (yum! I’m going to have to order this the next time I’m there).
Crab Congee (RM80 for a Large portion as per photo shown). Rice congee is awesome. Rice congee cooked together with crabs defies awesomeness! Note that they are cooked TOGETHER, not separately then served together like a lot of other places do. Hence the rice bits soak up the crab’s sweetness = win.
Steamed Fried Beancurd with Egg White and Seafood (RM20 for a Small portion). Steamed then fried (? or the other way round?) tofu stuffed with mushrooms, prawns and scallops etc. Lovely, good by itself but it’s one of those dishes that taste better with white rice.
With Kimberlycun, ShaolinTiger, Horng, me, Haze and KY
Random notes:
- Air conditioning is freezing cold, which has been remarked to Eric. Makes the food go cold otherwise.
- Order the honey green tea, it’s very refreshing!
- They do not have dessert at the moment but sometimes the chef would come out with different things, which may be presented FOC to the customers. We had gui ling gao which was very nice!
- Prices are slightly on the higher side, though the food quality is well-matched.
- The restaurant is behind Souled Out, at a row of shops between 7-11 and a pub.
- I’m waiting for my bro-in-law to take me there. Looking at you, Mister Hew!
It was a very good dinner, thanks for having us!
Causeway Bay Spicy Crab
26 Jalan 30/70A, Desa Sri Hartamas,
50480 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: +60-3-6205 2280
GPS: 3.16347, 101.64898
E-mail: info.kl@spicycrab.com.hk
URL: www.spicycrab.com.hk
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wonder it taste the same as the ones in hlk
let’s take mum. i want to eat the crab congee.. when u coming back, will u be around on sunday?
Love the ham dan sotong!
may: should be, i think the chefs are brought over? but according the eric, the menu differs slightly. the one in hong kong has more fried and other stuff more suitable for late night suppers, whereas the menu here features more as main meals.
LT: sunday dinner? yeay!
st: very nais!
omg i’m hungry all over again, the crabssss