It has been a gluttonously satisfying weekend, I had plenty of Kalbi at Kangsane on Saturday night, and this superb hairy crab dinner last night at Restaurant King Crab. I couldn’t possibly ask for more.

Shanghai Hairy Crab (大閘蟹)
can you see the crab roe?

Hairy Crab, or Chinese Mitten Crab (大閘蟹), an invasive species that is wrecking up river ecosystem in Europe and North America, is revered in Chinese cuisine not unlike sharks fin and abelone. I guess one person’s pest is another person’s delicacy. The fatty roe and sweet crab meat is highly sought after. Yang Cheng Lake, about an hour away from Shanghai, is said to produce the best hairy crab.

The hairy crab season starts from around August until December where the crabs are packed with roe and supposedly most fatty and delicious. Since King Crab is having a 5+1 promotion on hairy crab, we ordered 6 crabs (3 male, 3 female), with steamed fish (海底鸡), pork ribs, and spinach to go with rice for dinner.

Shanghai Hairy Crab (大閘蟹)
they only serve live seafood here

The only one way to prepare hairy crab is by steaming it as to preserve the natural sweetness and not overpowering the taste with any spices. Sweet vinegar and slices of ginger accompanies the dish. At the restaurant, a waiter is in charged of shelling our crabs and prepare them for consumption, nice.

The taste of the roe, coupled with some vinegar, was just amazing. It was very succulent and rich, carrying a taste factor not unlike having foie gras for the first time. The crab was not overly cooked and the meat retains the sweetness that is similar to fresh lobster tail. The roe of the female crab was great, but the meat of the bigger male crab doesn’t lack behind either. It was very good, the best crab I’ve had so far.

Shanghai Hairy Crab (大閘蟹)
the hot chick is obviously enjoying her food

After the crab, we had rice with the other dishes that includes steamed fish, pork ribs, and spinach with soup. The quality of these dishes were pretty good too; but after those mouth watering crabs, everything else just doesn’t excite the taste bud as much.

Shanghai Hairy Crab (大閘蟹)
other dishes include vegetable, fish, and some good old fashion pork

Price of hairy crab at Restaurant King Crab are at RM 38/58/88/118 each. Our crabs were priced at RM 58 each, 150 gram for female crab and 200 gram for male crab respectively. The entire dinner was a little over RM 400 for four. Certainly not cheap, but it is a taste that is to be experienced at least once in a life time. Alternatively, you can fly to Shanghai next season. 😀

Now where should I go this coming weekend?

Map to Restaurant King Crab at Petaling Jaya
King Crab restaurant is situated just opposite the Kelana Jaya LRT station

Address:
103-107, Jalan SS25/2,
Taman Mewah Jaya,
47301 Petaling Jaya
Selangor

GPS: 3.113488,101.603462
Tel: 03-7805 3282

KY eats – Shanghai Hairy Crab (大閘蟹) at Restaurant King Crab
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36 thoughts on “KY eats – Shanghai Hairy Crab (大閘蟹) at Restaurant King Crab

  • December 3, 2007 at 12:16 pm
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    Looks yummy… hahah but wait till I got the money to indulge! =) hehehe… can’t wait!

    Reply
  • December 3, 2007 at 12:30 pm
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    Rachel,
    Get a credit card.

    Suanie,
    Who should go to the gym?

    Reply
  • December 3, 2007 at 12:32 pm
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    YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU YOU

    Reply
  • December 3, 2007 at 12:40 pm
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    someone is in denial…. 😀

    Reply
  • December 3, 2007 at 1:10 pm
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    You make me want to eat crabs! I think King Crab should pay you for Advertising! No?

    Reply
  • December 3, 2007 at 1:12 pm
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    MAHAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

    SOMORE DARE SHOW MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

    NEXT ROUND !!! COMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

    Reply
  • December 3, 2007 at 1:16 pm
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    cumming in the pants.

    Reply
  • December 3, 2007 at 2:19 pm
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    Josh,
    They should give me some free crabs!

    Terenceg,
    One fine day we shall go there. 😀

    kimberlycun,
    I don’t want to know. lol

    Reply
  • December 3, 2007 at 3:23 pm
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    WOW..look at all the crab..I’m sure Superhero W is going to drool over this, but too bad they serve porky! He can’t eat porky!! :p

    Reply
  • December 3, 2007 at 5:56 pm
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    wah your cholesterol level going to shoot up a lot…

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  • December 3, 2007 at 6:29 pm
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    wahsai..

    Must.. eat.. crabs..

    Saliva is on ‘auto- flow’ at the moment.

    Reply
  • December 3, 2007 at 7:42 pm
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    I think you forgot to close a tab… your hot chick’s link is everywhere on the last two paragraph..

    Reply
  • December 3, 2007 at 7:48 pm
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    whoa, you really live to eat eh? haha. yer, i envy you lah. can get to splurge on such tasty food. i’ll be flying to shanghai this Dec though. i wonder if it’s cheaper there. hmmm..

    Reply
  • December 3, 2007 at 9:09 pm
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    Hahaha, the foie gras must hv had such an impact on u,lol.

    Take it easy man….it’s not tough to guess whether u r really into food man…lol.

    Reply
  • December 3, 2007 at 10:00 pm
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    In the few short years I’ve known KY, I have yet to see him gain much (if any at all) weight.

    Chalk it up to a good metabolism ?

    Then again at the rate he’s chugging in all that good food of late, I wont be surprised that he’s been hiding a spare tyre somewhere. ;p

    Reply
  • December 3, 2007 at 11:32 pm
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    supergirlfriend,
    aww.. to bad.

    twosuperheroes,
    er.. don’t order pork?

    peggy,
    don’t remind me. 😛

    wombak,
    do it! in fact I went there again today with separate group of badminton friends

    v0ices,
    fixed, thanks!

    fiona,
    I think it should be cheaper there, but the season might be over then.

    malineee,
    foie gras.. slurps

    foxtrotecho,
    well, that’s why I play badminton and futsal every week. 😀

    Reply
  • December 4, 2007 at 8:54 pm
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    WHY never ajak. Aisehman. NEXT ROUND!

    Reply
  • December 5, 2007 at 9:36 am
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    Nicholas,

    Next time next time. 😀

    Reply
  • December 5, 2007 at 3:15 pm
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    wahh so tempting! the crab roe O_O this shop is just like behind my house and yet i never been there before.

    Reply
  • December 5, 2007 at 7:40 pm
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    ISHhhh… never ajak!!!
    NEXT ROUND ON YOU!!! 😛

    Reply
  • December 8, 2007 at 9:44 pm
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    Still lots of crab here in Shanghai. As cheap as RMB10 per crab to over RMB100, depending on size and pedigree. Interesting to see that the crab is served slightly undercooked. I’ve not seen it cooked this way in Shanghai. Does the roe taste okay? Not “sang”?

    Reply
  • December 9, 2007 at 1:16 pm
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    Looneytune,
    I think it was cooked just nice, not really “sang” at all. 😀

    Reply
  • December 10, 2007 at 11:10 pm
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    In that case,when I get another batch of Hairy Crab, I shall try undercooking it. Maybe can tell my Chinese friends to try it too.

    Reply
  • December 10, 2007 at 11:53 pm
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    Looneytune,
    Crab sashimi won’t be that bad either. hehehe

    Reply
  • December 12, 2007 at 3:20 pm
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    Wow, crabs agn? seem most blogger like crabs very much….haha, dont tempt me!

    Reply
  • March 11, 2008 at 5:21 pm
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    Amei79,
    it’s like, yummy!

    Reply
  • November 6, 2008 at 11:22 pm
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    do u really a food blogger? been there last yr and the food was not as it seems to be and the price is much more expensive than any good restaurant out there. btw, they serve some ‘expired’ fried calamari to us……good restaurant? doubt that

    Reply
  • November 6, 2008 at 11:54 pm
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    unknown,
    I guess food is a very personal thing and some restaurants can be inconsistent too. I’ve only been there twice by the way.

    Reply
  • March 9, 2009 at 2:33 pm
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    大閘蟹 is suzhou dude not shanghai.

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  • March 9, 2009 at 9:12 pm
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    Myhorng,
    Ohhh, that’s what they told me, did they lie! 😛

    Reply
  • June 4, 2010 at 1:19 am
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    It looks to me that the hairy crab in the first picture wasn’t fully cooked yet!!!

    Reply
  • June 4, 2010 at 2:51 pm
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    Keith,
    it was, and it was super yums!

    Reply

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