A good meal only whets your appetite for more. My recent meal at Shangri-La reminded me of a beautiful evening last year at Claridges where Chef Vivek Rana had curated a Crabilicious meal with mud crabs directly flown from Kanyakumari and cooked in a live kitchen on their sprawling lawns. It is just a 2 day festival that gets over tomorrow. After dropping my daughter at her hostel I rushed for lunch at The Claridges today.
This is a set course meal and we started with delicious pairing of crab meat and sweetcorn soup with egg drop. I expected a few crab pieces. But it is loaded with crab! Sweetness from both the crab and the sweetcorn make for a great pairing.
This was followed by streetside Thai omelette with crab filling and served with lemon grass infused sriracha sauce. It will take you to the streets of Bangkok. But wait, the best dish was next.
Last year there was an option to choose between oysters and giant Scampi for the next course. This year the oyster option isn’t there and even though i loved the raw oyester with lemon, tobasco and rock salt, I am not complaining.
And here came my next dish – Scampi cooked with congee in chilli oil. So for the uninitiated, while scampi resembles prawn, not only is it much bigger, prawn is from the shrimp family and scampi from the lobster family. I have not had congee in a long time, not sure why it has mostly vanished from all Chinese restaurants. Here spicy butter pepper garlic from prawn compliments the clean flavour of congee so well. This combination is a big winner for me where congee is cooked in scampi broth and few could hear my orgasmic moans while eating this. Another thing I must appreciate in this dish is how chef has intelligently served the entire scampi but removed the flesh so that the beginners do not feel uncomfortable while eating this dish.
As they say, save the best for the last and out came the jumbo 1.5kg crab in Singaporean Chilly sauce along with mantao buns.
There was also kanyakumari crab meat rice and xo sauce topped with egg and pickled veggies.
There was no talking at all for the next 5 minutes and the entire focus was on the eating. The colour of the dish, that yin and yang flavours of sweet and chilly along with khatta tamatar does wonders for this dish.
I was full but couldn’t say no to the last course of the meal, a death by chocolate dessert. While it may look regular, it also has a twist as it has chocolate mousse inside.
Such a satisfying meal. 2023 has been good so far and I am looking forward to much more. Priced at Rs4595+taxes per person, this is a very well priced menu and anyone fond of crab or seafood shouldn’t miss this. Unfortunately you have only 1 day to decide as the crab festival gets over tomorrow. Since they already have many bookings, don’t just walk-in. Please check for reservations at 9971326033.
