FOOD

Missing the magic

Ministry of Crab offers great ambience, but the crab was a bit drab

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Acheery server holds two live mud crabs, one in each hand, inside the glittering, chandelier-heavy Ministry of Crab, in Mumbai’s upmarket neighbourhood of Khar. Patrons of the three-storey luxury restaurant are suitably impressed. Spread over 6,000 sq. ft, this is the first Indian outpost of the internationally acclaimed Sri Lankan eatery which features on Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list and has a fan following of over 25,000. “This is our USP,” says server Sahesh as he points to the crustaceans. “Only after you place the order do we go about the business.”

The Ministry takes its crabs seriously. Right at the start you are oriented to its no-freezer policy and thereafter to the seven light bulbs on the counter above the restaurant pass that indicate whether or not your particular choice of crab is available on a certain day. If the light is out, it is a no. But, the menu—which the Ministry refers to as The Amendment—offers a vast choice, from the 500gm “small crabs” to the 1.1kg Jumbo that costs Rs6,500 and the 2kg Crabzilla that costs Rs14,000.

Up for grabs: pepper crab by ministry of crab. Up for grabs: pepper crab by ministry of crab.

We opted for a half-kilo crustacean—prepared in pepper crab marinade in order to get that fiery and aromatic hit of the condiment which is endemic to Sri Lanka—and combined it with Kade bread—essentially plain, bland bread cooked in a wood-fired oven and served in big chunks. The bread must be dipped in the curry for taste. The bib in place and a set of “tools” in hand, we cut the claws, pinch the meat and scoop it out carefully from within the shell and from inside the long, slender legs.

But, the experience is not exceptional or even lasting. The meat is succulent, but does not give out the flavour of the curry. Even after soaking the bread in the curry, there is no spicy, peppery hit from the marinade, contrary to expectations. The black tiger prawns, too, taste insipid as they lack a connect with the garlic chilli sauce in which they are dipped. We instead put the sauce to use by soaking it on Kade bread. However, the tangy lemony after-taste of the teriyaki seer (surmai fish) is uplifting, especially because the fish is entirely painted in the sauce and packs in oodles of flavour in the very first bite.

Vegetarian options, barely a handful, occupy the tiniest place right at the bottom of the menu. “The veg part is a new section on the menu, but these are vegetable dishes, not vegetarian dishes,” says the half-Japanese, half-Sri Lankan chef Dharshan Munidasa, who along with cricketers Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene founded the Ministry in 2011, in Colombo. “The difference is they are not new dishes created for vegetarians, but vegetable preparations that mimic the original crab dishes.” The vegetarian Goan Curry made with baby eggplants, button mushrooms and flavoured coconut vinegar, paired with garlic rice, did seem out of place after all, both in terms of taste and the settings.

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