Hong Kong, Josephine tombe une nouvelle fois à la renverse…

Hong Kong: Under Bridge Spicy Crab, the Crab-way to Heaven

2208You’ve got to go local if you want to know your destination well; and I LOVE to go local in

Hong Kong!

Knowing that I’m no huge fan of crabs, nor of spicy foods, my gourmet loving friend – an

American investment banker who’s been living in Hong Kong for years – insisted on taking

me to this famous crab restaurant: Under Bridge Spicy Crab.

Well, it’s famous, but a lot of other things too, and I tend to not give fame too much faith as

learnt from past disappointments; plus, the amount of crabs I’ve eaten so far is quite enough

for anyone to realize that I’m just not a crab person.

However, for the sake of our friendship, and of all those nice bottles we’ve shared together, I

decided to give one of my precious nights in Hong Kong to this crab place. At least no hassle

of reservations – you just need to go and wait a bit there…

The trick is to go late, as Asians usually eat dinner rather early (around 6 /7 pm) – so we

arrived around 9pm, and only waited for about 15 minutes.

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They have all standard seafood dishes there – clams, scampi, fish, squid etc.; the signature

carbs are made to 5 levels of spiciness, and 5 other flavors including curry and steamed,

sold in different sizes starting from 380 HKD to 1380 HKD; if lucky, there are occasionally

extra-large ones available for 1880 HKD too. We ordered the largest one available that day,

which costs 1380 HKD, and a couple of vegetable dishes.

The crab came, buried in fried garlics and chilies, pretty impressive in size, even more in its

taste. These are river crabs from Malaysia, and have amazingly tight and solid meat inside

the shells, almost as powerful as beef steaks. And it was cooked in such a way, that the wild

spicy flavor of garlics and chilies was softened and tamed by the thick and heavy shells, and

only the most intriguing part of the taste got into the meat – no longer that strong and

overwhelming, but concentrated and cloying. Also, the spiciness and the sweetness of the

crab meat made such an incredible marriage, plus the heaven touch of oil, completing and

perfecting each other on all levels and in all possible ways…

Unlike many other dishes from Chinese or Cantonese cuisine, this one does not only taste

good, but also has the long and delightful finish that LINGERS… It’s the kind of food that

makes one happy…2221

My advice: try the least spicy one – ‘slightly spicy’ – regardless of your capacity for spice. For

this will allow the fine and subtle complicity of different flavors to reveal their fabulous

symphony in your palate, taking you for the ride to the other side of the rainbow……

Price: 300 – 1000 HKD per person.

Address: G/F-3/F, Ascot Mansion, 421-425 Lockhart Road, Wan Chai, HK

Tel: (+852) 2893 1289 / 2834 6818

  • BENOIT
    4 avril 2014 at 10 h 21 min

    très bons commentaires et infos de Joséphine…mais pourquoi en Anglais ?