Price: $$$$
Cravingness: ★★★★★
I was rather excited to hear the opening of Holy Crab, an American-style seafood restaurant specialised in Cajun Cuisine located at the heart of Lan Kwai Fong. Holy Crab offers freshly seafood aired from America several times a week, features "pick your own catch" approach and traditional Cajun cooking method. The Menu is designed to be shared on the table, and the seafood is all served on a bucket, unshelled. So ladies and gentleman, it's time to get your hands dirty and have some fun!
We were first greeted by the upmost cute iconic logo of Holy Crab at the entrance of the elevator. A gluttony red crab, half drooling and seemingly in a state of food coma. I didn't really understand the meaning of the angel ring on top, but I got it as soon as I got into the restaurant.
As expected, the restaurant interior was as colourful and cheerful as the little crab logo is. When I looked up the ceiling, that's when I know why there is an angel ring above the crab of the logo, there are angel rings lamps everywhere in Holy Crab! Cute.
The interior was filled with wood elements and surrounded by rustic stone walls and exposed bricks wall. Later I know from the manager that the interior is to mimic a ‘fisherman’s wharf’ which is a popular tourist attraction in San Francisco. The wooden flooring is a reminiscent of the wooden docks, which are real dock woods of different sizes taken from ships. My stiletto got stuck in the gap several times though... I would highly advise girls NOT to wear heels here. And if you have to wear, definitely not stiletto!
I also love how Holy Crabs put lots of sailing related items to complete the fisherman wharf's theme. There are a cool gigantic boat sculpture in the middle of the dining hall, gas lamps, telescope, a vintage steering wheel etc spread across the dining hall. Giving a really lovely and antique vibe to the dining hall.
To continue the woody theme, the menu was also printed in wood pattern. The plate with the cute crab logo stamped was cute and I very much want one for myself!
The menu was very easy to read with detail explanation of the dishes and also a brief introduction to Cajun cuisine. The menu is divided into 5 sections - soups and salads, seafood stew, seafood bucket, "Pick your catch" and shared platter. It is rather unfortunately that Holy Crab does not carry dessert menu. Somehow I feel no dinner is complete without dessert.
What makes Holy Crab special is that they built a rock pool by their kitchen to display their wide selection of seafood. The seafood is flown in three to four times a week from the US. You can hand pick your own catch here with the help of the kitchen. The price is listed on the chipboard behind for your reference.
The top pools hold oysters, clams and mussels.
The lower left side of the rock pool holds crawfish and crabs. The swimming crabs are sourced from Louisiana, whereas the King and Dungeness crabs are from Alaska
I met the Executive Chef Mark Kerkstra of Holy crab, a really lovely chef who is passionate about cooking and very knowledgeable on the different types of seafood.
You can peek into the kitchen under this really cool road sign.
No matter what you order, Holy Crab will serve their signature sauces, namely Sweet Chilli, Cajun Aioli, Tartar, Cocktail, Curry Pesto and Honey Musttard to the table, so you can try and pick your own favourite to go with your seafood.
The water glass is as colourful as the crab logo itself, merging very well with the rest of the restaurant.
The coaster is superb cute, I forgot to steal one home LOL.
For starters, we first had the Crabman's Bisque - HKD70. Looking rather ordinary, this bisque was hands on by far the BEST crab bisque I have ever tried in my life. There are chunks of utterly sweet and creamy Dungeness Crab meat swimming in the bisque. The bisque itself was very smooth, creamy and sweet with a lovely sherry and thyme note. Great soup!
We had a hard time picking our own bucket, as all choices available sound amazing. We ended up picking the Soft Shell Crab - HKD268 as it was highly recommended by the staff. We paired he soft shell crab with Corn Fritters with Bag O' Tricks seasoning, which is a combination of Lemon Pepper, Garlic Herb and Rajun Cajun.
I can totally see why the Soft Shell Crab is highly recommended, as the finished product still shows the perfect shape of a crab! Try imagine a crunchy crisp crust with herby citrusy note, wrapping some buttery, supple and sweet crab meats with bold crab flavour... That's what this taste like!
The Corn Fritters was not as tasty as I would imagine. It was a tad stiff, hard and dry in texture.
We also opt for the Scallop Bucket - HKD268. This time we opt for the Lemon Pepper seasoning, reckon it should be a good pair, and picked chips as our side. The scallops was nice but not exceptional. Scallop lovers will still like this.
The chips was huuuuuuuuuuuge in size, fried perfectly with crispy crust and soft, mushy, potatoy inner.
The Cajun Prawn Happiness salad - HKD130 was highly recommended, but we didn't order it as we felt we had ordered enough. The kind chef Mark decided to send us one, as he think we should not miss it. The salad is made up of Mesclun lettuce leaves, grilled black tiger Cajun prawns, cherry tomatoes, roasted bell peppers and avocado. Everything on the plate was fresh, and the best of course goes to the tiger prawn which was sweet and springy.
We struggled not picking the Blue Boston Docks Blues Mussels as we thought we had ordered enough, but Chef Mark again decided to send us one as this is one of his favourites at Holy Crab! This Blue boston mussels is seriously one of the must get dishes at Holy Crab. Th mussels were big, fat and sweet, but the best part was that they still carry some briny sea water which made them tasted extra delicious. The broth, was oh my, the heavenly crabman's bisque again! Call us crazy, we actually swiped clean the plate with the help of the sourdough.
And for our catch, we picked Maine Lobster over crab as we are both big lobster lovers. We decided to try the crab ourselves next time. We didn't really pick our lobster at the Rock Pool, as I trusted the eye of Chef Mark.
We went back to our seats and were later sent a blue bucket holding our cute lobster inside! We were given the option to add spicy seasoning to our lobster, but we reckon any spiciness would totally ruin the taste of the lobster, and hence we opt for Plain Jane. For seasoning, we opt for Garlic Herb.
Ta-dah, and here comes our boiled cute red lobster! We were given an apron to put on before our lobster arrives to prevent us from staining our clothes. The pattern of the apron given to women and men are different. The aprons are really adorable, I checked if this is available for sale at the souvenir counter, but unfortunately no. =(
In line with the Cajun tradition, the lobster and the "Holy Trinity" are boiled with the Low Country Boil technology and directly in a plastic bag. Here you can see the cute red lobster sun bathing on the edge of the stainless steel can.
A wooden Mallet and a crab cutter were given to us for easy lobster de-shelling. For Hong Kong locals like us, who are very used to having hairy crab, de-shelling is no problem to us. =)
The Corn Fritters was not as tasty as I would imagine. It was a tad stiff, hard and dry in texture.
We also opt for the Scallop Bucket - HKD268. This time we opt for the Lemon Pepper seasoning, reckon it should be a good pair, and picked chips as our side. The scallops was nice but not exceptional. Scallop lovers will still like this.
The chips was huuuuuuuuuuuge in size, fried perfectly with crispy crust and soft, mushy, potatoy inner.
The Cajun Prawn Happiness salad - HKD130 was highly recommended, but we didn't order it as we felt we had ordered enough. The kind chef Mark decided to send us one, as he think we should not miss it. The salad is made up of Mesclun lettuce leaves, grilled black tiger Cajun prawns, cherry tomatoes, roasted bell peppers and avocado. Everything on the plate was fresh, and the best of course goes to the tiger prawn which was sweet and springy.
And for our catch, we picked Maine Lobster over crab as we are both big lobster lovers. We decided to try the crab ourselves next time. We didn't really pick our lobster at the Rock Pool, as I trusted the eye of Chef Mark.
We went back to our seats and were later sent a blue bucket holding our cute lobster inside! We were given the option to add spicy seasoning to our lobster, but we reckon any spiciness would totally ruin the taste of the lobster, and hence we opt for Plain Jane. For seasoning, we opt for Garlic Herb.
Ta-dah, and here comes our boiled cute red lobster! We were given an apron to put on before our lobster arrives to prevent us from staining our clothes. The pattern of the apron given to women and men are different. The aprons are really adorable, I checked if this is available for sale at the souvenir counter, but unfortunately no. =(
In line with the Cajun tradition, the lobster and the "Holy Trinity" are boiled with the Low Country Boil technology and directly in a plastic bag. Here you can see the cute red lobster sun bathing on the edge of the stainless steel can.
A wooden Mallet and a crab cutter were given to us for easy lobster de-shelling. For Hong Kong locals like us, who are very used to having hairy crab, de-shelling is no problem to us. =)
Within minutes, the whole lobster was de-shelled and was ready to enjoy! Holy Crab had the red lobster perfectly cooked to give what I will call a medium well texture to the lobster - A buttery supple outer with a slight slimy and chewy inner. I reckon this is the prefect way to serve the lobster. The lobster itself was sweet enough to go by its own, but you would really, REALLY want to dip it into the Holy Trinity broth again and again.
So what is Holy Trinity? The Cajun Holy Trinity is the three essential vegetables, namely bell peppers, onion and celery, for an aromatic vegetable stew. The Holy Trinity broth was extremely aromatic, a drooling aroma of spices and butter crossed in the air as soon as the pot arrived. The clear broth was heavenly flavourful, herby with bold lobster sweetness. It carries a medium body with a swirl of butter coating in every spoon. Even though you get really full by this point, you still want to keep on drinking the delicious broth.
Hidden within the broth was some corn, baby red potatoes and Andouille Sausage. The Andouille Sausage was one spicy and herby sausage that was really lovely to taste. The corn was rather ordinary in taste.
Lastly I will say I really enjoy my dinner tonight at Holy Crab. This is definitely a WOW dinner that I haven't had for long. I could still taste the heavenly crabman's bisque and buttery lobster on my tongue, in my mouth. It was quite a pity that Holy crab does not serve any dessert, which I feel my night was a bit incomplete. Anyhow, below I attached a lunch menu for your reference, they have lobster roll for lunch!
Another point worthy to mention was the bathroom of Holy Crab. The sink was actually a goldfish tank! I first thought the goldfish was fake, but a close look at them will notice that they are actually swimming around! I could truly imagine this happening because the people behind Holy Crab is also the people behind Bloop, the shisha lounge which has a shark tank.
As mentioned previously, there is a souvenir shop at Holy Crab which fans can get caps, cups or their spicy sauce back home. Holy crab is open seven days a week, from 11.30am to 3.00pm, and dinner from 6.00pm till late. Book your table if you are interested! And remember, no stilettos!
Rating
Food - ★★★★★
Service - ★★★★★
Ambience - ★★★★★
Overall - ★★★★★
Holy Crab
Address (E) 3/F, Cosmos Building, Lan Kwai Fong, Central, Hong Kong
Address (C) 香港中環蘭桂坊8-11號昌隆大廈3樓
☏ 2110 0100
Opening Hours: Daily 11am - 3pm | 6pm - late
Reservation Available? Yes
Walk In Possible? Yes
Bill Per Person (Dinner inc. Beverages) - $$$$
Website: http://holycrab.com.hk/
Address (C) 香港中環蘭桂坊8-11號昌隆大廈3樓
☏ 2110 0100
Opening Hours: Daily 11am - 3pm | 6pm - late
Reservation Available? Yes
Walk In Possible? Yes
Bill Per Person (Dinner inc. Beverages) - $$$$
Website: http://holycrab.com.hk/
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