Crab season under way
By Lu Chang (Shanghai Star)
Updated: 2004-11-23 08:36

It would surely be a disaster if the Shanghainese could not eat hairy crab every autumn. The connection of hairy crabs to Shanghai is like wine to the French or pasta to the Italians.

Locals are willing to spend hundreds of yuan just to taste a small crab from the Yangchenghu Lake in neighbouring Jiangsu Province. The price of crabs from Yangchenghu Lake has rocketed in recent years and at the same time the number of hairy crabs in the lake has decreased. Most of these are exported to high-profit foreign markets.

Some farmers transferred young crabs to grow in other lakes several months before the crab season starts in early October. Claiming that these crabs grew in Yangchenghu Lake would enable the farmers to charge five or 10 times the price they otherwise would get.

Customers are not so easily duped, however, and it is left up to restaurateurs to prove that crabs from other lakes can be just as delicious.

There are many ways to cook crab dishes. In order not to cover the natural taste of the crabs, most restaurants prepare them in the lighter-flavoured Shanghainese or Cantonese styles.

Central Hotel is well-known for its traditional crab dishes. It uses only crabs from Yangchenghu Lake and it has a fishery at the lake to ensure that they are 100 per cent authentic. A pair of steamed crabs cost 380 yuan (US$46).

In addition to steaming them - the most popular style in Shanghai - Central Hotel chefs add the meat and roe to other ingredients to create new dishes.

Rumours that some farmers sold meat from dead crabs to small restaurants have made residents wary of the cheaper crab dishes. But going to upscale restaurants for hairy crabs always means a big bill.

A table of 10 people with 10 Shanghainese-style crab dishes costs at least 300 yuan (US$36) per person at the Central Hotel, admittedly the most renowned place for crabs in town.

Chefs at Li Palace Chinese Restaurant in Radisson Plaza Xing Guo Hotel cook crab dishes in a novel and lovely way. A signature dish loved by many foreign diners is the stir-fried crab meat and roe, placed in an orange-half and mixed with the refreshing juice inside.

Compared to Cantonese cuisine, the Shanghainese crab dishes are intense in flavour and slightly oily.

Cantonese Chef Jereme Leung, a winner of "World's Best Chef" from the American Academy of Hospitality Science, has turned his passion to Shanghainese food after joining the Whampoa Club. His crab creations manage to keep their typical Shanghai flavours but his presentations are more Western in style. Each course is in a proper portion and served individually.

The stir-fried hairy crab meat with sea urchin and ginger shreds is contained in a hollowed egg shell. With a touch of cold sea urchin, the hot and rich broth of crab meat and roe is bracing and even tasty.

Bai Yu Lan Chinese Restaurant at the Okura Garden Hotel and Si Ji Xuan at the Four Seasons offer Cantonese crab dishes.

Shanghainese chef Qin Weijian at Bai Yu Lan restaurant has cooked Cantonese food for decades. His creation - sauteed crab meat and seafood with vegetable (118 yuan, US$14) - is presented in a tiny crispy flour basket. The crab meat maintains its original flavour and is the tastiest among the assorted seafood.

For Shanghainese crab dishes:

Li Palace Chinese Restaurant

Radisson Plaza Xing Guo Hotel

78 Xingguo Lu

Tel: 6212-9998

Shanghai Spring

Sofitel Jin Jiang Oriental Pudong

889 Yanggao Nanlu

Tel: 5050-4888

Whampoa Club

Three On The Bund

5F, 3 Zhongshan Dongyi Lu

Tel: 6321-3737

Yue Garden

Holiday Inn Downtown Shanghai

585 Hengfeng Lu

Tel: 6353-8008

Banquet Hall

Central Hotel

555 Jiujiang Lu

Tel: 5396-5000

For Cantonese crab dishes:

Bai Yu Lan Chinese Restaurant

Okura Garden Hotel

58 Maoming Lu

Tel: 6415-1111

Si Ji Xuan

Four Seasons Hotel

500 Weihai Lu

Tel: 6256-8888

Average cost:

Set menus of crab dishes vary from the lowest 150 yuan (US$18) to 880 yuan (US$106)

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