Tuesday, June 08, 2010

Restoran King Crab (creamy butter crabs)

Even though I had been really sick, I was struck last week by an inexplicable desire to eat crab. Despite the advice from well-meaning friends, I meant to have my way and persuaded a fellow seafood lover to take me for crab. He was low on gas and we both went in to JB for fuel for the car and our bodies.

I'd heard about this restaurant for some time but never had the opportunity of being there before so we decided to look for "Restoran King Crab" based on directions from the web. We found it without any problem at all - turn left right after Jusco, keeping Jusco on the left of the car at times and one can see the bright large yellow signboard of the restaurant easily along the row of shophouses on one's right side.

The restaurant was empty on a weekday night at about 8pm except for one table so service was pretty prompt. It appears that there might be two levels to the place as there was a staircase at one corner of the restaurant but since the place was empty, we had our pick of tables on the ground floor. Service was prompt given the number of wait staff around and the menu rather extensive with meat dishes, various types of seafood (prawns, prawn mantis, crabs, fish), veg and beancurd. However, based on my experience at various JB restaurants, I would say that the prices could be said to be very steep given the lack of ambiance and the type of food (veg dishes are double normal prices!). For example, a small-sized serving of vegetable with eggs which we ordered per the pic below cost RM15. The Slog Reviews: 7/10. Athough the veg was fresh and the dish rather tasty, the price was prohibitively expensive for a very simple dish.

What would be worth ordering IMHO would be what this restaurant is good for, and specialises in - crab. Because I was coughing rather badly, my food companion and I decided to have the crab baked with creamy butter in claypot instead of black pepper. This is how the dish looked like.
And was it good? The Slog Reviews: 9.5/10. Finger licking good! A million, or rather a billion calories in this dish alone given the amount of butter and milk that went into making the thick sweet gravy that the crab was served in. I tried to moderate the amount of gravy that I was slurping up given the lack of exercise the past few weeks ( because I'd been sick) but it was so good that resistence was futile. Crab was fresh of course and priced at RM7/8 kg. The cost of the meal was about RM80 with 5% GST and 5% Service charge. Towels and tea are also chargeable.

Restoran King Crab
No 1 and 1A, 3 and 3A, Jln Harmonium 23/12 Taman Desa Tebrau
81100 Johor Bahru
Tel: 607 3513333

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