The crowning glory of crab

IN ONE of the most exacting quirks of any cuisine, the crab fishermen of Hokkaido in Japan believe their catch on November 7 every year is the highest in nutrients and has the densest flesh of any day of the year.

No need to hop on a plane to the Shiretoko Peninsula on Japan’s east coast, though, because Kitaohji – a kaiseki-style restaurant off Soi Thonglor – has grabbed a share of the November 7 catch for its Hokkaido Crab Festival running all this month.

It’s well stocked with both kegani (hairy crabs) and zuwaigani (snow crabs), collectively awarded a gold medal by the Japan Food Analyst Association and kept alive for your December delectation.

“Because Shiretoko is a Unesco World Heritage Site due to its biodiversity, only two fishing boats are allowed to catch shellfish there,” says Werapol Rojanasajja, senior marketing manager at Kitaohji. The crabs’ unique virtues just one day each year are credited to the early formation of sea ice at that low latitude. 

“They from 200 metres down and are immediately transported to the nearest harbour, in Rausu on the east of the peninsula, and kept in seawater on a crab farm.”

Kitaohji is a chain of 12 restaurants in Japan that annually scoops up a portion of the November 7 crabs, Werapol says, “and we’re the only restaurant in Bangkok that has them”.

The original Kitaohji opened in Tokyo’s Ginza district more than 70 years ago and the Bangkok outlet – a joint venture with Boon Rawd Brewery – is its first overseas branch. Its speciality is the multi-course kaiseki banquet, a series of haute-cuisine dishes in which the presentation is very much part of the thrill. 

The 350-square-metre Kitaohji Bangkok is a serene, two-storey renovated house very far and yet not far at all from the bustle of Thonglor. It offers Zen serenity with a rock garden and a small forest of bamboo, made for gazing upon through the huge windows of the main dining area downstairs. 

The layout is wide open, affording ample room for 60 diners. For more intimate meals there are six private rooms upstairs and two more on the ground floor. Each is decorated differently, the trim coming mainly from Japan, such as the bamboo panels and wood ceilings.

Two people can share the Crab Kaiseki, available in three different sets at varying prices but all with the same appetiser – snow-crab shabu shabu – and noodles and dessert. The Bt4,000 set is built around snow-crab tempura, the Bt4,500 option has steamed hairy crab and 

 the Bt5,000 meal has grilled taraba king crab. 

The assorted appetisers are arranged charmingly in a lacquered box, the components changing according to the season. You might have boiled, sweet black beans, a slice of boiled aigamo (a wild-domestic duck hybrid), grilled buri (yellowtail fish), fried crabmeat balls wrapped in seaweed, a sweet egg roll, a fried maguro ball with turnip, or boiled hou-ren-sou (spinach) garnished with shirasu (white bait fish). The snow-crab shabu shabu is delightfully prepared right at the table. 

If you opt for the steamed hairy crab, it arrives in a closed lacquer box that, when opened, billows with dry-ice fog. The crab flesh is firm and naturally sweet, so there’s a dip of mild vinegar. The taraba and snow-crab tempura are just as marvellous but of course have different textures. In all cases, though, the meat is easily pulled from the shell. 

Completing the set dinners is a dessert of green-tea ice cream, mochi (chewy rice-cake dough) and red-bean paste.

Unlike its Japanese cousins, where only kaiseki is served, |the Bangkok outlet has a broader menu that includes dishes |large enough for sharing in the Thai style. Among the a-la-carte options are charcoal-grilled sea bream flavoured with salt (Bt690), charcoal-grilled gindara (sable fish) marinated in the Kyoto-style sweet miso called saikyo (Bt590), and crabmeat croquettes accompanied by seasoned tomato sauce and fresh salad leaves (Bt390).

 

 

OFF WITH THEIR SHELLS

>>Kitaohji on Soi Thonglor 8 is open daily except Monday for dinner, from 6 to 11pm.

>>Visit the “KitaohjiBKK” page on Facebook or call (02) 714 7997 (Japanese language 061 387 3207).