The crowning glory of crab
Bangkok - On only one day a year are the crabs of Hokkaido at their meatiest and most nutritious, and Kitaohji has them
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.
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