number 29<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n
Some restaurants, especially ones in crowded markets that are trying to stand out, rely on constant innovation to keep guests coming in.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s always a hunt for the next big trend \u2013 cronut, anyone? \u2013 or a photogenic ingredient that seems more designed for social media buzz than flavour.<\/p>\n
But the first thing anyone walking into Ministry of Crab notices is the menu \u2013 it is small, tightly edited and entirely centered around one main ingredient. That ingredient is the Sri Lankan mud crab, also known as the lagoon crab. For a long time, these crabs were a staple of every Sri Lankan kitchen, but once they became more profitable to sell overseas than to keep at home they began disappearing from dining tables on the island.<\/p>\n
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For an indecisive diner who gets overwhelmed by too many choices, MOC is a dream.<\/p>\n
You choose one size of crab based on what\u2019s available \u2013 from the smallest size, the \u201chalf-kilo\u201d at 500 grams all the way up to the coveted \u201cCrabzilla\u201d at 2 kg plus \u2013 and decide which of six or so available preparations sounds best to you.<\/p>\n
Options include a Singaporean-style chilli crab, black pepper crab and a \u201crisotto-esque\u201d baked crab that has to be ordered at least three hours in advance.<\/p>\n
There are also one or two appetizers \u2013 such as a crab salad served inside a fresh, partially scooped-out avocado \u2013 and one dessert, a coconut Cr\u00e8me Br\u00fbl\u00e9e \u2013 served inside a fresh coconut, as you might be noticing a theme here. And that\u2019s it.<\/p>\n
With such a condensed menu, there\u2019s nowhere to hide. Crabs are as fresh as they can be, caught daily by fishermen Munidasa has built relationships with. The restaurant has a policy against never serving a crab that weighs less than 500 grams \u2013 not just so there\u2019s more meat to work with, but because those smaller crabs are too young.<\/p>\n
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How do you put a life onto a plate? How do you distil a country and its people down to one single ingredient? Reclaiming Sri Lankan mud crabs for the people who farm and cultivate them is one way.<\/p>\n
Following his successes, Munidasa has also become an ambassador for Sri Lankan food.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there\u2019s a huge, huge, huge notion that Sri Lankan food is 90% Indian,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur rice is different, how we cook is different. We eat everything. We eat beef, we eat fish, we eat pig, we eat chicken. Many people think Sri Lanka is \u2018India light.\u2019 There are certain similarities, yes. But again, it\u2019s different because the distances are so small. You can go from 12 degrees in the hills to 32 degrees on the beach in matter of three and a half hours.\u201d<\/p>\n
Munidasa has also been able to take his show on the road. MOC now has outposts in Bangkok, Mumbai, Shanghai, Manila and the Maldives, all of which he oversees. He also organizes pop-ups around the world as a way to teach people about Sri Lankan food and the special flavors of Sri Lankan mud crabs.<\/p>\n
Being the lone representative of his country on the Asia\u2019s 50 Best list comes with both pressures and privileges.<\/p>\n
Despite the accolades, Munidasa is still working in a food world that is hugely Western-centric. In Sri Lanka, he says, nobody has heard of the Asia\u2019s 50 Best list or plans their summer holiday around traveling to a single restaurant.<\/p>\n
And odds are high he will never win a Michelin star \u2013 not because of lack of talent, but because Michelin has never covered Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n
Yet in some ways, it\u2019s this lack of mainstream pedigree that has enabled Munidasa to seek praise from within. He hasn\u2019t sold licensing rights to his name to a giant conglomerate, and there\u2019s no pressure to create a line of branded products.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you always try to meet other people\u2019s expectations, you\u2019ll never grow. You\u2019ll never outdo yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Is this the world\u2019s best crab restaurant? Colombo (CNN)\u00a0\u2014\u00a0 Crabs caught in Sri Lankan waters are so prized in\u00a0Singapore\u2019s fine dining establishments that a single one can sell for hundreds of dollars. But there was one place where these crabs weren\u2019t the hottest dish on the menu \u2013\u00a0Sri Lanka. That\u2019s when chef Dharshan Munidasa, who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":7,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-722","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ministryofcrab.com\/colombo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ministryofcrab.com\/colombo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ministryofcrab.com\/colombo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ministryofcrab.com\/colombo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ministryofcrab.com\/colombo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=722"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/www.ministryofcrab.com\/colombo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2492,"href":"https:\/\/www.ministryofcrab.com\/colombo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/722\/revisions\/2492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ministryofcrab.com\/colombo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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