The waiters present the live crab to the table, poke it to demonstrate Yes, it is indeed alive:
First course is a steamed crab leg, with some diced salt-cured radishes and other aromats...this is the part of king crab everyone's familiar with...though the verdict was, just a tad overcooked 🙂
Second way was a light tempura battered king crab body sections, a dry, caramelized mix of shallots/ginger/garlic...very fragrant, perfectly seasoned:
And finally, a silky egg-custard (reminiscent of Chawanmushi) infused with the crab mustard...probably a few milligrams over our mercury limit in that dish, but the umami was worth it!
All in all, I would say it was a worthy spectacle, and I would highly recommend a Cantonese seafood feast (with or without live king crab) if you're entertaining upwards of a dozen guests.
The cost of all those crab dishes came out to be around $500 (retail price for live king is about $35/lb last I checked). We also had a dozen other dishes from roast squab to spot prawns...and the final bill came out to be under $900...which fed 10 people until we could hardly get up from our seats. Roughly $100/person, and everyone ate like kings. Key is to have a large enough party to order plenty of dishes, but not so large that you need to split up tables. 8-12 heads is perfect.
