Kani Doraku Honten

1-6-18 Dotombori Chuo-ku

6211 8975

http://www.douraku.co.jp/kansai/shop/honten.html (Japanese only)

Osaka's Dotombori area is full of giant neon billboards, many of which advertise a restaurant's particular specialisation. There are giant blowfish (for fugu) and giant octopus (for takoyaki). And of course, there has to be a giant mechanical crab, glaringly proclaiming the bill of fare of the institutional Kani Doraku Honten. A Japan-wide chain that specialises in crab banquets (duh!), the Dotombori eatery is the original edition. Feeling somewhat crabby after looking at some at the Osaka Aquarium, Mellie and I decided to check it out for dinner.

The restaurant has several levels and discrete dining areas. We were seated with a great view of the Dotombori canal, which didn't smell so bad behind glass. Despite the somewhat formal look of the place, Kani Doraku had a pretty casual vibe.

We went one of the crab banquets. Funnily enough, the waitress didn't advise us that you had to order two banquets for two people; we assumed that they would automatically provide enough for the both of us. Alas, we got to share the one banquet, which meant fighting Mellie for the crab legs!! First course was crab sashimi, served on the shell. The meat was very sweet indeed, a characteristic of the crab variety that they serve here (spider crab). These crabs are evil, alien looking things in real life, which we witnessed first hand at the aquarium. They kind of freaked me out then, which made me glad that I was having revenge on them by feasting on their sweet sweet flavour.

Second course was boiled crab legs, which went a treat with a squeeze of lemon and a pinch of the salt/pepper mix you see on the green plate. I was very impressed by the sweetness of the meat, but there simply wasn't enough of it for the both of us - doh. This course also came with some rather good chawan mushi (steamed egg custard).

Next course was tempura crab and vegetables. The batter was light, crunchy and not too oily.

The hot plate on our table was turned on for the next course of grill-yourself crab. As you can see from the picture, we were also offered the green goopy contents of the crab's head, also known as kanimiso. We declined to touch it with extreme prejudice.

The grilled crab meat had a nice smokey taste, but again the legs were too scrawny to contain much meat. Spider crabs should get into the gym and do some leg curls or squats.

This course was accompanied by some crab rice - rice that had been cooked with the flavour of crab. This was very tasty, and went well with a bowl of miso soup.

Our meal finished with excellent green tea ice-cream, made with the matcha (powdered tea) that imparted a bitter-sweet flavour to the dessert. Very nice indeed.

If you're a crab fan, Kani Doraku is highly recommended. Spider crab is certainly one of the sweetest crab meats I have ever tasted. Just make sure you order enough food for your dining party! We also noticed other tables tucking into various hotpots, which looked and smelled fantastic. Alas we didn't have enough time to go back and try these. However, you can't go wrong with the banquets and this place seems to be quite good for groups if you are in the mood for a bang-up crab feast!

Theos and Sons - Freshly Shucked Oysters

Theos and Sons Fresh Seafood
PRAHRAN MARKET
Commerical Road, Prahran
+613 9826 4288

Can life get any better than this? After reading about the freshly shucked oysters at Theos in Prahran Market, EG and I just had to go and experience it for ourselves.

For $12.00 you get a dozen oysters, freshly shucked for your convenience. That's a dollar each people! A restaurant would normally charge three times as much, and I'd doubt they'd be as fresh as these little beauties were. We decided to go for a taste tester - one of each of the four varieties on offer that day. With tray precariously balanced (so as not to lose the briny juices), we made our way to Rumbles Cafe to pick up a couple of glasses of bubbles, the perfect accompaniment to our meaty molluscs. A quick twenty paces to a table in the sunny courtyard to devour our saliferous booty, and we were as happy as two foodies in any food market can get.

From front to back was the small Tasmanian mud, Coffin Bay, St.Helens, and Sydney Rock. It was interesting to line them up and taste their subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) differences. The Sydney Rock for example was quite irony, as is the Coffin Bay (though more subtly), whilst the St.Helens and small Tassie Muddy are delicate and sweet. Hands down, St.Helen's was voted the best by EG and I. It offered the perfect taste-of-the-sea mouthful.