The Hut | Crab Banquet with Modern Flair

Autumn breeze rises, crabs are fat, and it's time to eat crabs again. This is the thing the people in Southern China are most looking forward to when it comes to the season of autumn. A New Account of the Tales of the World records that Bi Zhuo of the Jin Dynasty was a wine lover, and he used to say, "If I hold a wine cup in my right hand and a crab claw in my left, I will be able to spend all the time floating in a boat and call this a life." Liu Ruoyu's History of the Ming Palace also records the scenes of holding crab banquets at the Ming court. Eating full, meat-packed crabs and appreciating the elegant eating rituals have been one of the most adorable, brilliant aspects of Chinese food culture since ancient times.

The Hut has been hosting Crab Banquet as a major annual event for the past six years, combining traditional Chinese crab cooking techniques with Western culinary styles, and revamping ancient recipes with creative modern twists. This year's menu has taken one step further to present elegant innovations including Crab and Sea Urchin, Crab Meat & Roe with Rosemary, and other dishes, the sparkling inspirational collision of Eastern and Western flavours, and a feast of contemporary aesthetics.

Cold Dishes Trio

The Chinese name of the dish, Linglong Ta, is derived from a well-known piece of Xihe Dagu, a drumming singalong tongue twister popular in some parts of Northern China. The pagoda is also one of the most unique legendary artifacts in Chinese fantasy sagas. Placed in a beautiful transparent box to start the menu, the dish is comprised of three tiers, from top to bottom, crab and clam with caviar, walnut and avocado salad, crab in pickled sweet pepper. With the first tier, your appetite will be refreshed anew; the taste of avocado, together with The Hut's special crab meat floss brings a unique and enticing sensation; the final tier is a combination of crab meat and pickles to ignite tartness and spiciness to finish off the prologue.

Crab Porridge

In Qing Dynasty, elite scholar and gastronome Yuan Mei in his book Sui Yuan Shi Dan writes: "If you see water without rice, it is not porridge; if you see rice without water, it is not porridge. It is only when the water and rice are in harmony and soft as one that it is called porridge." Thai rice is boiled with crab meat and roe to make the porridge, which is rich and sweet with the aroma of crab and warm enough to draw closure to the previous cold dish.

Crab and Sea Urchin

A signature dish of the crab feast where you don't actually see the crab because various parts of the crab are disassembled and recreated with different cooking techniques. The crab pincers are flavoured with Cantonese sand ginger; the original crab body is paired with sea urchin and caviar that best highlight the natural umami of the crab, black vinegar grains decorating crab eyes to add to the savoury complexity; the larger legs are seasoned with Sichuan peppercorns; the smaller legs are accented with marinated mushrooms, each with their own wonderful flavours to balance the deliciousness.

Deep Fried Crab Meat

Crab pincers are a symbol of wealth in Chinese culture. Deep fried until crispy outside and tender inside, the crab meat is done with tempura methods and served with a wasabi salad sauce to jazz up the flavour. The base is made up of tea tree mushrooms coloured by squid ink and decorated with crab pincers. The plating is a work of art.

Crab Meat & Roe with Rosemary

This brand-new dish of the crab feast has a unique relevance to a Yuan Dynasty poem – like spring clouds the hair bun was loosely tied with jade hairpin, like autumn mountains her eyebrows hardly drawn, shying away from the dressing table. As you open the elegant bespoke dressing case, the mist curls up and the smell of spice hovers around, followed by the entrance of the crab body holding a specially blend of rich, creamy crab roe.

Baked Scallop

Topped with a stir-fried sauce of crab roe and crabmeat, the baked scallops are served with diced rice cakes and roasted over the fire before serving. A double taste of the sea and a fusion of East and West delicacies.

Steamed Crab Claw

The meat is removed from crab claws by hand and presented in its original flavour. The fish paste is loaded into premium black fungus, garnished with shredded carrots and coriander stalks, and topped off with a mellow and fragrant broth that is clear and not overpowering.

Crab in Thick Chicken Soup

This dish is inspired by a classic Shanghai fare, Shredded Pork and Chinese Leaves. Shredded Chinese Leaves is boiled until tender and crab roe and meat is used instead of the traditional shredded pork. A seasonal delight that combines the freshness of the autumn vegetables with the meltingly-good crab meat and roe.

Fried Dough with Twist 

Fried dough twist is a traditional snack used to be sold by street food vendors in quiet alleyways of Huaiyang area. Here, the crunchy dough twist is topped with a velvety thick sauce made from diced Mandarin fish, crab roe, and crab meat for a heavenly mouthfeel.

When the chrysanthemum flowers bloom and crabs fatten up, experience the blend of contemporary fashion and the sentiments of ancient literati at The Hut while enjoying the elegance and pleasure of eating crabs. The Crab Banquet menu is available from September 25th.