Beijing

In China, restaurants and shops serve the seasonal hairy crabs for three months from October to December, but there is one that boasts a crab feast all year round.

Noble House Restaurant provides a complete crab banquet anytime of the year. Its secret: a preservation system. Every autumn, the company starts to stock up the ingredients for its crab banquets the following year.

According to general manager Zhang Zhiqiang, the restaurant selects good quality Chinese mitten crabs from Taihu Lake.

Almost all the ingredients, except the steamed fresh whole crab, are preserved. Noble House has won several awards for its "Shanghai famous dishes" from the Cuisine Association - specifically the fried crabmeat and crab roe and the crabmeat and roe cup with matsutake mushrooms.

The crab banquet starts with a healthy, warming bowl of crabmeat and bamboo fungus soup. It is followed by delicious fried crab roe with cream, served in a beautiful green cup made from an apple.

Brown meat from the claw is piled in a plate and served cold, along with a bowl of famous Zhenjiang vinegar and ginger to dip into.

The restaurant also shows some ingenuity in presenting a tasty mixture of fried crab roe and crabmeat on a crispy sesame cake. The meal finishes with a hefty fresh-steamed river crab named after the restaurant's founder Zhang Zhiqiang.

Although hairy crabs have been available since the Mid-Autumn Festival, the best time to eat them, according to Chinese experts, is around the time of Frost Descent, the solar term that marks Oct 24. This is the last solar term of autumn, and indicates the approach of winter. It is said crabs at this time of the year are the fattest and at their most tender.

Noble House Restaurant normally serves Shanghai cuisine and its decor is luxuriously traditional Chinese. The average bill comes up to about 800 yuan a person. You can order crab dishes a la carte, but the restaurant also provides set menus. The crab banquet is about 1,000 yuan per head. You can also buy gift boxes of fresh crabs, yellow rice wine and sauces.

You can contact the writer at yejun@chinadaily.com.cn.

China Daily

(China Daily 11/06/2011 page13)