It’s a ministry where your requests will get heard, served and where you will want to spend hours. This is the Ministry of Crab (MoC), Colombo’s celebrated restaurant known as much for its crustacean preparations as its celebrity cricket owners. Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara together with Chef Dharshan Munidasa opened MoC in the Dutch Hospital Complex in Colombo. Their crab preparations became an instant hit, attracting celebrities and awards in equal measure.
The restaurant arrives in Mumbai, courtesy Gourmet Investments, after months of planning, permissions and the hunt for the perfect place. The place in question is the 6,000 square feet Zaveri House in Khar. The new Ministry has three floors: a bar area with a separate food menu of bar nibbles, the main restaurant area with an outdoor patio and a private dining room in the basement.
Size clearly matters at MoC, specifically, the size of the mud crab you intend to eat. There are 10 options, starting with a half-kilo (₹1,995) and going up to a two-kilogram Crabzilla (₹14,395). Once you select a size, there are six preparations to choose from: pepper, chilli, curry, garlic chilli, garlic, and butter. Munidasa was very particular about the seafood, preferring to source it from the South of India rather than importing it. “It’s best to serve a country’s produce in the country itself,” he says. The crab at our table of three is the Kilo Crab (above one kilogram, ₹5,995) prepared in the signature garlic chilli ‘sauce’. It comes nestled on a thin layer of rice and swimming in olive oil. The only way to do it justice is by abandoning the crab knife and mallet and using our hands and teeth to break in. Every crack reveals tender white meat, fresh but without the sweetness of the crab meat we are used to in Mumbai. We prefer the crab in the Kani Chahan (₹695), a comforting Japanese-styled fried rice.
The prawns on offer also come in different sizes, seven in all (₹825 to ₹995), and preparations. Our Claypot Prawn Curry (₹1,695) comes in a deep vessel that doesn’t quite hide the half kilo prawns inside, some bigger than our hands. The delicate bisque accompanying it is aromatic and has the slightest hint of coconut and onions. We mop it up with the typical Sri Lankan wood-fried Kade bread (₹295).
“We haven’t changed the menu much from the original,” says Munidasa. “There are a few local dishes and crab preparations.” One such ‘local’ preparation is a Goan Curry (₹695). The dish is misleading because as we sift through the baby eggplant and button mushrooms, we realise that despite its tangy notes (courtesy coconut vinegar), this isn’t Goan at all. The look and feel is distinctly South Indian. Another change is the addition of a vegetarian menu — though a small list with curries, sides and rice.
The desserts are heavy on chocolate. A light and creamy Bitter Chocolate Ice cream (₹325) contrasts with Story of Cacao (₹495), a bitter chocolate mousse shaped like a cacao nib on a bed of chocolate soil.
Does MoC match up to the original? Comparisons are inevitable. Mumbai’s Khar area doesn’t match up to the Old Dutch Hospital Complex, and the space lacks the warmth of the original. The quality is the same, but the experience is different, and the price, quite premium.
Ministry of Crab is at Zaveri House, 14th Road, Khar West. 7710898811