It’s time again for the little crustacean to take center stage—but this year it’s not just the hairy ones. Lynn Fung checks out the city’s best fall crab menus.

Between the mooncake gorge-fest and the indulgences of Christmas lies the short but sweet hairy crab season. The little hirsute buggers are traditionally steamed whole with ginger and washed down with lashings of hua diao wine, but these days chefs around town are putting their own personal stamps on the dish, and with a variety of non-hairy crab deals also on around town, this year there is truly something crabby for everyone.

Crab Cravings
There’s no place better to indulge than at Ming Court. Their crabs are imported straight from Yang Cheng Lake, which is kind of a big deal as these crabs are so valued that each one is tagged with an ID number to avoid counterfeits. You can order a la carte, or better yet, sample Ming Court’s seven-course tasting menu ($838). You can have your crab any which way: deep-fried, braised with shark’s fin, steamed whole or stuffed into a dumpling; you name it, they’ve got it. The crab season at Ming Court ends on Nov 9, and after Oct 31, customers need to book two days in advance in order to secure a crab.
L/6, Langham Place, 555 Shanghai St., Mong Kok, 3552-3300.

Family Feast
For many Chinese families, hairy crab is best enjoyed seated around a boisterous table, but if you would rather enjoy the delicacy in a more refined manner, Ye Shanghai is offering a banquet menu for $1,080 per person. It includes eight hairy crab dishes out of five starters, a soup, five mains and dim sum. Sound like too much? Just order a la carte instead. In addition to the traditional whole crab, try the simple and delicious sautéed pea sprouts and soup noodles, both with the ubiquitous crabmeat. Reservations must be made at least one day in advance and for a minimum of six people.
L/3 Pacific Place, Admiralty, 2918-9833.

On the Other Claw
China’s Yang Cheng Lake shares the reputation for best breeding grounds for hairy crabs with Tai Lake (or Tai Hu) in the Yangtze delta plain. Not convinced Tai Hu crabs taste as good as the ones from Yang Cheng? Why not give them a whirl at Yu Joy, the new Chinese restaurant at Elements? They’re offering Tai Hu hairy crabs at $280 for 6 taels. If you lack the skill or the patience to take apart a whole steamed crab, there are plenty of dishes where you won’t have to deal with fiddly bits of shell. Try the stir-fried crabmeat with milk ($138) or the hairy crab roe served with rice crackers ($138).
Shop 1028C L/1, Elements, 1 Austin Rd. West, West Kowloon, 2196-8100.

Old-Fashioned Fare
Shanghainese restaurant Lu Yang Cun is offering up specialty dishes such as steamed lion’s head with crab roe. What on earth is steamed lion’s head, we hear you ask? It’s a giant pork meatball in broth, a famous dish from Yangzhou that is often served at state banquets. Another signature dish is the delicious sautéed crab roe. It’s an oily yet heavenly bowl of crab roe, mixed with crabmeat. Perfect with a simple bowl of soup noodles or man tau, steamed Shanghainese bread rolls.
11/F, World Trade Centre, 280 Gloucester Rd., Causeway Bay, 2881-6669.

New Crab Dishes
Although hairy crabs have traditionally been confined to Shanghainese cuisine, in recent times the coveted crustacean has popped up on an eclectic range of menus around town. Chef Kenny Chan from Beijing restaurant Dong Lai Shun offers some innovative dishes not usually associated with the hairy crab, such as baked puff pastry crab shell with silver fish ($98) and organic baby pumpkin and aloe with crab ($128). Another dish worth trying is the wok-fried crabmeat and rock lobster with salted egg yolk on rice crackers ($228). The dish was recently awarded a “Best of the Best” award by the Hong Kong Tourism Board.
69 Mody Rd., Royal Garden Hotel, Tsim Sha Tsui East,     2311-2985.

Not Just the Hairy Ones
Although hairy crabs are by far the most widely available crabs in the fall, let’s not forget that November is when all crabs, hairy or otherwise, come into season. La Qube, the new northern Italian restaurant run by the Qube group, is offering six new dishes to celebrate the crab season with fresh Dungeness crabs from Canada. Start with a crabmeat and avocado salad or a crab cappuccino, and then choose from two mains, either a crab risotto with asparagus and herb cream or a crab and cheese ravioli with lobster foam.

Finally, Café Siam is offering a crab promotion that truly has something for everyone from now until the end of November. Their menu has everything from deep-fried soft-shell crab salads, braised whole crabs in curry, steamed crab in a spicy tom yum sauce to fried crab with chili paste and sweet basil.

La Qube, 1/F, 30-32 D’Aguilar St., Central, 2526-3880; Cafe Siam, 40-42 Lyndhurst Terrace, Central, 2851-4803.