Rating: ★★★★☆

Address: 3/F, Cosmos Building, Lan Kwai Fong, Central 中環蘭桂坊8-11號昌隆大廈3樓

Telephone: 2110 0100

https://holycrab.com.hk

Opened by Salient Group (who also operate Bloop Shisha Lounge nearby), this interestingly named eatery is an American-style seafood restaurant that specialises in Cajun cuisine. Cajun cuisine originates from Louisiana, USA and is a rustic cuisine that combines French cooking methods with local game, seafood, herbs and spices.

The restaurant’s funky interior is reminiscent of fisherman’s wharf in San Franciso, and has a lively, exciting ambience with raw wood tables, a show kitchen and custom-made rock pools where live crustaceans are kept. The kitchen is helmed by executive chef Mark Kerkstra. 

(1) We start off with a Southern fried okra and tomato salad ($80). We find the salad leaves fresh and the fried okra deliciously crispy. 

(2) Next, the catfish bucket ($188) is served, and we opt for some corn fritters to go into the bucket. The portion is robust, and the catfish has a delightful outer crispiness and a gentle inner tenderness. We find the corn fritters doughy and a tad bland though.

(3) The restaurant has a “pick your own catch” approach, where you can go to the artificial rock pools and pick one (unfortunate) catch that you will devour. These crustaceans are flown in daily from the USA – the crawfish and swimming crab are sourced from Louisiana, the king and Dungeness crab from Alaska and the lobster from Maine.

Even though we are quite tempted by the Dungeness crab that the table next to us ordered, we decide to go for a Maine lobster, which is priced at around $765/kg.

The lobster is cooked in a Cajun “Low Country Boil” method, with roughly chopped bell peppers, onion and celery (know as the “holy trinity”) and other vegetables thrown into the boil. The cooked lobster is then served to us in a rustic tin bucket.

We find the broth soothingly flavourful and also enjoy eating the boiled vegetables and the Andouille sausages in the broth. As my friend and I are exceptionally lazy (you can read about our recent hotpot experience where we were tempted to ask the waiters to cook everything for us), we politely ask a young, energetic waiter if he would so kindly take this lobster apart for us, and he happily obliges!

The lobster is ruthlessly taken apart and neatly arranged on a plate for our enjoyment. Even though this creature comes with a hefty price tag, the meat is exceptionally fresh and flavour-packed. My dining companion’s parents actually operate several renowned restaurants in town, but even she is very satisfied with the high quality of the lobster.

(4) For desserts, we decide to share an apple tart ($60) and a brownie. The apple tart is not quite up to standards – the tart is cold and not buttery at all, and is also way too sweet. It almost seems as if this is bought from a cheap supplier.

(5) The chocolate brownie ($60), on the other hand, wins our approval and is richly flavoured and deliciously moist. 

Right before we leave the restaurant, the waitress asks whether we have checked out the restaurant’s bathroom. Despite this seemingly odd comment, we decide to take a look and are very surprised by this very beautiful and creative sink where some goldfish are kept!

The seafood here doesn’t come cheap, and dinner typically costs around $600-$900 per head, but we have really enjoyed our fun, memorable dining experience. I would recommend this restaurant for group gatherings so that you can order a few large catches to share, without causing too big a dent in the wallet. I would be tempted to come back soon for some fresh lobsters!