Wan Hao Restaurant Launches Hairy Crab Grandeur 2015

Feast on everything Hairy Crab

Wan Hao, a restaurant long acquainted with Cantonese Culinary art since it first opened back in the year 1995. This place has made both longtime and new patrons coming back for their authentic favourites. Also, they are consistently listed as amongst the top restaurants in Singapore and also heralded for it’s impressive wine list of over 300 selections and an excellent appeal to wine lovers.

Items like the crispy Peking Duck with traditional Chinese crêpes, Beef Tenderloin and fresh seafood delicacies are just some to mention. But in this review, we are going to cover the current seasonal dish, hairy crabs.

You see their exclusive setting with Chinese gold leaf calligraphy gives it a very oriental feeling, which also means it’s suitable for business lunches or family gatherings. At Wan Hao, other than the usual main dining floor, they also have four-seater booths and privates rooms.

Moving on to the mouth-watering delicacies we are here for today, they have the Hairy Crab Grandeur sets, and in our review we go through their offerings in Set Menu A.

Deep-Fried Hairy Crab Ball

Steamed Hairy Crab Xiao Long Bao

Steamed Crab Meat Dumpling

The above three dishes, are served together to start off the meal. The Deep-Fried Hairy Crab Ball has a very good crunch to it, you might actually think you are crunching on nuts. Nicely deep fried to golden brown, with the accompaniment of some sweet sour sauce for a more flavourful bite.

The Steamed Hairy Crab Xiao Long Bao may look like your typical xiao long bao but that doesn’t equates to what’s on the inside. Filled with nothing but the best crab meat, you can tell that it’s of quality upon the first bite.

Steamed Crab Meat Dumpling had was delicately wrapped and comes accompanied with sweet crab meat filling for a savoury mouthfull of crab.

Hairy Crab Meat & Roe Broth with Bamboo Pith was the next dish we had.

It looks pretty thick but in actual fact it was more fluid than expected. However, that didn’t undermine the taste- it was flavourful and well boiled in a great stock. Bits of vegetables can be found within for a change in monotony and a fresh cripsness that cuts through the crab broth. Never liked vinegar but it actually goes well with it for some acidity, and sprinkle some pepper too.

The highlight of the meal, Baked Whole Hairy Crab with Shao Xin Chinese Wine definitely stole the limelight with all its succulent meat and oh-so-heavenly roe that is just simply steamed. Meat was scarce, as one would expect from a hairy crab. The roe was the star. Sweet, fresh and of course, in abundance. I could easily tackle 10 portion of it’s roe.

The staff delicately cuts open the crab for us, breaking it into smaller pieces for easier consumption.

Moving on to the Fresh Milk Stir-Fried Hairy Crab Meat with Egg white & Shrimp Roe. This resembles a lot like having a scrambled egg dish.

It was recommended to us by the staff to pair it with vinegar which really gave a lift to it’s flavour. By itself, it tasted pretty bland, really. Creamy-like, together with generous portion of crab meat, I got a little jelat after a few mouthful but having the broccoli to munch on definitely helps. At the bottom of the dish was also some strips of fried crackers, which compliments the texture of the dish really well.

Wok-Fried Rice with Hairy Crab Meat, Fish Roe & Diced Mushroom. A rice dish, has got to be a must in every Chinese meal’s ending. The roe sprinkled all over the portion of rice gave a consistent tiny burst of flavour in every bite.

It was all better with the light spring onions and diced mushrooms as they provided a different dimension of taste to the fried rice. Portion was definitely just right, after having many delicacies prior to this.

Coconut Sago with Japanese Sweet Purple Potato was a good and sweet way to end off the meal. A warm and mildly sweet dessert, the mini green sagos were soft and chewy. Sweet potato mash was really thick and no other ingredients were mixed in it, thus making it quite heavy. Finish each mouthful with some coconut gravy and it goes oh so perfectly.