After savouring O’ Mei’s iconic ‘ Giant Lobster prepared multiple ways ‘ repetitively for many a year. This once beloved unique offering has sadly started to lose its lustre, becoming less captivating and signs of it turning into a ‘ garden variety ‘ product has begun to emerge.
Tonight, at O’ Mei, our regular foodie group decided to try out something different, splurge a bit and upped our weekly culinary gathering experience by opting for an Alaskan King Crab feast instead. However, our culinary event took an unexpected change in direction, when the star of the evening turned out to be NOT the King Crab but the wines we brought along to accompany the meal!
First, a 97 pts, Dopff au Moulin 2017 Grand Cru Brand Gewurztraminer. An exuberant off-dry white wine, fabulously perfumed and aromatic ( lychee, pineapple, rose petal… ) that was rich, energetic and complex on the palate. Very elegant and classy. Absolutely great with the sweet, delicate and umami packed crab meat.
Next, a magnificent and gorgeous Bordeaux first growth……1998 Chateau Haut Brion! Perfectly balanced, rich, unctuous but not too weighty. Deeply harmonious with endless honeyed, cherries and earthy complexity. Really long finish! A ‘supernova‘ that erupted and outshines the King Crab ‘star of the evening‘! I ended up enjoying the wine alone since IMHO, no food was needed to bring out the best of this wine!
Now, back to the ‘chow’ part!
The 10+ pounder monster, specially chosen for our party of 8, was prepared in the following “ 6 ways “ :
- Steamed lower, smaller ends of legs with julienne scallions and ginger, rice wine on rice
vermicelli - Steamed upper meatier part of legs with minced garlic and scallions atop rice vermicelli
- Sauteed body with house special Maggi sauce and onions
- Fried body with seasoned spiced chili pepper salt
- Steamed egg custard ( charamushi ) with crab brains/tamale
- Fried rice with Chinese preserved meat, diced Gai-lan stems and tamale
In addition we augmented the aforementioned with some needed veggies and meat protein:
- Sweet & sour pork
- Braised Tofu with Chinese Shitake mushrooms and Broccoli
- Stirred fry Chinese Kale ( Gai-lan ) with sun-dried Flounder
- Steamed pork pattie with sun-dried Cuttlefish and water-chestnuts
For those of you who had tried O’mei’s Giant Lobster multiple ways in the past, the flavour profile for these various crab preparations should be familiar. The main difference here being, the Crab meat was definitely more delicate, sweeter and less chewy!
Overall, a most enjoyable, lip-smacking meal!
