King Crab Season

We are ever so lucky to have amazing food here in Vancouver. I swear, it is hard to compare food anywhere else with food at home because we have it so good. I mean, true, Japanese food tastes so good in Japan... stingrays in Singapore are also exceptional... and high tea in London is hard to beat. Vancouver however does have an  amazing variety of really good food. For one, we are very lucky to have our king crab season. It sure helps kick you out of the winter lull as it generally comes around the months of March and April.

Last week, after getting off the ferry from the baby shower that we attended, the five of us decided that we'd find a day when we're all free and have a major king crab feast. I can't remember who's brilliant idea it was that night, thinking hey, damn us health care professionals who can't ever seem to find the same time off with our shift work and crazy schedules... why not tonight? We're all off work!

We quickly made several calls to different chinese restaurants asking whether they had king crabs available for TONIGHT. And made reservations for half an hour later. We ended up at Empire in Richmond. And here is our dinner before he got chopped up.

King crab meals always gets done up at least 3 different ways. They make one dish with the legs. Another dish with the body. And a third dish with its essence.

We chose to have the legs plain steamed with garlic. This is always my favorite. I love garlic! And it brings out the sweetness of the meat. Why is king crab meat so chunky and sweet? Were they fed sugar??

Jen loves the body in a salty egg yolk sauce. It was definitely delicious but after two pieces, it got a bit heavy for me. Let's not mention the cholesterol. But I will spare the healthy/non-healthy talk.

The third dish was a noodle dish. In chinese, the noodles are called "yee mein". It's essentially deep fried and then made soft again. It's really good when made right. Unfortunately, this dish was a bit bland. Not enough of the crab essense. Or just not enough seasoning.

I must say the restaurant I went to last year for king crab was much tastier. Not that I'm complaining. This was still fantastic. Who can complain about king crab? Anyone visiting Vancouver in the months of March/April must try this delectable.