Green crabs @ Greenview

I love crabs. But the crabs that are usually served at the average (non-classy) Chinese restaurants are pretty small, hence lacking in meat.

Of course I could always pay top dollar to enjoy some real meaty Alaskan King Crabs but then that would bankrupt me, seeing that a kg would probably run more than RM100. And one crab weighs much more than a kg trust me. So how?

In order to save my wallet and still enjoy fresh meaty crabs, I journeyed to Greenview. At RM40 a kg for their smallest size crabs (which is still pretty large compared to the ones you get at the average restaurant), it was an acceptable compromise between price and quantity. Oh before I forget, the price is actually on promotion, the normal rate is RM50 a kg. And they only use crabs imported from Indonesia it seems.

The restaurant actually spans three lots!

For a group of three, we ordered their famous pork knuckle, deep fried honeyed squid (they only use the tentacles here), a vegetable dish, 2 steamed crabs and 2 crabs cooked with salted egg yolk. Thinking back, it might have been a bit too much for just three people...

Pork knuckle

It's big and meaty

Crunchy skin!

The pork knuckle was huge. Overwhelmingly so. The portion served could have fed at least 5 people. No complaints about the taste, it was hearty, full of flavour and the skin was awesome with a thin layer of fat underneath. However there seems to be only one size for this dish, so small groups might want to skip this. Or just pack the leftovers home.

Deep fried honeyed squid (tentacles)

At first I expected the usual deep fried squid (which you usually get at any Chinese restaurant). To my surprise Greenview's version of this dish only uses the tentacles (the 'head' part) of the squid. The sweet honey taste goes well with the spicy 'cili padi'. Real crunchy too, but I think I would prefer the usual version. Once again, the portion was huge. Don't they adjust the sizes of the dishes based on the amount of people per table here? LOL!

Fresh veggies!

I was actually too stuffed to try this dish. But my parents gave it the thumbs up. Fresh and cooked right I guess? The green veggies did look mighty tempting but at that point of time my stomach just couldn't fit in any more food.

Steamed crabs with egg white

Check out the roe!

Crabs covered with salted egg yolk

When the crabs arrived, I was like WHOA! I could really see the size difference between the crabs offered here and the usual mud crabs you get elsewhere. And this was their smallest size...I wonder how large would their giant crabs be...

4 crabs totaled around 2 and a half kgs which means around RM100 for the crabs alone. Yes I hear some of you saying that crabs elsewhere go for around RM18 per kg but then again those are small compared to the ones here. Small crabs equal less meat which means you'll probably end up ordering more anyway.

I really liked their steamed crabs. I always think that fresh seafood is best steamed. Greenview certainly did not disappoint here, with the rich firm crab flesh combining extremely well with the abundant roe and egg white. Ah...heavenly!

As for the salted egg yolk crabs, it was good. The salted egg yolk 'sauce' (fried with curry leaves) did go well with the crab, more complimenting rather than overwhelming. Thumbs up to Greenview for ensuring that this dish wasn't too salty. On the other hand, the generous amounts of salted egg yolk would not go down very well with people who are trying to keep their cholesterol levels in check...

If I was asked to choose though, I would have gone for the steamed version. Call me a purist but to me the only way to taste the pure unadulterated taste of fresh crab is by having them steamed. With plenty of roe. Oh dear...plenty of roe...increased cholesterol levels...not good...LOL!

The promotion runs until July if I'm not mistaken. So if you love crabs (and your wallet), you know where to go. Who knows, you might even bump into me there!