A Cast of Crabs, Fei Fei Crab Restaurant

Let us face it, there are not many among us who relish the notion of a protracted fight with a consortium of feisty crustaceans, but that is the expectation when you contemplate cooking a Cast of Crabs for dinner. (let’s not talk about cooking crabs for friends. It has never happened in my lifetime before. 😂). And yet, the white meat of this crusty decapod is universally considered a delicacy and people will go to great lengths to eat it when it is in season. The price of crabs are seasonal and subject to availability. But instead of worrying about all this, why not save yourself some trouble and head over to one of the many crab restaurants in the Klang Valley? We are spoilt for options when it comes to crab restaurants in the Klang Valley, but there are crab-meat lovers that swear by Fei Fei Crab Restaurant.

FEI FEI CRAB RESTAURANT (Kepong)
7, Jalan Desa 2/7,
Desa Aman Puri, Kepong
52100 Kuala Lumpur

FEI FEI CRAB RESTAURANT (PJ)
19, Jalan SS22/11,
Damansara Jaya,
47400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor

 

 

Business Hours for both outlets are from 11am - 2.45pm in the first half and 5pm - 11pm in the second half daily. They are closed on Mondays, and take note, there are NO Reservation Services Available, this restaurant has so many patrons that it is on a First-Come-First-Served Basis only.

Fei Fei is a typical Chinese restaurant, with lots of round tables set up inside and outside the shop. They have plentiful staff to help manage the large crowds, especially on weekends and it is clean. Things can get a bit noisy after a while as conversations from each table drifts into the air but you can still hear each other talking despite the din.

But there is something interesting about eating in a restaurant full of people. For one, you get to see what other people are having to help you make up your own mind. And strangely enough, their food always looks better than yours. Secondly, if the crowd is this big, the food must be good! I was advised by the proprietor that the crowds are more manageable on weekdays, weekends are always packed with people, with many even queuing up outside with numbers given by the restaurant! Now that is what I call good business.

Fei Fei Crab Restaurant offers two kinds of crabs, they have Stone Crabs and French Crabs imported from Indonesia. But as we were to learn, although they are specialised in crabs, they also offer other kinds of eats such as BBQ Pork Ribs, crayfish, vegetables and tofu.

Now the popular opinion about eating crabs is that it has to be fresh. Ready to eat crabs that are already shelled are often chilled so the taste of it is more or less scuppered, not to mention ridiculously more expensive. Canned crabs can help to satisfy cravings somewhat, but they are a poor comfort compared to eating freshly prepared crabs.

DID YOU KNOW? Crabs have ten legs, so they are called Decapods. They do not have bones, instead they are covered by a hard outer shell. The only way they can grow is by a process called molting, in which they shed their outer shell. Once their old shell is removed, they ingest a lot of water to bulk up their bodies. During this time, a new soft shell develops around the naked crab which will take a few days to harden. This is why there are restaurants that offers soft-shell crabs where their white-meats are considered to be more succulent and sweet. If you have never seen a crab during the molting process however (which takes roughly about 15 mins), why not catch this video? It is a film produced by Nicole Abeln, who is an Animal Care Technician at the Anchorage Museum, I myself found it quite informative (yes yes, I am also a big fan of BBC’s Planet Earth HD documentaries and National Geographic 😎). - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgffHW8RSXM

We hardly had time to sit down and wait, for the well-staffed kitchen was prompt and the service was quick! Over the course of an hour our palates were treated to a stupefying eight-course dinner. Readers Tip: Our favourites are accompanied with a 👍 as an indication of a must try! If it is rated, 👍👍 then it is not only a must try, but a must share with friends as well!

The Giant Seafood Platter @ RM288 👍👍

This awe-inspiring platter took our breaths away. Here is how they did it. You start by taking the biggest deep-dish platter in your kitchen. You then park a whole Steamed Red Snapper at the bottom. Then you line the sides with Mussels, Scallops, Sea Prawns, and Clams. Crown the ensemble with a fried crab and ladle sweet and sour sauce generously until the bottom is covered with it. Garnish with coriander, red onions and green lime.

 

 

 

BBQ Pork Ribs 👍👍

I am a big fan of meats. I have had some great experiences in many places but this is by far, one of the best I have ever had in PJ. The price of this the BBQ Pork Ribs depends heavily on the season and availability of this cutting however.

 

French Bean with Salted Egg @ RM15 (medium-plate)

This popular savoury dish can be found in almost every Chinese restaurant. While commonplace, there is nothing ordinary about the taste as the French beans retain their crunchiness with the salted eggs lending flavour.

Italiano Mantis Shrimp with Potatoes @ RM18 (small-plate) 👍

If you have never tasted Stomatopoda meat before, then this will be a good dish to try. Mantis Shrimp are usually prawn-sized, but some can rival the size of big lobsters. It is naturally sweet and a little flaky, so do not confuse this with eating chicken.

 

White Wine Steamed French Crab @ RM108 👍👍

The meat from this crab was excellent, and the cooking style helped to retain the meat’s succulence. The crab was cleaned and beautifully laid out on a platter and steamed with the crab egg @ roe inside the shell with some ginger. A nice touch to this dish was that the crab was also steamed together with raw beaten eggs poured onto the platter to make a soft bed of Chinese Steamed Eggs. This was my favourite dish for the evening, as the cooking style helped to enhance the flavour of the French crab as opposed to being flavoured with heavy sauce. I rate this two thumbs up!

 

 

 

Sharkfin Tofu @ RM25 (small-plate)

Oreo Cheese Crab w/ Mantou @ RM156 + RM10 👍

Prior to visiting Fei Fei Crab Restaurant, I heard highly of crabs cooked in cheese sauce that were to be found in the PJ area. This dish is interesting, as the cooking style not only retained the sweet and succulent nature of the crab meat inside the shell, but the shell itself is coated or bathing in hot gooey cheese sauce. The entire dish is liberally sprinkled over with crushed Oreo. The addition of Fried Mantou bread was a good combo, as you could then scoop up the cheese sauce with the bread and eat it together with crab meat.

 

 

 

Kam Heong and Butter Japanese Snails @ RM35 👍

This is a lot like eating escargot, except that the taste of the snails are heavily flavoured by the cooking style. One side of this is this cooked with a thick and creamy butter sauce and the other in Kam Heong style.

DID YOU KNOW? Kam Heong is actually Cantonese for “Golden Fragrance”. This is a unique cooking style which according to popular folklore is a fusion of Malay, Chinese and Indian cuisines. In our multicultural society this is not hard to believe as we are blessed with may local dishes unique to the country. The key to the Kam Heong style is actually the stir-frying of meats or seafoods together with a heavy sauce made from combining chillies, curry leaves, fine dried shrimp, curry powder and soy bean paste.

 

With the owner Mr. Tan standing on my left and fellow bloggers.

Overall, I would recommend repeat visits to Fei Fei Crab Restaurant. They have been in the FnB industry for the last 8 years, with their latest branch in PJ opened not very long ago. Their foods are good and they have a fair selection of foods in their menu ranging from fishes, porks, seafood, bean curd / tofu and vegetables, specialising in a Cast of Crabs of course. ~ Marv.7

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