Ministry of Crab – Reviewed

The ultimate destination for everything crab

Ministry of Crab is a magnificent fine dining venture created by Sri Lanka’s godfather of the culinary arts, Darshan Munidasa, and our legendary cricket icons Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardana. As you walk into the 400 year old Dutch hospital building compound, you are instantly greeted by its centerpiece, the cheerful buzz at the Ministry of Crab. As you walk into the restaurant, their staff wastes no time in making sure that you are escorted to your seat and that all arrangements are made to guarantee a great dining experience.

The place is absolutely beautiful. Both the indoor and outdoor seating areas are home to a herd of foreigners who happily feast away on their crabs. The wooden tables and chairs are enveloped in orange linen. This tone carries itself as the base colour of the setting. They’ve got massive Heleconia flowers in towering glass jars across a few tables and windowsills in both the outdoor and indoor seating areas.

Here’s the thing though, you cannot complain that the rates are too high. This is by far the best restaurant I’ve been to in Colombo and even though they’ve got exorbitantly higher prices, their rates can be justified based on the taste and quality of your meals and your experience.

Food and Drinks

Drinks: Small Island Iced Tea – Rs. 900, Iced tea soda – Rs 320 | 500 ml carafe and Aperol Spritiz – Rs. 1500

The small Island iced tea is an original cocktail that blends together Ceylon’s premium Old Arrack and Ministry of Crab’s signature Iced Tea Soda. Again, they really tapped into the soul of a true Lankan with the classic arrack.

The menu described their Iced Tea Soda as ‘a super popular, all natural alternative to traditional soft drinks’. We thought that the Iced Tea soda was spot on to everything described above.

The Aperol Spiritz is a mix of bitter orange Aperol, Prosecco, splash of soda and a slice of desk orange. I’m going to go on a limb here and say that this beverage was not our cup of tea. All of us felt like the bitter orange Aperol really overpowered the drink.

Appetizers: Avocado Crab Salad – Rs.960

Their Avocado Crab Salad at a whopping Rs.960 is insanely amazing. It’s a beautiful mix of finely shredded white meat of crab mixed into a wasabi avocado topped into the half an avocado, replacing its seed.

Mains: Curry Crab, Garlic Chilli Crab, Chicken Curry Rice – Rs. 1520, Pol Sambol – Rs. 320 and Kadei Bread – Rs.320

Since their speciality is crab, we decided to try as much of it as we can. You first pick the size of your catch. Here’s a small summary of the price scale:

500 – 600g = Rs.3,600

Up to 800g = Rs.6,400

Above 1 kg = Rs.9,800

1.7kg = Rs. 18,400

2kg = Rs. 23,200.

You can have your crab made one of the following ways; Chili Crab. Butter Crab (6 hours’ notice recommended), Curry Crab, Garlic Chili Crab, Pepper Crab and Baked Crab (Also needs to be ordered a few hours in advance). We decided to try out the Curry Crab and the Garlic Chili Crab.  

Their Curry Crab stays true to the flavors and taste of a traditional Sri Lankan Crab Curry. Just like the waiters suggested to us, this is something you’ve got to absolutely try out if you’re at Ministry of Crab. It worked so well with the Kaade Paan and Pol Sambol too.

We tried the Garlic Chilli Crab because their waiter convinced us that this was a show stopper, we need to thank him for it because it absolutely was. It was fairly oily in nature and not something you’d appreciate as much if you’re already too worried about your nutrient intake. This is some good lagoon crab tossed in olive oil, garlic, chili flakes, and soy sauce.

The only situation in which you would want I have something other than seafood in a place like this is if you were forced to go for a dinner with your family and if you’re allergic to seafood. We are in no way recommending that you skip the seafood and jump to the meat, but if you have to, here’s a little whim of what to expect. The boneless Chicken Curry rice was pretty amazing. It was served with sticky rice, a half done sunny side up and pol sambol

Dessert: Madushi’s Heavenly Chocolate Biscuit Pudding – Rs. 560 and Coffee Jelly – Rs. 480

I don’t know who Madushi is, but if I were to meet that girl, I would thank her for the chocolate biscuit pudding. The chocolate was rich and fluffy and covered the biscuit well. It was topped with some whipped cream for extra delight.

As someone who doesn’t live by a shot of double black, I really didn’t like the coffee jelly as much as someone who swears by coffee would.

Service & Ambience

I’ve got to be completely honest here. I have never been more impressed and satisfied with the cordiality and rate of service with anywhere else I have dined in Si Lanka. Seeing as they facilitate a larger foreign crowd, they do really stand true to the stereotype of all Sri Lankan’s being super friendly and cheerful.

On their menu, they’ve got a QR code that when scanned, leads to a video that shows you how to clean a crab. They’ve also got a few cool hashtags at the bottom of the menu you are tempted to use when Instagram-ing your Ministry of crab photos #omgcrab.

Have you tried Ministry of Crab yet? Let us know what you think of it in the comments below! Is there anything we’ve missed?

Tip: Make sure to make a reservation or else you won’t be accepted in (they’re usually almost always full house).
Double tiiiippp; Also, make sure to have a hefty wallet.