Peony Jade @ Keppel Club – It’s the Hairy Crab Season again!

Hairy crab season is finally here again. These furry crabs, though only palm size small, are highly sought after for their sweet and delicate meat, and the bright orange roe. From 19 October to 30 November 2013, Peony Jade offers a range of Cantonese hairy crab creations that deliciously marry taste with tradition. It’s time to practise your crab crackin’ skill, are you ready?

One of the must-try is Peony Jade’s steamed ‘xiao long bao’ with hairy crab meat & golden roe (蟹粉小笼包, $18 for 3 pieces). The traditional xiao long bao is prepared with pork filling seasoned with ginger and shaoxing wine, and mixed with pork stock. Adding crab meat and crab roe from the hairy crab makes this truly decadent.

Another way to enjoy the fresh hairy crab roe is with the use of egg white, as presented in this dish – Steamed scallop with hairy crabmeat, egg white and spinach broth 玉河畔金杯西京蟹 (S$38). Golden roe extracted from the hairy crab and soft egg whites are added to enhance the silky texture and laden the hairy crab meat with a full-bodied flavour and aroma.

The hairy crabs are from Yang Cheng Lake in China’s Jiangsu province, and the Chinese believe that crabs have a yin, or cooling, effect on the body. To neutralise this yin effect, the Peony Jade team specially introduced sea salt-baked hairy crab in golden pillow 盐焗面包大闸蟹 (S$68), as the yang-element sea salt helps to bring out the freshness and sweetness of the crab where the fresh roe can be showcased at its best.

The entire hairy crab is encased in an adorable crab-shaped handcrafted bread crust. In order to savour this prized treasure, you would have to peel the bread so that the aroma of the crab prepared with creamy low fat butter and freshly concocted chicken consommé will emanate. It’s crab within a crab!

Wok fried Shanghai nian gao with hairy crab (XO 酱大闸蟹上海年糕, $56) is wok fried in a slight spicy XO sauce. The nian gao has a compact texture that seals the subtle, fragrant taste of from the XO sauce. One point to note, this dish is very heavy, so you may want to wait till the end of your meal.

Fried Rice become sumptuous with the addition of upscale ingredient – crabmeat. I enjoyed my bowl of Wok tossed fragrant rice with hand peeled crabmeat (粒粒飘香大闸蟹肉炒饭) as the rice is fried till so fluffy and light. The fried rice is part of the set menu.

To balance the yin energy of this autumn/winter feast is the traditional sweet-and-spicy boiled hot ginger tea with glutinous rice dumplings. The heat of the ginger aids in digestion and it is believed that the ‘heaty’ aspect of the ginger soup can balance the ‘cooling’ effect of hairy crab meat.

Or…up the ante to a whole new level by sinking your teeth into Peony Jade’s Signature bittersweet Mao Shan Wang durian mochi. I LOVE THE MOCHI SO MUCH! It is sooooo soft and the skin is soooo thin. The chewy yet perfectly soft mochi skin encases the unadulterated Mao Shan Wang durian pulp inside. This boiled hot ginger tea with glutinous rice dumpling accompanied with maoshan wang durian mochi (姜茶汤丸伴猫山王麻糬) is part of the premium set menu.

The seasonal hairy crab promotion at Peony Jade @ Keppel Club is available from 19 October to 30 November 2013. Prices start from S$12++ for ala carte items, S$98++ per person for set menu and S$128++ per person for premium set menu.

Peony Jade @ Keppel Club
Address: Bukit Chermin Road, Keppel Club (Level M)
Tel: 6276 9138
Opening hours: 11am to 2.30pm; 6pm to 11pm