Stanley Restaurant ★ 4.6
Stanley two-level Cantonese banquet hall at Howard Smith Wharves. Head chef Louis Tikaram runs Peking duck carved tableside, abalone and Cantonese seafood.
History
The giant mud crab (Scylla serrata) lives in mangrove estuaries from southern Queensland up to the Top End. Quandamooka and Yugambeh peoples harvested mud crab for thousands of years before European arrival. Commercial pot fishing established mid-20th century made the crab a fixture on Brisbane menus, especially in Chinese restaurants that adopted Cantonese-style preparations (chilli, ginger and shallot, salt-and-pepper). The very best mud crabs are sold live from Sunnybank fish markets and Howard Smith Wharves vendors during the summer months. Brisbane fine-dining tends towards a single whole-crab presentation; suburban Cantonese restaurants serve it as a tablecloth-staining shared centrepiece with butane burners for keeping it warm.
Common allergens: Crustacean
Make it at home
Ingredients
- 1 live mud crab, around 1.5kg
- 4 long red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
- 5cm ginger, finely chopped
- 5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 4 spring onions, sliced
- 100ml tomato ketchup
- 60ml shaoxing wine
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce
- 2 tsp brown sugar
- Steamed jasmine rice, to serve
Method
- Humanely dispatch the crab by chilling in the freezer for 30 minutes; remove top shell, gills and clean cavity.
- Quarter the crab body and crack the claws with the back of a heavy knife.
- Heat 3 tbsp peanut oil in a wok until smoking. Add crab pieces and stir-fry 3 minutes until shells turn red.
- Add ginger, garlic and chilli; stir-fry 1 minute. Add shaoxing, soy, ketchup, sugar and 200ml water; bring to a simmer.
- Cover and steam-cook 8 minutes, tossing occasionally, until flesh is cooked through.
- Scatter spring onions, toss once more, and serve with jasmine rice and finger bowls.
Tip from the editors. Live mud crab is essential for sweetness. Brisbane's Sunnybank Plaza Sea World Seafood is the best source for live mud crab in Brisbane.
This is the TableJourney editorial recipe, modelled on the canonical bistro / counter version. The first place to try the dish in its city of origin is below.
Where to eat queensland mud crab
Queensland Mud Crab in Brisbane
Donna Chang ★ 4.5
Donna Chang Cantonese-Sichuan banquet sits inside the 1914 heritage Government Savings Bank on George Street, Brisbane CBD. Set menus, yum cha service.
More cities are in research. Want queensland mud crab covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.