Gorging On Crabs In Hokkaido

     Unlike the two men in my life, I do not have a penchant for crabs. But when I visited Hokkaido, the juicy, succulent and plump crabs were a delight to partake. Famous for its high quality and fresh seafood, Hokkaido especially excels in crabs. It would be a sacrilege not to feast on the specialty of the place that you are visiting.

     On my second night in Hokkaido, I was staying at Mombetsu Prince Hotel, which is fairly near Abashiri. This is on the northeastern coast of Hokkaido and touted to be the best place to eat the Red King Crab. A Deluxe Crab Meal was served at the hotel and I literally stuffed myself with the crustacean fellas. There were crab tofus, sashimi from Okhotsk Sea, Zuwai Crab shabu-shabu (raw crabs to be cooked in a pot of boiling soup), steamed crab meat dumpling, crab tempura, Japanese rice cooked with crabs and the piece de resistance of the meal had to be the steamed Snow Crabs! The crabs were so meaty, sweet and luscious. 

Our Deluxe Crab Meal, with all its different courses, was beautifully laid out  for us.

Cooked and ready to be devoured

Poised to begin the arduous task of digging in

Simple pot of rice but it was so sweet because of the crab meat

Crabs in sauna

     Crab-san and I met again on the penultimate day of my Hokkaido trip. At the Kitanogurume wholesale market in Sapporo, there were crabs galore for photo-taking, shopping and feasting. As part of the Gala Seafood Lunch, which included abalone, scallops and salmon, the enormous Red King Crab was also served. He eyed me from his station on the table, taunting to say that a crab novice like me would have a tough time prising open his thick shell and scooping out his tender flesh. How wrong Crab-san was! In addition to the crab cracker, scissors and long-stemmed fork that had been provided, the attentive waiter took pity on me and helped to rip apart Crab-san, exposing his wondrous flesh in its full glory! Oishii!

Catching my 3.5kg crab worth RM800!

Tempting array of crabs to be bought

Can't wait to gorge on this gigantic King Crab

     In addition to these two main crab meals, I encountered them at the buffet spread and BBQ dinner on other occasions during that Hokkaido trip. Had my dad and my hubby been with me in Hokkaido, they would have been over the moon gorging on the crabs.