Sri Lanka VS Singapore – Battle of the Chili Crab – Ministry of Crab

Google some of the must eat things in Sri Lanka and Ministry of Crab will inevitably come up. The 50 Best List ranked it the #1 restaurant in Sri Lanka in 2002. They specialize in Sri Lankan mud crab, and according to some of the write ups I read, they claim to have invented Chilli Crab, one of the national dishes of Singapore! The restaurant was located a short walk from the Shangri La Colombo where we were staying though in the humidity, the walk seemed longer than it was! However, along the way, we got to see some first glimpses of Colombo, the Sri Lankan capital.

Upon arrival we were seated right away at a communal table. I noticed a couple of things: a lack of air conditioning (Sri Lanka is HOT) and a nice table setting.

The kitchen is open and some of the crab is on display.

Here was the menu:

…and the restaurant’s philosophy which is always a positive sign:

At our waiter’s suggestion, we ordered 2 small crabs – one garlic chilli and the other Sri Lankan curry.

I thought that both dishes were ok. They were not amazing or mind blowing. For dessert, we had the Creme Brule which was prepared tableside:

Overall, service was very good as was almost everywhere we went in Sri Lanka. In fact, its one of my favorite countries of the 70 I have visited to date. However, the food was just ok at this restaurant, despite the hype, and the lack of AC made it hard to enjoy the meal. I would not return. However, as an experience, people may still want to go and try for themselves. On our way home, we checked out some rooftop bars and got more glimpses of the amazing city that we would later see for the first time in the day. (as for the Singapore vs Sri Lanka Chilli Crab – I much prefer the Singapore version. I feel like it has more umami and balanced with sweetness – however, it is usually eaten in outdoor Hawker centers which are super hot also!).