MANILA, Philippines — Love seafood?
The Ministry of Crab at the luxury hotel Shangri-La The Fort in Bonifacio Global City (BGC) boasts mouthwatering selections of freshly-caught seafood sourced only from the Philippines’ best catch.
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Ten different sizes of crabs are offered as the restaurant’s mainstay, ranging from 500-gram varieties that fetch a minimum P1,750, to the massive “Crabzilla” that weighs at least two kilograms for a base price of P12,500.
Pre-cracked for convenience and served in decadent sauce iterations — garlic chili, garlic, pepper, chili, garlic pepper, curry or butter, as well as the locally-inspired "pinakurat" (spiced natural coconut vinegar) and "ginataan" (fresh coconut milk and chilies) — all the crabs are cooked and served the same day they are caught.
“We actually don’t get to have the crabs until like in the afternoon at around 3 p.m. That’s because in the morning, our fishermen, they’re out catching it and then we gather that in the ports,” service manager Chloe Borela told Philstar.com in an exclusive interview.
“And then they deliver it fresh every single day. So we don’t have an account until later on of what we’re getting because we really want it to be as fresh as possible when we serve it.”
The garlic-chili crab stands as the best-seller, featuring chili flakes sourced from Sri Lanka where the first Ministry of Crab originates.
The franchise’s award-winning pioneer in Colombo, Sri Lanka has repeatedly been listed as among 50 of Asia's Best Restaurants.
From children to heads of state and celebrities, the BGC branch has served everyone from all walks of life since it opened last year.
Apart from crab combinations, the diner offers about 30 dishes like Crab Sisig and Clay Pot Prawn Curry, but non-crab ones like chicken, rice, shrimps and desserts are also in the menu that is set to expand soon. Likewise, the restaurant has an extensive wine list that boasts of homemade Filipino spirits.
Open from 6 to 10:30 p.m. from Monday to Saturday, and with additional 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. every Sunday, the restaurant welcomes both advanced bookings for events and also walk-in guests.