When a food festival is born out of the Chef’s passion for serving the best catch, you know it’s going to be spectacular! The King Crab Fest at Mekong does exactly that and gives us a chance to savor the delicious King Crab preparations right here in Hyderabad.
The idea took shape when Chef Taraknath Mukherjee was out on a stroll one early morning in Vizag. There he saw the early morning catch come in fresh off the boats. On checking with the sourcing team, he understood that this fresh catch wasn’t being leveraged in the right manner. Fresh Seafood coming in regularly is a tough task, so they first tried doing it in Vizag. Once this was set up, he decided to extend it to Hyderabad.
King Crab is not like the usual fishes, and there might be days when no crabs are caught at all. So, the sourcing was put together from 3 different ports to make sure that the flow is regular. All these are now being used to run this fest, where we have 6 different preparations to bring out distinct flavours from the crab. And the King Crab Fest wants you to dig in and enjoy these crabs because that’s the whole experience.
Mekong has one of the best Pan-Asian in town and then the setup is so welcoming that you want to keep going back. Their service staff is courteous and warm, which adds to the charm. Once seated, we got a chance to understand the whole fest from the Chef. A lot of food and travel stories flowed over some Sushi and Dumplings.
King Crab Fest At Mekong
Put your cutlery aside, Crabs are meant to be clawed through – is the motto of the fest! This starts off with getting aprons with crab logo and the tool set to set you up for the crabs.
We started off with some nice and light Mushroom Dumplings. Also the Wasabi they have wasn’t as pungent and strong like other places and went quite well with the appetizers.
We started with the Fresh King Crab in Spicy Fragrant Sauce. Out of all the options, this one is the spiciest, but still not over the top spicy. The Crab looked huge and perfect. Only in the Goan Shacks had I seen crabs this big. The sauce has a very nice and distinct fragrance and the spices went really well with the crab.
One amazing Crab combo is the Fresh King Crab with Garlic Butter. Most seafoods are had best in a garlic butter sauce, which brings out the flavours. Given how crabs carry a flavour unlike any other seafood, this combination felt perfect. This one was liked by all on the table.
Another spicy offering is the Fresh King Crab Cooked in Singaporean Chilly Garlic Sauce. Again the sauce matched up to the meat and this one was the most flavourful of all the sauces. The strong seasoning lingered on to end a perfect King Crab Fest. The sauce paired with some simple fried rice added a nice touch too.
No meal at Mekong is complete without their signature ice-creams. The Coconut Jaggery was my favorite.
For those who are adventurous, you can try the Wasabi flavour.
The festival is on till 19th September, so put your aprons on and dig into those juicy King Crabs.
Location – Mekong, Hotel Marigold, Begumpet