Location: Kirin Mandarin on Alberni
Author: My Husband
It’s that time of the year again – King crabs are back in season and there are deals to be had. So I thought I’d take a little break from our trip to run this public service announcement. 
Many better Chinese restaurants are selling the crabs for $15/lb. An 8 lb crab (assuming you don’t get ripped off on the weight) would easily feed a family of 4. There are places that sell the product at a cheaper price, but beware of getting cheated on the weight.
We went to Kirin Mandarin on Alberni for our first King crab meal of this season. The crab legs were steamed with a duo of fresh and deep-fried minced garlic. Other leg portions as well as the body portions were deep-fried in the Cantonese “salt/pepper” style.
Steamed with duo of minced garlic. The deep-fried minced garlic really kicks Kirin’s version up a notch.
Deep fried salt/pepper style. The crab pieces were left uncracked in their shell, which kept the meat very moist and very sweet. Incredible dish.
And since man can’t live on crab alone, we had the following dishes to accompany the crabs:
A tofu dish to balance out the richness of the crab. The tofu was sucked up all the flavors imparted by the chinese ham, ginger, and mushrooms.
Lamb brisket “pot”. The lamb was tender and the flavors were strong. This is a great dish, but you’d have to like the gaminess of the lamb in order to like this dish.
Back to Japan in our next post…
