😄😄😄 For me one of the priorities when travelling, besides sightseeing, shopping etc, tasting local speciality dishes is a must. While in Wuhan in Central China, everyone we met suggested that we must try their crayfish. The city is crazy about crayfish (actually, practically the whole of China is gripped in a crayfish craze 😂).
Wuhanese are very proud of the crayfish from the creeks in the fertile countrysides around their 3,500 year old megapolis of 13 million. These popular crayfish are not even native to China. They are originally from Mexico and southern USA. They found their way into China's rivers and creeks via Hawaii and Japan only recently, in the 1920s. They were brought in to keep snails, a pest to farmers in check.
Crayfish are hardy and prolific, and itself soon became a pest as they weaken and puncture water dikes when they burrow. Fortunately, the Chinese have a voracious appetite for these swimming critters. Crayfish restaurants are popular and found all over China now.
When we checked around in Wuhan, our tour guide, the staff at the foot massage place and the local passenger sitting next to me on the train all pointed us to Bali Lobster 巴厘龙虾.
Bali Lobster 巴厘龙虾 is along Xuesong Road 雪松路. We entered Xuesong Road at the junction with Wansongyuan Road 万松园 by turning eastwards.
Bali Lobster was full house when we arrived on a wet, raining evening (it's raining season in Hubei province now). The restaurant staff pointed us to their branch further up the street. We dashed off in the rain. We found the next Bali Lobster outlet but it was their take out outlet. We were directed to go further up and across the road. Off we went out again undaunted in the (by now) pouring rain.
Bali Lobster restaurant has two levels but it was rather cramped and dark inside, partly because it was raining and gloomy outside. Inside, it was packed and the floor was slippery wet from dripping umbrellas which customers brought in. Every table had heaps of crayfish on it. Everyone just focussed on their buddies at their table and the pile of crayfish in front of them - oblivious to the loud numbing chatter, jostling bodies and dizzying buzz around them. Whatever little personal space left was precious. We were very relieved that there was a table for 8 available as other diners just got up as we were getting in. Talk about good timing 😄
Bali Lobster's main draw is the many flavours of crayfish in their menu. Curious about the flavours, we randomly picked 4 - 麻辣龙虾, 咖喱龙虾, 全味龙虾, 葱烤龙虾.
The crayfish were cooked by a quick dip in boiling hot oil. They were then tossed in different flavour sauces. The crayfish shells were quite thin and fried to a slight crisp, but not edible. Nevertheless, we enjoyed sucking off the flavoursome sauces clinging to the brittle outside of the crayfish.
Our favourite is the savoury spicy flavour 麻辣龙虾. This is also the most recommended flavour when we asked around. The sauce made with dried chili and spices is salty spicy but not the numbing kind and it does not have a lingering sting (despite its name which literally means "numbing hot").
Our least favourite was the curry crayfish 咖喱龙虾 as the curry was not made with fresh ingredients (tasted like a manufactured "instant curry" paste).
Eating crayfish is basically about the tail, as the pincer is small and the little meat is not worth the effort required to dig it out. The tail is like meat from a small shrimp. The shell prevents the hot oil from drying up the natural juices and delicate sweet flavour. Its texture is like a small prawn but softer.
Our favourite side dish was this 凉拌毛豆 (edamame) as we liked the fresh hairy beans' soft crunch. The gentle spiciness of garlic and dried chili also complemented the nutty green taste of the hairy beans.
We didn't enjoy the Bullfrog in Aromatic Sauce 酱香牛蛙 as the bullfrog was overdone, so the flesh was fibrous. The bullfrog had very little flavour and it was all overwhelmed by the flat tasting salty and greasy sauce.
Our group picture by Joan of Luvfeelin.com.
Crayfish cannot be a main meal but we agreed that crayfish is one of the best beer food there is. It is so popular because eating crayfish and drinking together is a great social event. Shelling crayfish one by one takes time. Bonding with friends takes time too. So, they are perfect together 😄
Lovely picture of Joan and crayfish shot by Lutfil of AirAsia.
Next time we are back in Wuhan, we will have crayfish again, of course 😂 This time, we shall go for the larger size ones as we were told that meatier crayfish tastes even better 😋
Our total bill of all the food and drinks came to RMB420 nett. A big bottle of local beer (which I like) at Chinese restaurants costs RMB10 👏👏👏
My post on crayfish in Shanghai where it is equally popular 👈
Restaurant name: Bali Lobster Delicious 巴厘龙虾 (万松园)
Address: 65 Xuesong Rd, XiBeiHu, Jianghan Qu, Wuhan Shi, Hubei Sheng, China, 430015 雪松路65号地铁2号线王家墩东站C1, C2出口
GPS: 30°35'32.1"N 114°16'02.0"E | 30.592246, 114.267226
Tel: 027-8583 5377
Hours: 11:30am to 2:00am
Non Halal
Wuhan jia you!! 武汉加油!!
AirAsia X flies direct from Kuala Lumpur to Wuhan via Flight D7 878 every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Departs KLIA2 at 6:00pm and arriving at Wuhan Tienhe International Airport at 11:10pm.
Flight D7 879 flies from Wuhan direct to KL every Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday departing Wuhan at 00:25am and arriving in KLIA2 at 05:25am.
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I miss the crayfish and the moment enjoying the meals with all of you!
ReplyDeleteYes! It was raining. We were tired. And, we don't know the way. But, we had a lot of fun! :-D Such good memories :-D
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