06 January,2018 12:15 PM IST | Mumbai | Phorum Dalal
Mahela Jayawardene. Pics/Sameer Markande
In July last year, we had first met chef Dharshan Munidasa at a pop-up in a Worli five-star, where he posed with live crabs for a picture. This week, we met him at The Runway Project in Lower Parel, where he announced a partnership with Gourmet Investments.
But we already have a great line-up of seafood restaurants in Mumbai, we tell him. "Crab is the common factor, but how you dish it out changes from Malaysia and Singapore to Bangladesh. Our crabs were famous in Singapore as we did the chilli crab and pepper crab. My contribution was the garlic chilli crabs made in olive oil. Our Sri Lankan curry also became very popular. Although Mumbai is along the coast, I bring a different flavour profile to the table," says Munidasa, flaunting his trademark black chef coat.
Ministry of Crab partners Dharshan Munidasa
While his challenge will be to add a few more vegetarian dishes to the menu, Munidasa plans to visit local markets for produce. Ministry of Crab will launch in the next four months around the IPL season, but the venue is yet to be announced. Still, just the news that the Sri Lankan eatery, which is on Asia's 50 Best Restaurants list, will arrive in the city has created a buzz. The idea of a deal took birth when foodpreneurs Ramit Mittal and Deepinder Batth were in Colombo for a business meeting and experienced a meal at the restaurant for the first time four months ago.
"I have been cooking in India at pop-ups for the past 10 years. I would bring back ingredients from Japan. I almost got arrested for bringing in whale meat and fugu once!" Munidasa recalls. "The trouble with India is sourcing ingredients, and all we will do is pay more than the exporters and ensure we get high-quality catch. I have been to Sassoon Dock at 6 am once, and for our Delhi pop-up in two weeks, I am sourcing from Chennai," says Munidasa who has tried the crab delicacies at Trishna, Mahesh Lunch Home and Gajalee. "It was very good. But my challenge is to source 150 crabs weighing 1kg each!"
The back story
In 2011, Munidasa found partners in cricketers Kumara Sangakarra and Mahela Jayawardene. "Sanga and I are foodies. We would frequent Nihonbashi for Japanese fare, and asked the chef there to whip up chicken curries after our day-and-night matches. When the concept came to him, it was through a mutual friend. We would be guinea pigs at the trial. Though the friend pulled out, we came on board over a phone call from London," says the publicity-shy Jayawadene.
Back in Colombo, Ministry of Crab is housed in a building compound of a 400-year-old Dutch Hospital, which had formerly been a police quarter and an army barrack. "I had thought of the name Ministry of Crab, and this was the most ministerial building I could get my hands on in Sri Lanka," Munidasa ends.
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