Dharshan Munidasa, the chef and co-founder of the "Ministry of Crab" poses for photo at the restaurant in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on June 20, 2018. For those who hear its name for the first time, "Ministry of Crab" sounds like a government department. Located in the 400-year-old Dutch Hospital Shopping Precinct in Sri Lanka's capital Colombo, the "ministry" is actually one of the most renowned restaurants in the island country. (Xinhua/Zhu Ruiqing)
by Zhu Ruiqing, Jamila Najmuddin
COLOMBO, June 22 (Xinhua) -- For those who hear its name for the first time, "Ministry of Crab" sounds like a government department. Located in the 400-year-old Dutch Hospital Shopping Precinct in Sri Lanka's capital Colombo, the "ministry" is actually one of the most renowned restaurants in the island country.
Dharshan Munidasa is the chef and co-founder of the restaurant. On the website of the restaurant, Dharshan is playfully nominated as the "Minister of Crab." Today, the image of Dharshan holding two huge Sri Lankan crabs has become a calling card of the restaurant.
In an interview earlier this week, the "Minister of Crab" shared with Xinhua his years' journey of cuisine discovery.
Dharshan hails from Tokyo, Japan, with a Sri Lankan father and a Japanese mother, and he moved back to Sri Lanka when he was seven years old. Since childhood, he had a love for seafood and would often go fishing with his brother and later cook his catch.
Childhood experiences raised Dharshan's passion for seafood. As he explains, "one of my favorite dishes during childhood was Odori, which is live prawns made into sashimi. Once when I was 12 years old, I came across a man selling prawns, and spent all my pocket money to buy the prawns. Once back home, everyone refused to clean it. So, I cleaned the prawns myself and ate it," Dharshan told Xinhua at the Ministry of Crab.
"Being greedy for good food is the biggest reason I am now a chef," he said.
While the childhood gave Dharshan natural interests in food, the experience of attending university in the United States further prepared him to become a renowned chef in the future.
"I used to do my grocery shopping on Sunday and make a menu for the week, which was not normal for a university student. I would cook according to the menu, and never deviate from that. Today, I'm still leading an organized life," he said with a smile.
Just like the chef, the Ministry of Crab has an organized and friendly team. Lunch time approaching, everything in the restaurant was ready to greet the customers who were gathering outside.
Having graduated from university, Dharshan returned to Sri Lanka and opened up his first restaurant with his mother in 1995. It was one that specialized in Japanese cuisine, named Nihonbashi.
Dharshan and his mother were both very high-demanding in running Nihonbashi, even the dosage of salt in the dishes were all carefully deliberated.
After years' elaboration, Nibonbashi has become a signature Japanese cuisine restaurant in Sri Lanka, also listed as "Asia's 50 Best Restaurants" by Williams Reed Business Media.
Dharshan's encounter with Ministry of Crab occurred in 2011. At that time, while running Nihonbashi, Dharshan also hosted a TV show named "Culinary Journey's with Dharshan." In one episode, Dharshan thoroughly introduced the Sri Lankan lagoon crabs.
Several years ago, most of the good-quality crabs in Sri Lanka were exported to other countries. For a long time, Sri Lankan crabs had gained international reputation while there were no restaurants which could properly cook the crab back in Sri Lanka.
"One of my friends saw my show about Sri Lankan crabs and asked me why I was not opening a crab restaurant when I had so much of knowledge about crabs. It then eventually led me to open this restaurant," Dharshan said.
After opening up in 2011, Ministry of Crab soon became a success in the country and in Asia.
In Dharshan's view, the persistence in serving good-quality food contributes to the success of Ministry of Crab.
The restaurant serves crabs which vary in size, with the smallest to the largest, which is dubbed as the Crabzilla.
Dharshan said Ministry of Crab only uses fresh crabs. And since opening, the restaurant has worked with only one crab supplier.
Today, Dharshan travels around the world, as a guest chef at some of the world's finest hotels where he cooks his authentic crab dish, highlighting a taste of Sri Lanka.
Following worldwide fame, Ministry of Crab plans to open five new restaurants in India, Thailand, the Philippines, the Maldives, and the United Arab Emirates later this year.
"I had also made a trip to Shanghai, China earlier this month for a pop-up event. If everything goes well, Ministry of Crab will also have its restaurant in Shanghai in 2019," Dharshan added.
