The Fat Crab

With a wall decked with popular movie posters giving a groovy outlook for the visitors, Fat Crab offers a wonderful view of the sea, which lies opposite the rustic, sea sprayed buildings. Amidst the sound of the sea waves lapping on the shore you might catch a view of a train whooshing past as a railway line runs along the coast.

You will find the Fat Crab restaurant just at the beginning of Haig Road when you drive along Marine Drive. This is a restaurant that is focused mainly on sea food and particularly crustaceans. The restaurant is on an upper floor and the interior of the restaurant is minimal and simplistic. The restaurant also has a section for Mongolian food which is called Genghis. However the main attraction being crabs the must try are the crab dishes.

To get a taste of Sri Lankan cuisine you can order the crusty baker’s bread that is accompanied by butter and pol sambol (coconut salad) and this can be paired with a fiery treat like the Negombo crab curry, the Lankan murunga leaf crab curry or the black pepper crab. You can enjoy these dishes with steam rice, pol sambol and dhal (lentils) as well.

The crabs are fresh lagoon crabs and each person is served 400gms of the crab. The pricing is dependent on the size of the crab. For a medium sized crab with a full meal consisting of crusty bread or steamed rice one would have to pay about 2400 in Sri Lankan rupees. It is not exactly cheap but it is reasonable compared to the high end places that specialises in crab based dishes and also it is worth the price as the curries are flavourful and delectable.