Hong Kong – Under the Bridge Restaurant – Spicy Crab

Restaurant: Under the Bridge Restaurant
Cuisine: Chinese
Last visited: April 13, 2010
Location: 4 locations – Metro: Causeway Bay Station (Exit C) – Wan Chai, Hong Kong
Address: Shop B, G/F, 401-403 Lockhart Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong
Tel: 2834 6818
Price Range: $20-30

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!

Food: 5.5
Service: 3
Ambiance: 2.5
Overall: 6
Additional comments:

• 4 locations in Hong Kong
• 10+ years
• Very popular for locals and tourists
• Customers include politicians/celebrities
• Famous for authentic spicy chili crab or “Under Bridge Spicy Crab”
• Popular for seafood
• Good for 4+ or large groups
• Casual
• Reservations recommended
• Late night dining
• No service charge
• Free dessert

**Recommendations: Under Bridge Spicy Crab, Famous Under Bridge fried rice, sauteed clams with chili and bean sauce, deep fried tofu with garlic & chili

Boxes of fresh crab are set outside the restaurant for customers to see.

Under Bridge spicy chili crab is a must try if you’re planning to travel or visit Hong Kong. It’s one of my favourite restaurants and things to eat when I’m there. It’s definitely better to go with a larger group because the portions are made for sharing.

Along this road there are several restaurants advertising “Under Bridge spicy chili crab”. They’re literally side by side, but make sure you go to this one because this is the one recommended by locals. Under the Bridge Spicy Crab restaurant has 4 locations in Hong Kong and serves the best spicy chili crab.

On the table:

Complimentary Appetizer

• Salted peanuts are a common appetizer in Hong Kong & China – very addictive.

**Sauteed Clams with Chili and Black Bean Sauce – 4.5/6

• Sauteed clams with Chili and black bean sauce $55HKD – about $8CAD
• This is one of their popular dishes, you can get it an most Chinese seafood restaurants.
• It’s not especially good here, but it’s just a good dish in general.
• Nice and salty, sauteed garlic and slightly spicy from the red chilies.
• It’s very sauce and oily though.

**Deep Fried Tofu – 5.5/6

• YUM! This is more or less an appetizer meant for sharing.
• Deep fried cubes of firm tofu loaded with TONS of deep fried garlic and green onions.

• We ate this as an appetizer – yes, it’s the leftover deep fried garlic from the tofu. It’s so freaking delicious. You just eat spoonfuls of it plain…or on rice.
• It’s salty bits of deep fried minced garlic and they’re nice and crunchy and slightly spicy. Super greasy and super good!

**Under the Bridge Spicy Crab – 6/6

• Deep fried spicy crab with garlic in Typhoon Shelter Style
• This is the dish that made them famous and a definite MUST TRY.
• It has the same minced deep fried garlic with chilies and green onion as the tofu.
• I’m certain they also deep fry dried shrimps in it to give it more flavour and saltiness.
• The crab is a bit small and I’m not used to that being from Vancouver where the seafood is massive!

• I admit, the deep fried minced garlic ends up being the star of the show rather than the crab. They do a great job with the minced garlic though – best I’ve had.
• It’s very greasy especially with all the garlic bits you end up eating with it…but you’re not counting calories when you come here!

**Famous Under the Bridge Fried Rice – 4/6

• $68HKD – about $10CAD
• The rice is the perfect accompaniment to the leftover deep fried minced garlic you’ll have left over from almost every single deep fried dish you order.
• It actually has a strong seafood flavour with minced shrimp in it. It’s quite well flavoured and well fried too. Not too oily – although everything else is.

Fried Rice Noodles with Beef – 1.5/6

• Pan-fried rice noodles with slices of beef, green onions, and bean sprouts.
• This isn’t famous here, but it was our filler dish…we weren’t full from all the grease yet.
• This one was super greasy though.
• It’s available at most casual Chinese restaurants and I thought this was a poor version.
• The beef was chewy – I would try their “famous” noodle dish next time…I think it’s called “Famous Under the Bridge Noodle”…seriously.

Sauteed Tung/Ong Choi with Garlic – 4.5/6

• Of course we can’t forget the veggies.
• Tung Choi or Ong Choi is a Chinese vegetable with a hollow stem.
• It tastes like spinach but it’s much crunchier. They’re delicious
• This is available at most Chinese restaurants as well.
• They saute it with garlic, chilies and shallots and quite often dried shrimps or shrimp paste to give it more flavour.

Sauteed Gai Lan/Kai Lan with Garlic – 4/6

• This is pretty much the same as the above Tung Choi dish except with Gai Lan.
• Gai Lan is another Chinese vegetable commonly known as Chinese broccoli.
• This is available in all Chinese restaurants as well. Not especially good here, but standard and still good.

Free Dessert – 1.5/6

• 1.5/6…that’s why it’s free.
• Sweet potatoes in a sweetened hot ginger broth.
• Does that sound like dessert to you? Okay so it’s not for me, but if you like this dessert then this one is not bad.
• It’s not overly sweet, the potatoes are tender and there’s a light ginger tastes that’s not too spicy. It’s just not a “real” dessert for me…so of course I went somewhere else for dessert…shaved ice “cream”!

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