Chatswood restaurant O Crab brings American-style crab shacks to Australia
When a restaurant offers bibs while taking orders, you know it’s going to get messy.
O Crab opened in Chatswood in May and pays homage to American crab shacks and seafood diners that serve delicious chowder and crabs in a bag.
Joanna Pan opened O Crab in Chatswood with her two siblings, in an attempt to bring classic American crab shacks to Australia.
Alaskan Snow Crab cluster.
Joanna Pan is only 21 and is studying architecture, but opened the crab house and craft beer bar with her two siblings and looks after the day-to-day running of the nautical themed restaurant.
“We all have skills in different areas so we work together quite nicely,” she says. “We love crab boilers in the States and love American food, but there was nothing like this in Sydney so we wanted to bring it here.”
The menu features good-sized starters like buffalo wings with traditional American hot sauce and a blue cheese sauce on the side ($12), and lunch choices like the O Crabby Patty Burger with lettuce, grilled pineapple and chilli mayo plus chips ($19).
The most popular dishes are the seafood chowder served in a freshly baked bread bowl ($12) and, of course, the crabs in a bag.
Buffalo chicken wings with American hot sauce and blue cheese dip.
Making a mess is all part of the fun when you take a mallet and start smashing into the crustaceans, like the popular Blue Swimmer Crab ($25) and the Snow Crab Cluster ($29).
The seafood is fresh and sweet and comes with delicious sauces on the side such as Justin’s Special Chilli, garlic butter and cajun.
There are also desserts like PB & J Waffles, topped with strawberry jam and crunchy peanut butter vanilla ice cream ($12).
There is a large selection of wines and craft beers such as Sixpoint Resin, an India Pale Ale from Brooklyn in the US that has a mighty 11 per cent alcohol content.
O Crab makes for an entertaining meal and is a welcome addition to the Chatswood restaurant scene.
O Crab Sydney is located at Suite 2/9 Railway St, Chatswood, and is open Tuesday-Friday 11am-3pm for lunch, 6-10pm for dinner, Saturday-Sunday 11am-11.30pm. Details: ocrab.com.au
Source: The Daily Telegraph - North Shore Times, Jenny Galbraith, July 5th 2015
