There's no pub food classics in sight at the new diner upstairs at The Norfolk on Cleveland Street. Instead, expect lots of crab and other crustaceans, served simply with a choice of sauces and sides like creole corn or lobster fries. Don bibs, gloves, whatever you need to keep clean but make sure to get stuck in.
Gloves. Check. Bib. Check. Scissors. Check. Crab pick. Check. Dining at House of Crabs is as surgical as it sounds, though rather than pain, you experience nothing but tastebud bliss. There’s no plates around me. Just a steaming plastic bag containing one full Snow Crab swimming in a pool of sauce.
Then comes the equipment. I’ve got to say, I’m a bit of crustacean rookie so I start delicately and slowly, dissecting each piece. A few mouthfuls in, I’ve tossed away a few empty crab shells and with that, my dining dignity. It’s too tasty to waste time on manners and etiquette. Sauce is splashed on the table and all over our clothes and I dare say, even Manu would be impressed by this amount of liquid gold.
As I come up for air midway through the bag, I look around the room – fishing and seaside paraphernalia adorn the roof and walls and the bar is in the shape of boat hull. It’s quirky and fun but there’s no time to waste, the real magic is in that plastic bag. Nurse, the crab cracker, stat.
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