The Tuna & The Crab is Dharshan Munidasa’s latest restaurant, located at the lovely Dutch Hospital in Galle. It serves up the best hits from Ministry of Crab and Nihonbashi.
We were excited about this. Dharshan is one of Colombo’s best chefs and his restaurants have consistently been excellent. A new restaurant from the master himself is always a source of anticipation. However, unlike Kaema Sutra, Ministry of Crab or Nihonbashi, The Tuna & The Crab isn’t themed and doesn’t serve one particular type of cuisine.
It’s more a mash up of Nihonbashi and Ministry of Crab – you get the most popular dishes from both restaurants – baked crab, chilli crab, tekka maki, tuna nigiri. There’s also a selection of steak. Overall the quality of the food is good but the price is pretty high.
The Food
I guess the name says it all. This restaurant is mainly about the seafood (although they do also offer a handful of steak dishes). We tried the Galle Fort Bento (Rs. 3000) and Sukiyaki Don (Rs. 3400). The Galle Fort Bento was very good. You get a selection of sashimi and nigiri, an avocado and tuna salad, prawns, fish and salad. All elements were well composed and tasty. Special shout out to the prawns, which were salty, flavourful and delicious.
The Sukiyaki Don is rice topped with steak and egg. I was less enamoured by this; it was tasty but the beef was slightly tough and I couldn’t help but keep thinking about the Rs. 3400 price tag.
The Location
The restaurant itself is beautiful. There’s no outdoor seating which is a shame, but the decor is nice and the space is well-lit and pleasant. It’s located in the Dutch Hospital building which is a nice set of restaurants, shops and bars. On the night we visited, however, it was just us and another two people so ambience wise it didn’t have the happy buzz of Ministry of Crab or Nihonbashi. Hopefully that’ll change.
The Price
Like all of Dharshan’s restaurants, it ain’t cheap. Our total bill for two with three beers, a starter (we had the beef tataki) and two mains came to Rs. 9140. Minus the beers this would have been Rs. 7200, which is slightly more reasonable but still pricey.
Conclusion
As with all of Dharshan’s restaurants, there’s a level of excellence you can expect. The food is definitely good. However, it somehow just didn’t blow us away the way an experience at Ministry of Crab or Nihonbashi does.
