Colombo (CNN) -
Crabs caught in Sri Lankan waters are so prized in Singaporean fine dining establishments that one can only sell for hundreds of dollars.
But there was one place where these crabs weren't the most attractive item on the menu: Sri Lanka.
That's when chef Dharshan Munidasa, who grew up in Colombo, started thinking about how to return one of Sri Lanka's most iconic exports to the people who made it famous.
Munidasa doesn't necessarily have the same resume as the typical celebrity chef.
He didn't grow up interested in food, didn't go to culinary school, and didn't grow up in an accepted food capital.
But that's exactly what made him the right person to single-handedly change the way the wider world viewed Sri Lankan cuisine.
The flagship color for Ministry of Crab (which translates to "Crab Ministry") is yellow, found everywhere from the walls to the cup holders.
Photo: Courtesy of Ministry of Crab
The accidental chef
Munidasa was born in Tokyo and raised in Colombo by a Japanese mother and a Sri Lankan father.
But it wasn't until she went to the United States in the 1990s to study at Johns Hopkins University that she started cooking.
He couldn't tolerate cafeteria food, so he thought it was time to learn how to cook.
“It was not like the boy from Sri Lanka went to America and missed his home cooking.
It was just that normal food that was not good in the dorm, ”he says.
“There was no WhatsApp or Google or YouTube or anything like that.
I had to physically call people, my aunts in Japan, my mother, my grandmother, to ask about something here and how they cook this.
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Through trial and error, as well as obsessive documentation of what worked and what didn't, Munidasa went from cooking for survival to cooking for pleasure.
And when he returned to Sri Lanka after earning his degree in computer engineering, he began to think about cooking for a living.
First was the high-end Japanese restaurant Nihonbashi, which opened in Colombo in 1995.
Thanks to the strong diplomatic ties between the two countries, there was a small but active Japanese expat community in Sri Lanka, and they began to frequent Nihonbashi.
The locals soon followed him.
If the food was the Grammys, Munidasa wasn't trying to win the Best New Artist award, he was aiming for a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Ministry of Crab (MOC) opened in 2011. Both restaurants took Sri Lanka's top spots on the annual list of Asia's Best Restaurants: Nihonbashi in 2013 and MOC two years later, putting the small country on the radar of Asians. Lovers of international food in a way that has not been before.
In 2021, MOC had one of the best submissions in its history, with the number 29.
A limited menu with unlimited flavors
Some restaurants, especially those in crowded markets trying to stand out, rely on constant innovation to keep diners going.
There's always a search for the next big thing - chronut, anyone? - or a photogenic ingredient that seems more designed for social media likes than flavor.
But the first thing people who enter Ministry of Crab notice is the menu - it's small, well-edited, and completely focused on one main ingredient.
That ingredient is Sri Lankan mud crab, also known as a lagoon crab.
For a long time, these crabs were a staple of all Sri Lankan cuisines, but once they became more profitable to sell abroad than to keep at home, they began to disappear from dining tables on the island.
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For an indecisive diner who is overwhelmed by too many options, MOC is a dream.
You choose a size of crab based on what is available, from the smallest size, the "half kilo" with 500 grams to the coveted "Crabzilla" with 2 kg or more, and decide which of the six or more available preparations sounds like you best.
Options include Singapore-style chilli crab, black pepper crab, and baked "risotto-style" crab that must be ordered at least three hours in advance.
There are also an appetizer or two, like a crab salad served inside a fresh, partially hollow avocado, and a dessert, a coconut flan, served inside a fresh coconut ... as you may be noticing a theme here.
And that's it.
With such a condensed menu, there is nowhere to hide.
The crabs are as fresh as possible, caught daily by the fishermen with whom Munidasa has established relationships.
The restaurant has a policy against never serving a crab that weighs less than 500 grams, not only so there is more meat to work with, but because those smaller crabs are too young.
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The taste of Sri Lanka
How to bring a dish to life?
How is a country and its people distilled into a single ingredient?
Cooking Sri Lankan mud crabs to the people who raise them is one way.
Following his successes, Munidasa has also become an ambassador for Sri Lankan food.
"I think there is a huge, huge, huge notion that Sri Lankan food is 90% Indian," he says.
«Our rice dishes are different, the way we cook is different.
We eat everything.
We eat beef, we eat fish, we eat pork, we eat chicken.
Many people think that Sri Lanka is 'India light'.
There are certain similarities, yes.
But again, it is different because the distances are very small.
You can go from 12 degrees in the hills to 32 degrees on the beach in a matter of three and a half hours.
Munidasa has also been able to take her show on tour.
The MOC now has outposts in Bangkok, Mumbai, Shanghai, Manila, and the Maldives, all of which it oversees.
He also organizes pop-ups around the world as a way to teach people about Sri Lankan food and the special flavors of Sri Lankan mud crabs.
Being the only representative of your country on the Asian Top 50 list comes with both pressures and privileges.
Despite the accolades, Munidasa continues to work in a world of food that is heavily focused on the West.
In Sri Lanka, he says, no one has heard of Asia's 50 Best List or plans their summer vacation on a trip to just one restaurant.
And chances are high that he will never win a Michelin star, not for lack of talent, but because Michelin has never covered Sri Lanka.
Yet somehow, it is this lack of a conventional pedigree that has allowed Munidasa to seek praise from within.
It has not sold the licensing rights to its name to a giant conglomerate and there is no pressure to create a branded product line.
If you always try to meet other people's expectations, you will never grow.
You will never outgrow yourself.
Restaurant Sri Lanka