Signature Crab Roe Rice from Su Xiao Xie (苏小蟹) @ Hangzhou in China

Like my mom, I love crabs! Therefore, when I heard that crab roe rice / noodle is a specialty dish in Hangzhou, I couldn't wait to check it out when I was in the area in April this year! 

Searching for an eatery near the famous West Lake district via the Dianping app, I chanced upon Su Xiao Xie (苏小蟹), which was known to be a chain restaurant with numerous branches, and the review score was like 4.4 from over 2,500 reviewers on the app.

Maybe to the time, the place wasn't crowded at all and I used the same Dianping app to purchase the signature one-person crab roe rice set for only 85 RMB; a discount of 41 RMB (about S$8)! Super worth right?! 

Complimentary ginger tea! It should have been nice given the nice, cool weather but the temperature of the tea was just lukewarm; would be much better and soothing at a higher temperature. Oh well, free one shouldn't complain.

My signature one-person crab roe rice set; beautifully displayed on the nine-compartment tray! Just the visual was impressive even though those who know my well will be aware I place much, much higher priority on taste! 

The two bowls of crabs; one crab meat, another was crab roe. Rubbing my hands gleefully as I was totally expecting my taste buds to be swarmed with the nice, deliciously natural seafood flavours! 

Sampling them separately; the white one, which was filled with tiny strings of crab meat tasted like peppery shark's fins soup whereas the red one reminded me of salted egg yolk. Both were too salty for my liking too, and that when the rice came to play.

Plain white rice was essential to taper the saltiness! While the experience was better, it's not comparable to the chilli crab gravy (from Ban Leong Wah Hoe etc) that was used to mix into a plate of plain white rice in Singapore! Latter was obviously the preferred option! 

On the rest of the side dishes, they were alright tasting, and even though we can refill, I chose not to since I am sharing the meal with my dad and Alex, and it just didn't seem right. 

What would you think was my verdict for the meal? Although I did clean up everything, I was sorely disappointed as I had expected too much; for a meal that could match our crab dishes on our little red dot.

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Click HERE for our 8 Days Huangshan, Tunxi, Yixian, Wuyuan, Mount Qiyun, Thousand-Island Lake, Hangzhou Tour Package to China via CTC Travel Agency