Editorial Review

A dish so legendary they named not one, but a number of restaurants after it. Qiao tei means “under the bridge,” and the “qiao tei chili crab” was born in the shadow of the Canal Road flyover. The lore is that fisherman would come back to the Causeway Bay Breakwater, anchor their boats, unload the biggest crabs they’ve got, and the cooks in the area under the flyover would smother those poor creatures with chili, garlic and green onions and stir fry the hell out of them, resulting in something so delicious that it can’t possibly be very good for you. There are a number of chili crab experts in the area, but try this one first. You pick your own living and breathing crustacean from a tank, so bargain hard and don’t let them take advantage of you—but that’s an inevitable setback if you happen to be a foreigner. If you’ve got locals in your ranks, let them order.