Over the past weekend, the family and I went to devour some Alaskan King crab. I am sure you have heard all the hype since it’s in season. Since we are located on the westcoast close to Alaska, we get high quality crabs for a great deal.
We ventured out to Coquitlam to Deer Garden Restaurant. We heard they had a new batch of King Crab and made a reservation.
The best time to come during the day is 6pm, at least thats what the restaurant told us to go at.
They were absolutely right! When we arrived at 6pm, a hoard of other families made reservations at 6pm too. Crab after crab were flying out of the tanks….from small ones to gigantic ones.
One thing I did not understand was how they were flipping over the crab and showing us which one would be for our meal. Since my family has been here before, we know they do this to disguise the quality of the crab. We double checked that our crab was alive and all limbs were attached. They rush through the whole process so you won’t be able to notice any flaws. Another table we observed ordered a 17 pound crab but the waitress let the table glance for 2 seconds and then dashed off into the kitchen. Their crab was missing half a leg. Is this normal? It seemed a bit strange to me.
This was the menu. I cannot read Chinese to save my life, so it translates to – King crab 4 types, $17.88 per pound
- Portugese Baked Fried Rice (Head)
- Salt and chilli crab (Body)
- Crab legs in Garlic and green onion
- Crab legs in Ginger and Garlic Sauce
The crab that we got was 9.75 pounds for 6 people. It was the perfect weight and we ate everything!
The first dish that came was a soup, it comes complementary with the meal. I’m not exactly sure what it’s called…but hey it tasted good and was edible. Not complaining at all.
The body was turned into salt and chili fried crab. Crispy on the outside and moist on the inside. There are also garlic chips in this dish. I love garlic chips!
Half of the legs were prepared with garlic and green onion toppings. If you are a garlic fan, you will love this dish. It’s not over powering. What I love about this dish is how you don’t have to crack open all legs to get to the meat. You can get down and dirty with it by using your hands to pull out the meat or forking it.
The other half was a green onion and ginger sauce. I actually prefer this one over the garlic version because it is a bit more sweet and you don’t get the mass amounts of garlic falling off when you eat it.
Our family wastes no part of the crab… not even it’s precious juices. We ordered 2 places of wonton noodles to add it to the left over crab juices. Apparently it’s quite normal and you do get more food!
The head of the crab is flipped upside down and stuffed with Portugese Baked Fried Rice. The crab that is in the fried rice is imitation crab, not the actual meat from the crab. Nonetheless, still delicious.
Since we were feeling a little bit fat after all the seafood and carbs, we thought it would redeem ourselves by ordering their daily vegetable special which was baby bok choy in a garlic sauce.
At the end of the meal, we got Coconut Milk Tapioca Soup.
Overall, the food was decent. All the food came fairly quickly and was prepared well. The only flaw was how the waitresses would try to rush you with the order and not give you a lot of time to inspect the crab you are getting. I know, it’s understandable that they are trying to be efficient and get through all their tables.
Words of Wisdom:
- Free parking on street and parking lot
- Best to make reservation for crab
- Lots of seats to accomodate large groups
We Rate Deer Garden Restaurant: 
Address:
3610 Westwood Street
Port Coquitlam, BC
