The Place
Newly opened on Shaanxi Nan Lu, Spicy Cray is a trendy little restaurant specializing in a dish beloved in this seafood-obsessed city: crayfish.
For most locals, their dalliance with these mini crustaceans extends to a late night outing at one of the many street-side restaurants, where they're dumped in metal trays to be peeled by hand.
No such troublesome faff at Spicy Cray, who do the dirty work of shelling what must be hundreds of the little buggers and serve them atop bowls of Sichuan pepper-streaked noodles, stuffed into dumplings, spring rolls, rice and mapo tofu.
The Food
The signature dish at Spicy Cray is crayfish loaded noodles topped with 'ovaries' for extra flavor (小龙虾黄捞面, RMB46). Honestly, we couldn't taste said ovaries so go for the cheaper, ovary-free RMB42. What we could taste, however, was juicy crayfish, al dente noodles and just the right amount of mala Sichuan sauce. Highly recommended.
Can't handle the heat? Meiwenti. The noodle soup version (龙虾靓汤面, RMB42) is also very tasty, all rich broth with crustacean shell flavors.
However, noodles aren't the only place where Spicy Cray is getting saucy. The menu is also dotted with several kinky puns, such as '麻辣虾女郎的豆腐,' which translates to 'The Spicy Shrimp Girl's Tofu' (RMB22). Ask your Chinese friends what that means if the answer is not forthcoming.
Further allusions to that certain social act are depicted on the wall, with a neon sign reading '我下面给你吃,’ which, rather cunningly has a triple-layer of entendre.
While in one sense it means 'I'll make you something to eat,' it also sounds like 'I'll give you shrimp noodles to eat,' and in another... well, we're guessing it must be a favorite pasttime for the laoban.
Either way, the crayfish mapo-style tofu is spicy, delicious and well worth ordering.
Food verdict: 2/3
The Vibe
Serviced by a duo of ambivalent hipsters, who make little personal expense for the sake of your dining experience, the vibe at Spicy Cray is just about eating your noodles and being on your way. That said, the place is busy, and often with a queue of noodle-hungry patrons who stare reproachfully as you wolf down your own delicious portion.
Vibe verdict: 0.5/1
Value for Money
Honestly, next time we're hankering for a crayfish fix, we'll probably schedule a visit here. Not only is it pretty cheap at RMB40 for a bowl of noodles laden with crayfish, it's also significantly quicker than peeling by yourself and getting all stanky.
Furthermore, this joint's cray are available all year since they buy from a variety of sellers around the country, and ours had the happy benefit of not having that little brown streak of digestive tract down their backs.
Value for money: 1/1
TOTAL VERDICT: 3.5/5
Price: RMB40-60
Who's going: young locals and expats
Good for: noodles, crayfish, rice, dumplings
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