Amidst the first lockdown, we were all experiencing hard times both emotionally and financially. Maimoona Rafeek, a momtrepreneur, prompted by the difficulties we were facing, was inspired to start up her own Instagram-based food business. Upon thinking long and hard about what she wanted to cook up, she decided on crabs and other seafood because it’s a niche market that not many have tapped into. Our island is abundant with fresh seafood and what better dish to make than something so readily available?
Lucky for Maimoona, she was already an expert in cooking seafood; her family possesses a century-old recipe for crab that has been passed down generations. A little bit of tweaking and the recipe was good to use on other seafood like prawns as well, so her business was destined to be a success.
Her son, who happens to be an interior designer with an understanding of brands and how to promote them, was a great help to her when it came to promoting her product and coming up with a unique selling point and social media posts that are aesthetic and engaging. Together, they are the perfect team; mom whips up her special recipes and the son helps promote it.
Currently, they only have one crab dish available: Kalapu Crab, which is a traditional crab dish prepared with their unique homemade spice blend. They have four ranges offered: The Large, The Great, Grand Claw, and Mighty Claw, all increasing portion sizes. They serve three different prawn dishes; Eastern Classic, Black Pepper, and Devilled.
We had the privilege of trying their Mighty Claw Crab as well as the Eastern Classic Prawn; both of which come with a side serving of two roast paan.
Before we get into the seafood, we would like to just highlight how amazing the bread was. One would think “how can bread be anything other than bread”, but this roast paan had a surprisingly sweet undertone and, while the centre of the bread was soft and pillowy, the crusts too weren’t unbearably hard; rather, we felt like we were snacking on a breadstick. It was the perfect pair with the flavourful curry from both the crab and the prawn.
Another factor we must commend is their sustainable packaging; not only was it environmentally friendly but it also added a rustic, homemade touch to the dish. Both dishes came served in a clay pot with a foil lid held together by string. A very commendable move in terms of marketing. Their packaging is 100% plastic free and reusable as they believe that we, as citizens of the planet, have a major part to build a business with sustainable practices for the environment.
The Mighty Claw Crab is basically one giant (and when we say giant, we mean we audibly gasped at how big it was when we opened it) crab weighing about 1-1.2 kg. The curry itself was rich and thick and overloaded with spices from their homemade blend. We loved that it wasn’t too watery, and actually had plenty of spices visible. The crab was also brimming with meat; Crab Tales had, very helpfully, removed the top shell of the crab and placed it on top for presentation purposes, so we were glad that we didn’t have to struggle with cracking this monstrosity open. Since the meat had been swimming in the curry, the meat had absorbed all that tasty goodness from the curry, which enhanced the crab’s natural flavour. It was very messy, but an absolute delight. The price of the crab curry is steep but as they use export-quality crab that they acquire from a crab export agent, it is understandable.
The Eastern Classic, consisting of large prawns, is a spicy curry prepared in the traditional Trinco style. I loved this dish! The prawns were quite big; value for money and incredibly flavourful. One thing we must note is that there isn’t much curry, after one slice of roast paan, we had run out of curry which was disappointing since the portion we did have was bursting with flavours. They have two portions on offer: Single Treat, which is about six large prawns and Family Treat, which has about 30-35 large prawns. We had the Single Treat; it’s plenty for two people and is an absolute treat!
They have recently introduced an Eastern rice dish, that too is served in their clay pot which is their take on a Spanish classic made with a Sri Lankan twist. The dish is served with crab, squid, prawn, and mussels; a complete seafood delight.
They don’t want to have too many dishes on their menu as they prefer to focus on perfecting the existing dishes while maintaining their quality. They noted that they have made steady progress since the day they launched; way beyond their expectations. They also have a foreign follow basis that tends to order for their families in Colombo. In the future, they hope to develop a fully functional cloud kitchen and serve more customers.
Instagram: @crab.tales
Lucky for Maimoona, she was already an expert in cooking seafood; her family possesses a century-old recipe for crab that has been passed down generations. A little bit of tweaking and the recipe was good to use on other seafood like prawns as well, so her business was destined to be a success.
Her son, who happens to be an interior designer with an understanding of brands and how to promote them, was a great help to her when it came to promoting her product and coming up with a unique selling point and social media posts that are aesthetic and engaging. Together, they are the perfect team; mom whips up her special recipes and the son helps promote it.
Currently, they only have one crab dish available: Kalapu Crab, which is a traditional crab dish prepared with their unique homemade spice blend. They have four ranges offered: The Large, The Great, Grand Claw, and Mighty Claw, all increasing portion sizes. They serve three different prawn dishes; Eastern Classic, Black Pepper, and Devilled.
We had the privilege of trying their Mighty Claw Crab as well as the Eastern Classic Prawn; both of which come with a side serving of two roast paan.
Before we get into the seafood, we would like to just highlight how amazing the bread was. One would think “how can bread be anything other than bread”, but this roast paan had a surprisingly sweet undertone and, while the centre of the bread was soft and pillowy, the crusts too weren’t unbearably hard; rather, we felt like we were snacking on a breadstick. It was the perfect pair with the flavourful curry from both the crab and the prawn.
Another factor we must commend is their sustainable packaging; not only was it environmentally friendly but it also added a rustic, homemade touch to the dish. Both dishes came served in a clay pot with a foil lid held together by string. A very commendable move in terms of marketing. Their packaging is 100% plastic free and reusable as they believe that we, as citizens of the planet, have a major part to build a business with sustainable practices for the environment.
The Mighty Claw Crab is basically one giant (and when we say giant, we mean we audibly gasped at how big it was when we opened it) crab weighing about 1-1.2 kg. The curry itself was rich and thick and overloaded with spices from their homemade blend. We loved that it wasn’t too watery, and actually had plenty of spices visible. The crab was also brimming with meat; Crab Tales had, very helpfully, removed the top shell of the crab and placed it on top for presentation purposes, so we were glad that we didn’t have to struggle with cracking this monstrosity open. Since the meat had been swimming in the curry, the meat had absorbed all that tasty goodness from the curry, which enhanced the crab’s natural flavour. It was very messy, but an absolute delight. The price of the crab curry is steep but as they use export-quality crab that they acquire from a crab export agent, it is understandable.
The Eastern Classic, consisting of large prawns, is a spicy curry prepared in the traditional Trinco style. I loved this dish! The prawns were quite big; value for money and incredibly flavourful. One thing we must note is that there isn’t much curry, after one slice of roast paan, we had run out of curry which was disappointing since the portion we did have was bursting with flavours. They have two portions on offer: Single Treat, which is about six large prawns and Family Treat, which has about 30-35 large prawns. We had the Single Treat; it’s plenty for two people and is an absolute treat!
They have recently introduced an Eastern rice dish, that too is served in their clay pot which is their take on a Spanish classic made with a Sri Lankan twist. The dish is served with crab, squid, prawn, and mussels; a complete seafood delight.
They don’t want to have too many dishes on their menu as they prefer to focus on perfecting the existing dishes while maintaining their quality. They noted that they have made steady progress since the day they launched; way beyond their expectations. They also have a foreign follow basis that tends to order for their families in Colombo. In the future, they hope to develop a fully functional cloud kitchen and serve more customers.
Instagram: @crab.tales