Entering Ministry of Crab (MoC) one will be surprised by the elegant new Crab Board hanging by the counter. As envisaged by Dharshan, the board informs diners about the available crab sizes and adds a bit of theatre to the MoC dining experience.
The Crab Board, the all-new feature at the Ministry of Crab, hangs above the open kitchen of the restaurant. Upon it, crab shells of various sizes are illuminated, with the crab sizes minted below, while the name of the restaurant is embellished in brass lettering.
Complete with the sleek wooden frame, the MoC Crab Board has been designed to complement the restaurant’s amber-brown interior. “At Ministry of Crab, the Crab Board shows which sizes of crab are available at the restaurant today. Our Crabs are from a wild catch and there is a limited stock during service every day, so this board is a creative way for our staff to interact with our guests and for our guests to be visually informed as the crab sizes become unavailable,” says Dharshan.
In his mind, Dharshan had sketched the design of a one of-a-kind display board and thus the formula of the Crab Board is simple. If the particular size of crab, be it ½ kilo to ‘OMG’ or the Crabzilla’, is available, the relevant crab shell will be lit up. While the restaurant is in operation, if they run out of the stock of a particular crab size, then the light of the corresponding crab shell will be switched off. A bell is rung to notify both staff and diners that there has been a change on the board.
Chanika Abeywardena, manufacturer of the Crab Board says, “Dharshan’s idea was truly creative. He showed us a sketch of what he expected and we were more than happy to take up the challenge. It was a demanding task as our specialisation was in another area. He was very specific about every single element of the board.” Initially a prototype of the board using a single crab shell was presented to Dharshan, before work on the real Crab Board began.
From the start, Dharshan envisioned a teak frame. Considering the length of the board, an entire log of teak was used. Nearly two weeks were required to treat the timber, including drying the lumber and finally cutting the sketch of the frame.
A black rexine has been attached to the frame, upon which the ten bulbs have been fixed. The crab shells are hooked on above the bulbs.
The crab shells were cleaned pedantically to ensure they are long lasting, and have been fixed in a manner that they are easily replaceable. The brass letters have also been placed on raven black rexine. The electricity supply unit for the board is concealed inside another wooden box affixed to the back of the frame, enabling a good finish.
Dharshan closely monitored each stage of the process to construct the MoC Board to ensure the final outcome matched the sketch he had envisaged. The Crab Board at MoC, which is 118 inches in width and 37 inches in height, weighs almost 100 kilograms. After two months of dedicated hard work, the crabs glow on the board signaling to diners about the crabs of the day at the Ministry of Crab.
