Miss Katie's Crab Shack

238 Victoria St, North Melbourne 3051

Date visited: 24th August 2014

I had a craving for waffles or something sweet for brunch and MerlinFan had something American on her mind.  The threat of rain was growing as ominous dark clouds started to roll in, so MerlinFan and I did a quick search on Urbanspoon and decided on... Miss Katie's Crab Shack.  

Miss Katie's Crab Shack offers their take on Southern style dining.  It is located conveniently on Victoria Street just a few minutes walk from the CBD.  With the Victoria Markets just across the road, they source their seafood and poultry fresh daily.

The interior of Miss Katie's does make you feel as if you've just walked off a sandy beach and stepped into a slightly dingy shack with old peeling ceiling and walls - don't forget the fishing nets, model boats and floating buoys dangling from the ceiling.  Tables were covered with old newspapers and adorned with flowers and a hurricane lantern.

You make your order and pay at the counter (cash only) and obtain your drinks separately at the bar.

Our food didn't take too long at all to arrive.  I got the Katie's Fried Chicken.  You could add French fries or Belgian waffles with real Canadian maple syrup for $5 - I opted for the latter.

Katie's Fried Chicken $17
Belgian waffles $5 

These were seriously one of the most juicy, succulent fried chicken I've had in a while. Coated in a golden fried, crunchy shell made from a secret blend of herbs and spices, these were awesome.  The fragrant, herby flavour of the skin was like Southern style version of our Asian five spice chicken - I loved it!  I didn't even touch the ranch dressing.  At $17 for six pieces of chicken (two drumsticks and two thighs halved if I'm not mistaken) it could easily be shared between two people, so that meant MerlinFan had herself some of that yummy chicken too.

The waffles were soft, fluffy and missing that chewy, dense crunch - the kind I like to fondly refer to as panffles aka look like waffles but with the texture of pancakes.   I never particularly liked these type of waffles, but drizzled in sweet Canadian maple, these made a nice enough accompaniment to the chicken.

MerlinFan had Katie's Low Country Boil.  This chilled-out crab looks like it's having a leisurely yawn.

Katie's Low Country Boil $25

This was an Australian blue swimmer crab, corn and smoked kranski cooked in Old Bay seasoning and garlic butter.  MerlinFan was presented a cute wooden hammer.  In actuality, it was probably too lightweight to do much damage (other than making noise like a judge banging his gavel) so she ended up biting through the shells like a beaver.  There wasn't a lot of meat in the blue swimmer, but what was there was juicy and soft.  The flavour of the crab was somewhat overpowered by the garlicky, buttery broth and MerlinFan said she would have preferred her ultimate favourite mud crab for the more firm texture and distinctive taste.  MerlinFan didn't really need the kransky, but she sure enjoyed being a menace biting into the corn cob and spraying corn juice all over me (WTF dude!).

MerlinFan and I finished our deliciously indulgent meals and left feeling incredibly satisfied.

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