St. James Crabhouse & Kitchen. Doesn’t that sound promising? This new Kangaroo Point eatery is a surprisingly small place – perhaps 40 seats – with an open kitchen taking up one corner. It looks both casual and welcoming. And once in the door it doesn’t take long to be seated, familiarised and to have orders in place. It’s service with bibs, bowls of water, waste bags and loads of napkins.

The theme is American – ribs, burgers and the rest – with a centrepiece of crustaceans (king crabs, snow crabs, blue swimmers, Jonah claws, prawns and mussels, plus specials), hence the “crabhouse” moniker. And that’s where the real allure lies – after all, there’s no lack of chicken wings or ribs elsewhere in Brisbane.

Regardless of their star status, the crabs could have been better. Blue swimmers are the obvious local option and should have tasted as fresh as the current autumn mornings, but ours was a little dry and bland, lacking the sweet succulence that marks a fresh crab, cooked from green. The dish ($32) of two whole crabs came with our choice of sauce (Cajun, Baltimore, Singapore chilli, citrus beurre blanc or Newport marinara), of which the obvious choice seemed to be the Singapore.

The sauce was sublime – outrageously so. Out came the crabs with a good litre of Singaporean goodness, plus a side of baguette for mopping up. It was terrific value and could have been marvellous – in fact, legendary – if the seafood had been better. Perhaps we should have tried Alaskan king crab ($68).

Everything else was quite good. Our chicken wings with blue cheese sauce ($9 for a half-dozen, also available with St. James barbecue sauce) were decent. Crab and cheese chilli poppers ($12) were tasty, although more of both key ingredients would be welcome. Captain Cheng’s pork belly croutons ($16) were the real deal, dusted in five-spice and accompanied by a chilli sauce. There were also excellent onion rings, crunchy slaw, fries, corn and pickles. It’s really tasty food, especially given the prices.

Two beer taps pour Stone & Wood (Pacific and Lager), backed by a handful of bottles in the commercial-meets-craft spectrum. And there’s a small wine list – two reds, two whites and one fizz – from Treasury. None is exciting, none is American and the needs of the menu are barely recognised.

St. James is a great concept: fresh crustaceans at an affordable price served without pomp. And for that I embrace the place. But with a couple of small tweaks – the handling of the seafood, a little more thought with the wines – it could be stellar.

Originally published on couriermail.com.au