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A glam new brasserie atop The Newport boasts crab worth crossing bridges for.E.

- Pat Nourse

Just order the crab. Commit now, even before you pick up the phone or flex your clicking-finger to make the booking. Commit to the idea of plonking down $125 for a single dish. You won’t regret a cent.

You could do Bert’s on the cheap. The pâté en croûte, a terrine of game and pork framed by pastry and quince, lands at $21, and then there’s a $33 plate of pappardelle with a ragù of duck braised in anise and vinegar. Throw in an $18 elder flower and passion fruit pav and a couple of glasses of wine and you’d still have change from your $125. But you wouldn’t have the crab. And that would be unfortunate.

Chefs Jordan Toft and Sam Kane take the crab, roast it in the wood-fired oven in their gleaming open kitchen, pull out every shred of meat, and fold it with a little Basque chilli powder and breadcrumbs. They return it to the shell, and send it to the table with a tiny silver shaker of chilli, just in case you like it spicier. It’s sweet, rich, buttery and utterly devastating.

I ask the waitress how many of the little shakers have disappeared. We’ve only got three left, she says with a grin. They’re quick with a smile on the floor, and they know their business.