Chef Alex Wong’s Blue Swimmer Crab Spaghetti Vongole with Tom Yum Butter, Tomato & Basil 

After dazzling Sydney’s dining scene with Lana — a modern Italian‑Asian gem inside Hinchcliff House — Alex Wong now takes the helm across all four of its levels as the first chef to curate a vision through the building’s entire culinary floor plan. Known for his playful riff on Italian staples and nods to Asian ingredients, Wong is bringing cohesion without compromise. 

You have recently been appointed Executive Chef of Hinchcliff House in Sydney — do you have a favourite dish currently on the menu across the venues? 

At Lana, I’m loving the roasted Bannockburn chicken with white pepper sauce and South Australian Goolwa pippies. I’ve always had a soft spot for dishes that mix surf and turf — alla mare e monti.  

What’s the first dish you ever fell in love with — and do you still cook it today? 

Potato gnocchi. We used to make a version with kipfler potatoes — serious hard work, but the payoff was the fluffiest, lightest gnocchi you’ll ever eat. We did a cacio e pepe version at Ajo Restaurant in the Welcome Hotel, Rozelle, and I’ve brought the same base recipe to Lana a few times since — sometimes with ragù, sometimes with a kombu e pepe sauce. 

What’s one underappreciated ingredient or flavour you think more people should be using at home? 

White pepper. It’s floral, aromatic and adds a totally different layer to a dish. Cooking Italian food for most of my career, I didn’t use it much — but it’s something I’ve been reaching for more lately.  

What’s one piece of advice you’d give to home cooks looking to elevate their weeknight dinners? 

Keep it simple. Keep it delicious. And don’t be afraid to add a splash of fish sauce — it works wonders in braises, dressings, even on a fresh veg salad. 

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Ingredients

Serves 2 

250g fresh egg spaghetti or spaghettini (thicker is better) 

1 blue swimmer crab (roughly 500g), raw (can be done with mudcrab/spanner crab/bay bug/rock lobster also) 

200g of vongole or clams or pippies, live and purged 

100g cherry tomatoes, cut in half 

2 tbsp tomato passata 

3 cloves of garlic, finely sliced 

1 birds eye chilli, finely sliced 

100ml dry white wine 

1 lime for zesting, and little juice to season pasta 

2tbsp fish sauce 

3 sprigs of Thai basil, picked leaves only 

80g unsalted butter 

150ml of rich prawn or shellfish stock (specialty seafood retail stores may have) 

20g of tom yum paste  

10g knob of bottarga di muggine (find in specialty seafood stores, or harris farm market) 

120ml EVOO  

Method

1. Prepare crab by removing the head and lightly rinsing out the grit. (Reserve the “head cheese” the orange looking soft stuff. That goes back into the sauce at the end.) Also keep the shell aside for presentation. Removing the Dead means fingers (it is the grey looking bits) and discard. 

2. Heat a pot of boiling water enough to cook 2 portions of pasta comfortably, seasoned with salt (must taste like sea water). 

3. Cut crab into 4 pieces, using a chef’s knife ideally with a thicker blade. Set aside. 

4. Heat a wide based pan/pot/casserole pan with EVOO. Add garlic + chilli and fry off on medium heat with a few leaves of the Thai basil, cook for a few minutes until fragrant.  

5. Add cherry tomatoes and tom yum paste and cook down for a couple more minutes, until the juices come out. Turn the heat up to high, add clams and wine, steam until clams open. Pick out clams and set aside. 

6. Add prawn stock, tomato passata, blue swimmer crab and crab head and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium, stirring to coat crab in all the juices (crab will take around 4 – 5 minutes to cook). Remove crab and set aside. 

7. Meanwhile, reduce sauce until almost coating consistency on low heat.  

8. When sauce is almost ready, drop your pasta in the boiling salted water, and stir continuously with a large tongs (spaghetti may take 2 – 3 minutes, depending on how fresh or how thick it is). Cook to your desired taste, ideally pasta should be served “AL DENTE” slightly under with a bit of bite. 

9. Once spaghetti is cooked to the correct consistency, remove by straining the spaghetti through a colander (try to reserve 200ml in case need to adjust sauce). Drop spaghetti into sauce and stir with tongs or a wooden spoon whilst adding the butter and crab head cheese. 

10. Cook the spaghetti in the sauce until sauce is coating. If too dry, add a bit of reserved pasta water. Try to stir vigorously or toss the pasta vigorously (this process is called “mantecare”). 

11. Add cooked crab, crab head, clams, lime zest and six more leaves of Thai basil back into the pan, stir well. Remove from heat, season with fish sauce, lime juice if needed and a touch of salt. Transfer pasta using tongs onto a large serving plate/platter, top with crab legs + clams, pour over sauce, then grate bottarga using a microplane all over.  

12. Finish with crab head on top and some more leaves of Thai basil to garnish. 

13. Serve with some crusty bread to “scarpetta” (mop up the sauce) and a glass of crisp dry white wine Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, and Verdicchio. 

Loved this delicious Blue Swimmer crab spaghetti vongole recipe? You might also like this crispy fish croquette recipe or this fried eggplant recipe.

Writer

Olivia Storrie

24 December 2025

Armed with an Arts Degree in History and Psychology from the University of Sydney, a natural curiosity and a ravenous appetite, Olivia is your go-to for restaurant recommendations across the city. She also has a keen interest in hiking, patting other people’s dogs, travelling, curating her maximalist home and reading every book she can get her hands on.