I love crab and came across this restaurant doing some research. It was the only restaurant I planned for my 3 weeks in Thailand this journey.
The room was bright with windows along the entire front wall. Black and glass were accented with red and...saffron. Maybe 30 could be seated at once.
I liked that the restaurant had no freezers. I was intrigued that they were flying crab into a country with plenty of its own crab. And everything was about sourcing, sustainability, freshness and quality. Simply put, I needed this crab.
I tried to make reservations but couldn't. I tried calling the restaurant, but my call wouldn't go through. I called the concierge at the hotel for help. Minutes later I learned they were out of crab for the day. I made a crab reservation for the following day.
In speaking with our hostess, we decided to start with an avocado crab salad, then 2 preparations of local prawn in 2 different sauces, this would be followed by a 2-pound crab in their signature black pepper sauce. I don't regret my order one bit, but for a second visit I would just get a larger crab and stay with the pepper sauce it was simply exceptional as well as totally unique.
The crab avocado showcased the pure flavor of the crab, sweet and mellow as highlighted by the perfectly ripe and creamy avocado. Next was a large local prawn, one in butter sauce the other in chili garlic sauce. I preferred the chili garlic. You could still taste the prawn. The prawn was fried. with the exception of the shell around the top of the head and some of the legs, the entire thing was edible and delicious. The head is definitely where the action is. Then we moved to the centerpiece.
Our crab came out tall and proud and dramatically resented gleaming in a black shiny sauce. Wow! The sauce was spicy, but not that spicy. the heat really only was evident at the very end and we were not sweating. It's unusual to have things focus on pepper as a flavor, and this was delicious. We sopped up every bit with our bread and could have stuffed ourselves even more but thankfully we ran out before we reached gluttony, or did it?
I loved this crab. Easy to get at the meat including from the smaller legs. I used my cracker only twice on knuckles. The pepper sauce is crazy good. I had some incredible crab in Chile years ago, and while this is very different i would say it is equal to it. This was the first tropical crab that I think is that good.
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