Prawns and Crabs

Oh man.

I’ve not had food this good in a long time. My whole family had just driven for an hour to the coast, to our old seafood haunt at Carey Island. For those who do not know, Carey Island is located somewhere between Klang and Banting along the coast. The restaurant itself is built using stilts on the water, which is unfortunately brown and murky (it’s the Klang coast afterall!).

I love to eat crabs and prawns. However, much of the fun associated with consuming these crustaceans (i.e. the work required to get through the shell to the meat) has been taken away these days. The prawns are cleanly sliced through and slipping the meat out of the shell is just a matter of pulling it out. The crabs have all been thoroughly smashed up and I miss the chance of having to crush the crabs with my hind molars.

I especially like eating something called har gou (mantis prawn), which is particularly difficult to cook. We had once tried cooking them at home but all the meat ended up dissolving into the gravy and we ended up with nothing but gravy and shells. However, the restaurants are able to make them quite well. So, I love to order it whenever I go to a seafood restaurant that knows how to make them.

One interesting development was the number of Malay families that were sitting at the restaurant, waiting for the time to buka puasa with a table full of nice seafood. I find this interesting as the restaurant is a very typical Chinese seafood restaurant. Just five years ago, it would have been difficult to find a single Malay family that would dine at such a place, much less a good half dozen of them.

All in all, I had a wonderful meal today. I have finally satisfied my craving for good seafood. All it takes to make me happy is a good meal. I am a simple man to please.