The Crab which is not...

Each trip to Samui is not complete without a trip to our favorite seafood restaurant on Bangpo beach. It is a local joint which we stumbled upon 4 years ago. Our restaurant choices are usually based on the 'local' factor. Obviously the more locals there are, the better it should be in terms of authenticity and price. The restaurant which we still do not know of the name, is on Bangpo beach and there is nothing fancy about it except for the superb priceless view. The restaurant consists of simple attap roofs and they used to make tables out of old doors! I am not joking.

This time round, the tables have been replaced with new bamboo tables. But oh my, there are also 'farangs,' lots of them! Yes, I am such a hyprocrite considering that both my husband and I are not locals either but we prize our discovery. There were so many of them I was afraid that the restaurant may lose its local touch.

On the plus side, the menu has improved somehow with better English translation. However, there is one page of food listing in Thai with no English translation from which we always randomly pick an item. Unfortunately there was one main item that was not listed in the menu, and the waitress could not understand what we wanted. After much hand actions including using pots and pans to explain the color of my desired dinner, the waitress finally figured out what I was trying to order.... horseshoe crab.

When we first ordered this dish 4 years ago, it was merely out of curiosity with a high cool factor. I mean look at the guy! The armour was just awesome. It was prehistoric. When the dish arrived, we did not know what to do with it. We turned it upside down, trying to do the regular dissections as per your regular crustacean. In the end we figured out where the opening was. To our shock, there was no crab meat to be found. There were just hundreds and hundreds of green beans lookalike in that little armor. Sig.Ot and I dugged in and ate them all. The green beans lookalike are actually the eggs. Taste wise, it is a little bit fishy and the texture is chewy.

This time round, when the English speaking waitress finally figured out what I wanted then told me that it was not crab. So I thought perhaps it is not called crab in Thai. I googled horseshoe crab and discovered that it is more closely related to ticks than to crabs! I told Elise about this and she was so grossed out by the fact that I was eating thousands of baby mites. I am thinking right now, "Wait till she sees the picture!"

Do give it a try if you ever see one. It goes very well with papaya salad on the side.