CRAB MENTALITY / DECEMBER 3,2007

Man, I’m so behind in my blogging! Shoot. I should have written about this a month ago, but between the Christmas rush and the Marketing Plan presentations, I quite simply ran out of time. =(

In any case, good things must be brought to light. Haha! ‘D

It must be said that one of my favorite restaurants in the world is the original Red Crab & Steaks restaurant in Clark Field, Pampanga. A trip to the Mimosa Estates (mostly for business conferences) would not be complete without getting my fill of their chicharon bulaklak (the best ever!) and their assortment of crab dishes. Depending on the weather, Chiqui (Red Crab’s gracious host and owner) would arrange tents on the soccer field in front of the restaurant, and set up her delicious two-way buffet on one side. The buffet usually includes bottomless chicharong bulaklak (yes! pure cardiac delight, haha =)), ensaladang mangga, calamares, all sorts of crab recipes, etc., etc,, etc! On the other side, she would set up the roasting pit with the lechong baka slowly rotating and cooking over a bed of live coals . It’s quite an experience especially when a not-so-rare (at least in Clark) summer breeze cools the guests. Yes, very few dining experiences could surpass such a feast under a canopy of stars. =)

Sadly, its Manila-based branches (especially the Seafood Club in Greenbelt) have failed to live up to my five-star, two-thumbs-up experience in Clark.

All, that is, until CLAW DADDY came along. Yey! ^_^

Claw Daddy recently opened in Bonifacio High Street. Both stressed out, the Hubby and I—on a particular night when he picked me up from work—decided to de-stress by going to a restaurant we haven’t gone to before. I felt like eating crabs, having passed by Claw Daddy earlier that day on my way to I-now-forgot-where. Thankfully, it did not take much to convince Hubby S. Yey! =D

Unfortunately, when we got there, he was adamant about having the Singaporean Chili Crab while I was adamant about having the Black Pepper Crab. Haha! Patay. =) (For those who may be wondering, yes, the house specialty Crab Maritess is also available, but I really didn’t feel like butter and garlic that night. =))

The waiter looked at us with amusement and volunteered, “OK lang po. Maliit naman yung crabs ngayon.” That was all Hubby Sweet needed to hear! He was—at that time—telling me that he is quite capable of finishing an entire crab all by himself. I was, of course, challenging him. Haha! O, sya, sya.

Maliit pala ha! When the crabs arrived, I immediately realized why they call the place Claw Daddy. Susko! No words could aptly describe it. See the CRAB CLAW pic na lang. Hala! Hahaha! ^_^ (Thought balloon: “Hala! Crab ang baon naming buong linggo!” HAHAHA!!! ‘D)

In the Singaporean Chili Crab vs. Black Pepper Crab arena: although the Black Pepper Crab rated high on my personal yum scale, the Singaporean Chili Crab, admittedly, beat it claws down! Haha. =)

I still say feel free to try both if you have a group of at least four with you, but if you’re only a party of two and you were forced to choose--the crabs, after all, don’t come cheap-- go for the Singaporean version. Tasting it conjured memories of a past Chili Crab dinner in Newton Circus’ Hawkers Center with my other super-friend Ade. (I’m 4’10-1/2"; yes, the 1/2" counts, haha! 'D Ade is a good head smaller than me. Yet, on that particular dinner, we wolfed down two servings of Hainanese Chicken Rice and licked the sauce off our fingers as we finished off a gigantic crab cooked in a sweet-spicy Chili paste. Let’s not even talk about what we did with the Ice Kacang! Haha! ‘P The Singaporeans walking past us would inevitably stop and stare, obviously amazed at how two “little girls” could finish off such a super-sized meal! Hahaha! ‘D)

Did I digress? Haha! ‘D

Sorry, back to Claw Daddy!

Yes, their Singaporean Chili Crab is pretty authentic-tasting. In hindsight, I should have gotten a rib or steak dish to complement it instead of my BP Crab. Oh, well. Next time! =)

We spent P3,600 that night (WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!). Admittedly, the check would have been more manageable if there were more people in our party. Yup, I suppose Claw Daddy is that kind of place. Its rating on the value-for-money meter increases proportionately with the number of people eating. (Now why do I get the feeling I ought to define a ceiling? Haha. =))

Hubby Sweet and I consoled ourselves with the idea that we each got to take home half of our crabs with us. The Singaporean Chili Crab I ate for dinner the following night (since the Hubby was out with a business associate from Singapore). The Black Pepper Crab, I transformed into a "very expensive" crab omelette the day after. Hahaha! =D

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TIPS!

Don’t bother ordering appetizers when you go to Claw Daddy. They will give you corn on the cob on the house while waiting for your crabs to cook. =) Considering the size of the main dish, it would also be better for you to save all the space you’ve got for the real thing instead of filling it up with salad greens. Haha! The bad news is that since Claw Daddy is “American-themed”, Chicharong Bulaklak is NOT found on its appetizer list. Waaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!! That particular detail broke Hubby Sweet’s heart. Come to think of it, it also broke mine. Haha! =D I do hope they can make it available at Claw Daddy--even if it were only on a “by request basis”. =)

Claw Daddy is also blogger-friendly. I at least did not get weird stares when I started taking pictures of my food before eating them. Haha! The waiter actually smiled at me when I did so. I suppose he has encountered bloggers before. =) After our meal, we received a complementary carrot cake. I suppose it was an “advance thank you” in case we decided to write about the place in our blog, since the waiter made chika that a lot of the visits that they get are initially driven by some blog that their customers read. Yahoo! ‘Twas moist and not too sweet. I loved the cream cheese icing. Hubby Sweet finished it off. =)

Truth be told though, they didn’t need to give me the carrot cake to right this blog. Even without it, Claw Daddy is now on the list of restaurants I will definitely go back to over and over and over again! =D