Crab House - with no crab

So we went to the Crab House on our last night since someone said that the local stone crabs here were great and we decided to splurge. Upon entering we were surprised that it was not that busy. They did have this nice display of their seafood:


Naturally we wanted to order the crab dishes. But alas, they informed us they were out of all the crabs except for the Alaskan King Crab ... Eh? The Crab House that's out of crab. We didn't want Alaskan crab when we can get that back in the US :(
They said it's been too windy for fishermen to go out to get crab. Grumble. Oh well. We got the oyster rockefeller.

It was not bad, although not the best I've ever had either. It was a bit cold and the oyster did not seem well done, which is a little worrisome.

The next dish is the best dish of the night:

Maybe because it was a more Mexican flavor, but they definitely did a better job on this one.

They also got our order wrong, and instead of what we ordered (sauteed fish), gave us this whole grilled fish. It looked good so we let it go ...

Unfortunately the fish was rather dry :( After half a dozen bites I got tired of eating it.

So overall, ... meh. I don't know I'm still curious about the stone crab but the other dishes definitely did not do it for us ...

Crab House Cancun
Blvd Kukulkan km. 15
Cancún Quintana Roo, 77500

Eating at Xcaret

We spent a whole day at Xcaret Park, snorkeling through the underground river, walking on the beach, running around taking pictures of jaguars ...
At one point you have to eat. And honestly, the idea of eating at a theme park is never that appealing to me (with the exception, of course, of fried chicken at Knott's Berry Farm!!).

There are a lot of choices at Xcaret Park though, and some seems pretty appealing. We considered one of the buffet options but decided not to eat that much or spend that much money. Walking by the beach and seeing people eating right on the beach lured us to try the Restaurant Playa dos Playa. Just eating right on the beach might make the food taste that much better, right? We picked our own spot right on the beach and got a menu.

Prices were reasonable, considering Cancun and a theme park and all. Much more affordable than the buffets. We ordered the seafood quesadilla.

This was good, with fresh seafood. Although tasted rather americanized. But still yummy.
I got a torta also, because I love tortas.

And this was also good, although afterwards I decided I much prefer having carne asada in my torta rather than cured ham.

Now, for dessert, we got the corn pie. Corn pie? Finally, something new! Something different!

Thumbs up for this one! :) Kinda tastes like a sweet, mushy corn bread. I really liked it. Will have to find one somehow when I'm back in LA ...

The Flan Hunt

Okay, so one of the nights I gave up going out, too tired, so I decided to get room service. I was staying at the Gran Melia. I ordered a ceviche from the appetizer menu, but as this was nothing special (although good), I am just going to blog about the flan that I ordered with it instead.

Definitely one of the best flans I've had, there was no unnecessary decorative food items that does not go with the taste (IMO, sour fruits do not really go with flan ...)

The flan itself has the right consistency, not too rich and not too "mushy". The caramel sauce was excellent.

La Destileria

First thing's first: If you LOVE Tequila, go here. Like the name suggests, La Destileria/The Distillery boasts hundreds of variety of tequila. And instead of wine pairing, wine tasting menu or wine/sake flights, they have tequila, tequila, tequila.
Unfortunately for you, I'm not much of a tequila person and opted for a frozen mango margarita :>

And second thing: The food was good, but like everything else in Cancun's Hotel Zone, EXPENSIVO! (at least for the me who's used to cheapie yummy mexican food in Los Angeles)

First shown is the 'destileria soup':

Good. But the tortilla soup was better IMHO, so let's move on! :D
When the tortilla soup first came it seemed plain. Barely anything inside. But then the waiter came bearing a tray of goodies. Cheese, avocado, sour cream, and pork rinds to pile up in the soup as requested. So pile up! said I. Pile those pork rinds over here ...

For the entree, I ordered an appetizer, the Fish Tacos de Lazarro style. A bit spicy, but nice, crispy fish, flavorful sauce.


Then, the chicken mole. Wow. I've never seen a mole so chocolatey looking. Mmmmm. Other mole I've had were either black, red, or green. This was chocolatey-brown-goodness. And the taste was also definitely a level up than, oh, say, Guelaguetza.

For dessert we ordered "Homemade Caramel Jelly" that we thought-hoped- would be flan. Well, we were wrong. It was good as far as jello goes. But not flan. And nothing to be jumping up and down about either.


La Destileria
Bulevar Kukulkán Km 12.65, across from Plaza Kukulcan
Cancún Island

Lost in the South ...

This past Christmas, I found myself back in the South again (some people don't know, but I spent my high school days in Spartanburg, SC :P and we would drive to Atlanta/Charlotte occasionally to eat ...).

So I flew into ATL (since it was much much cheaper), and we decided to eat at a Malaysian restaurant called Penang. To get a nostalgic taste close to home, so to speak. The restaurant is in a strip mall that looks rather run down on Buford highway.

I started with 'po pia', a type of steamed spring roll, filled with jicama, topped with some mildly spicy sauce.


We ordered the laksa, which is a typical singaporean dish. Except that it wasn't called Laksa in Malaysian apparently. The "laksa" dish on their menu is something else entirely but I just asked them for the Singaporean mee laksa and this is what they brought me, their "Curry Mee":

Not even close to what you find in Singapore, but it caresses that craving nonetheless :)

and then, this ... I had to order. The Indonesians should know what this is, Nasi Lemak ;)

Coconut rice flavored with cloves & screwpine leaves. Served with chili anchovy, curry chicken and fried egg.
Suddenly I'm super home sick ... :(

Penang
4897 Buford Hwy # 113
Chamblee, GA 30341
(770) 220-0308
www.penangatlanta.com

ATL List

Penang