Sunday Dinner on the Beach

Sunday night had us once again craving non-Thai food. Although it’s very good, it is a bit tough on the tummy if you’re not used to eating all those chilis and curry. Rather than making the mistake we did before, though, we opted for seafood.

After all, we are right on the ocean.

Several places were recommended on the net, and we found one of them nearby – Patong Seafood Restaurant. A quick Tuk-Tuk ride and we were there.

Incidentally, Tuk-tuks look differently here than they do in Bangkok or Chiang Mai. Here, think of a shoebox. Actually, think of the vans that first came out in the mid-1960’s. Flat nose, square sides.

Now shrink them by 60%, so you think they might fit in the back of a standard pickup truck, if you really squoze them in there tight.

They’re not all red here, although ours happened to be tonight, and you get in either from the side or the back end. The driver’s up in a cab (it was apparently “Take Your Daughter to Work Day for ours, since his 2 year old was riding shotgun) and you sit on benches in the back.

When we got to the restaurant, we were seated in the open air part. They had these great fans attached to the ceiling – not ceiling fans like we’re accustomed to, but rather like floor fans but they were attached to the ceiling and oscillated every different direction.

The menu, fortunately, had pictures as well as multi-language descriptions. We picked some kind of fried won ton as an appetizer, and then 2 dishes – steamed crabs and prawns fried with limes.

Anyhow, once we selected our dishes, the waiter gave us a little piece of paper with something written on it in Thai and directed us back to the front of the restaurant.

Where the bait tanks were.

We’ve previously written about the fact that we’re more comfortable if our food isn’t looking back at us during dinner.

That feeling is compounded several times when you have to be the one sentencing the critter to the executioner.

The prawns, which are just shrimp on steroids, were already on ice.

The crabs were in a kiddie pool, and we thought they were similarly beyond hope until the lady reached in to get one and it fought back. 2 of them were finally plucked into a little plastic basket, where they were weighed.

Seems fresh seafood and market price are determined by weight. We approved the weight and pretty soon the dishes were brought to our table. They had thankfully broken the crabs apart (at least to some extent).

We agreed, you have to order crabs about once a year to remind yourself why you don’t order crab more often.

It’s a pain. There’s not much there to eat for what you pay for them. They’re messy and you’re likely to get it all over your shirt.

Tomorrow we’ll likely be back to Thai food. It’s pretty good, and it’s dirt cheap for the most part. Dinner was pretty good, but like all beach side restaurants, they take advantage of that ocean view. At 2550 Baht ($78.00), it was one of the more expensive meals we’ve had since we’ve been here.

Stateside, that would have been acceptable, but here you can get so much more for the same money!

Despite the price....we were still smiling because the food was so good.......see......