Dad skipped his regular badminton game today to take us out for crabs. I have been making a fuss about wanting to eat crabs from the day I got home from Australia. Crabs is a family favourite. We all love eating crabs and we can eat a lot. Me? I'll eat just about anything that has its back facing the sun all of its life. Bad huh...Can't help it. I'm particular about food and I get excited about trying new stuff. The variety of meats that I have eaten so far, is enough to send me to hell. The same goes for seafood. Other than crabs and prawns, I am a super big fan of snails. Don't tell me you don't like escargots. Anyway, those aren't the only snail that I have eaten. Oh, speaking of, lets not forget your promise Alvin. :P

So as usual, we went to Portuguese Settlement. In case you are not familiar with Malacca, here's a tip. The best seafood stall in Portuguese Settlement is called Sea Terrace. The first shop at the end of the row, closest to the sea. We ordered the usual stuff. Yes, that means there will be crabs. Sadly, they ran out of crabs! We had to order crabs from next door which is quite sucky. Since I didn't get quality, I might as well get quantity. So I ventured out to the small stalls outside to see what they have to offer. Indeed, they had some good stuff to offer.

They had some giant balitong. You know what are balitongs rite? The one you have to suck wan.


They have some weird scallops, or so they say. The one on the far end is huge.


They have some oysters. Although it is so much bigger than the ones found in Aus, it doesn't look like its fresh enough to eat it raw. I won't risk it.


What's that behind the oysters? Those are called ikan belangkas or in English, horseshoe crab. I first learn the existence of this creature when I was in primary. We had a school trip to pantai kundur and one of the malay boys, named Hamka (his name is just Hamka. He is a malay so he doesn't have the surname Chan) found 2 of those hidden deep under the sand. I never knew it was edible until a few years later when I went to hunt for snails in Bukit Tambun, Penang.


Looks dangerous? It is! In fact you'll learn that its poisonous if you study marine biology. But I think that was a different variant of horseshoe crab. Or rather, there is a way to remove the poison. Whichever, as long as its on sale, I will be there to eat it.


In my opinion, its nothing special. There's very little meat and people usually eat that for the sake of its eggs. It tasted just like crab eggs and the meat was like prawns.


It was surely a filling dinner. I mean, it has to be rite? Almost RM200. Can you tell what the 5 of us ate from this picture?


Here's what :
1 Horseshoe Crab
1 Hokkien Noodles
1 Ikan Bakar
1 Sambal Prawns
1 Scallops
3 Sweet & Sour Crab
2 'Yim Kok' (salt) Crab

Yea, 5 crabs for 5 people. Thats standard rite? Because I cannot comprehend why some families only order 2 or 3 crabs when they have more than 5 on the table. Its not even enough to serve as a entree. Somehow, immediately after dinner, I was thinking of Spanner Crabs which I have never ate before. I missed my chance back in Australia....Will I get a second chance?