Crab devouring at Depot Sari Laut Pak Muktar, Sanur, Bali

Delicious crab at Depot Sari Laut pak Muktar,
Sanur, Bali

Our fellow good food hunter, Frank "Biawak" Yuwono was in Bali. We met for diner and was looking for something unique that is neither a Chinese nor European; there is plenty of those two where he lives now in Melbourne, Australia.

My first recommendation was Be Pasih, since it's a famous Balinese sea food restaurant that located near by where he stays in Renon; many choices to choose from with decent tastes, but nothing too challenging or unique, a safe choice I usually offers my out of Bali friends.

However since Frank is quite adventurous like myself, we decided to find something challenging enough; something different, something new. Nasi Ayam Betutu near by was also not an option since we both don't find super hot food a fancy, while there's no new venues near by either.

The other option is, a place that I've been eyeing for a while in Sanur that's recommended by my colleague buddy Andrey, who frequent this place even though he lives quite far south in Jimbaran. It's a small roadside eateries which is famous for its crab, and we do love crabs, right?

Frank agrees so we headed east to the by pass Ngurah Rai where the place is located; it's right beside the landmark ish Mc Donald Sanur, where car parking was quite rare at night due to the famous Arena restaurant near by.

The live crabs are displayed in the plastic containers right by the entrance, there are two choices available; male crab which suppose to have more meat, and the female egg crab with its reddish orange eggs.

We picked them both, and the cook slash owner bring our crabs to be cooked. No we weren't asked how we want it to be done since there's only one option available, "asam manis" said the owner. Ok, asam manis is cool, no problem with that.

Frank "Biawak" Yuwono photographing crab
at Depot Sari Laut Pak Muktar, Sanur, Bali

After quite a while but not too long, our order arrived in two plates, and the chopped down crabs were covered in a brownish thick coarse sauce; which in our opinion doesn't looks like anything sweet or sour at all, it looks more like a dark brown dehydrated curry.

And our perception turned out to be correct; the taste is more like a pepper sauce with a hint of sourness in it, and the unique taste of fermentation.

So both of us were happily crushes the crab's skin to find the firm and plumpy meat underneath, swipe the brownish paste with it, put on some rice to go along, and we're good.

The unique aroma of fermentation that I recognized, combined with the hint of sourness, wasn't really catch my interest at first. However nearing the end of our meal I think I'm beginning to develop a taste for it. It's quite different than other standard taste for a crab; it's rich, umami, spicy, and was quite dark though not too thick, thanks to the introduction of the lightening sourness. It's almost like they're using tauco; fermented soy bean paste which explains the consistency, taste, and coloring.

However on overall, both Frank and me think the food was good; the tab was 130K bill (@15K per 100 grams of crab), venue is clean enough, open dining area without aircon, but it's still comfy at night.

Recommended. (byms)

All crabs done!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8