boiling crab at koreatown, los angeles

Every time I am out of the Philippines, I always make it a point to be a good representation of my country. I’m behaved and I always bring with me tons of manners.  I follow the rules, I smile a lot, I am a little friendlier and I am more cultured than the usual.  Dining etiquette and favourable table manners are always taken into great consideration.

But I totally transgressed from all of these when I and my travel buddies Karen, Joesel & Denton dined at Boiling Crab located at Koreatown along Wilshire Boulevard in L.A., USA. I guess having to wait for available seats for close to two hours would make any sane, well-educated and refined person reasonably unsophisticated when it comes to table manners.

True enough, when the waitress tied a disposable bib around my neck, I knew that we are on for some messy type of meal.  No plates were served but instead wax paper that covers the whole table was placed in front of us.  And when the food was served contained in transparent plastic bags, I was ready to embrace the mess, abandon my propriety and satisfy my glutinous depravity.

the whirlwind of digging, squeezing, cracking and twisting is about to begin…

ready for some messy yet heavenly type of meal…

Realizing that I can abandon the basic dining manners for that moment, I simply ditched the plastic spoon and fork that was handed to me and instead dug on the food with my bare hands.  The plastic bags placed on our table contained the most sumptuous and legendary buttered shrimps cooked in chopped garlic that I have tasted in a long while.  The zingy spicy sauce was the best when it is poured over a hot mountain of rice and juicy buttered corn on cob.

re-living the fantastic experience

our glorious mess

I don’t know if it is just the Filipino in me, but I guess food becomes more splendid, yummy and delectable when eaten using the bare hands.  But then again, the food served in Boiling Crab seem so enchanting we actually returned and queued again for more than two hours after a couple of nights to re-live the same joyous scrumptious experience we had the first time.  The second time we dined definitely did not disappoint us.

Sarap…