Last Night at Tanjung Piai (Greed & Punishment)

Flush from a successful day, where I managed to get the local fishermen to take us out to sea in order to photograph other fishermen at work, I was ready to celebrate. I fancied crab, and of course the resort's restaurant would have it. Unfortunately, I forgot that the crab I wanted was the kind forbidden to Muslims. Mud crabs live in two worlds, the sea and land, and in the Koran, creatures of two habitats are anathema, unkosher or haram.

Butter crabs, RM24.

Sweet and sour crabs, RM24.

As such, the crabs the Muslims do eat are the sea or flower crabs. And that is what were served up. Kit dismissed both styles. The butter crabs were too salty, and the sweet and sour too chilli hot. Which left me to crack and dismember, until I got a cramp in my hand. I won't be wanting to eat this kind of crab for a long, long time! While I thought both styles were okay, I found that the crabs were cooked way too throughly. The meat was shriveled, specifically at the extreme ends like the claws and pincers, which are normally the best, most meaty part of the crabs. Also, the crabs were not cut properly, coming up whole on the dish. It was impossible to break through the sharp ridged claws, and most of them were left abandoned. The kitchen should have cracked them open before serving, or given us some nut crackers or even a small hammer.

Crab eating is thirsty work, and Kit had a pineapple juice for his labours. I really like how the restaurant staff did not try to push more bottles of mineral water on to us, but suggested a carafe of iced water instead. I was again very pleased to see that there was no charge for the water. Only in Tanjung Piai!

Our drinks at the last dinner.

We opted for noodles for dinner, and I chose the Kung Fu style noodles for Kit. He deemed it 'good', and it certainly was a bountiful helping, with lots of seafood and veggies. For RM4.50 it was real value for money, and prompted Kit to lay down the law that from our next trips, I was to order just one plate dishes for him and nothing else. Gulp! Boredom looms!

Kung Fu style yee mee.

 I opted for tomyam noodles with rice vermicelli and I was surprised at the variety of seafood that was packed into this RM4.50 bowl. There were crabs, prawns, squid, fishball, not to mention vegetables. It really was worth the price, and nearly made me despair of finishing the meal!

Tomyam noodles were the best deal of the night.

Also on the table at this last supper was a big plate of kangkong (morning glory). It would seem that veggies are cooked in this one style at the resort - with minced red chillies and garlic and stock. I don't mind it at all, but Kit, for some reason did not take to it at all, so I ended up polishing off the whole RM9 plate by myself!

By some twist of fate, it was not me who woke at one am complaining of food poisoning. Which proves that selective eating is not the surest way to keep travel illnesses away. Sometimes luck is the biggest factor!

If this was not my entire daily recommended serving of veggies, I wonder what is!