pho-licious: Crabs, done brilliantly

Bandung. An underrated destination in my opinion. Volcanoes, crater lakes, stunning green vistas, berry picking opportunities, refreshing weather and, of course, excellent food. Despite being inland, the seafood here is pretty darn good.

I'll start with Praoe Seafood whose Black Pepper Crabs, are, quite simply, the best I've ever eaten. Imagine fresh, juicy crab meat enlivened with a molten black pepper and chilli-infused sauce. Ridiculously delicious, and you'll be licking your fingers for days to come. At a mere 16 USD for two large crabs, I really doubt there is a better way to spend your money.

We also tried their 'sweet and sour' prawns, whose sauce was not so memorable, but the freshness of the prawns was extremely impressive.

We did intend to return to Praoe the next day for more molten black pepper goodness, but our timing let us down as we had to rush to catch a bus to Jakarta. From my cross-table spying,their fried gurame (type of fish) with a mango-based sauce did look particularly tempting. One to try next time.

Next up, smoked crabs at Captain's seafood. Caramelised onions, smothered over the arthropods, wrapped in banana leaves and then smoked. Not quite as finger licking good as Praoe's black pepper rendition, but not far off. The smoke-infused sweet onions are quite an ingenious creation, and pair well with the meaty crab.

Their kang-kong (water spinach) fried in a hot pan with beef, was also quite moreish – the hot wok aroma ('wok-hei') was particularly pleasing. Also tasty but not spectacular was their fried fish, whose perfectly crisp-on-the-outside moist-in-the-middle flesh was lacking a sauce to do it justice.