Taiwan: Brothers Seafood Restaurant
A few days ago, I mentioned to my grandma that I wanted to check out Yehliu National Park. What I'd meant was that I wanted to catch a bus and take a day trip out by myself. My grandma had different plans. She called up my uncle and had him drive us there instead. I'm rather glad she did. I had a lot of fun with my grandparents and my uncle at Yehliu and if my uncle hadn't driven us, I wouldn't have been able to eat at 兄弟海產店 (literally "brothers seafood shop"):
The moment we drove into the parking lot, all these women swarmed around our car, gesturing toward their respective restaurants. It was a bit overwhelming, but thankfully my uncle knew exactly where we were going.
Outside the restaurant were colorful bins filled with live seafood. You're supposed to choose which creatures you want to eat and tell the restaurant how you want them cooked:
All the ladies were fearless, plucking crabs out of the bin with their bare hands and scooping out flopping fishes for our perusal. They also have the ability to talk you into anything. If you're not careful, you'll end up ordering more than you can eat...and more than you want to pay for.
To start, we got two free dishes. First were the yam leaves:
Next were the clams:
Our server brought out a little paper cup filled with a mysterious liquid, which I later learned was the blood of the lobster we picked:
I wanted to like it, I really did...but it tasted a bit alcoholic and that just killed it for me.
Next came our steamed clams with ginger:
The best part was the soup. There's something magical about clam juice infused with ginger.
Our lobster finally made an appearance in a miso broth:
The miso soup was especially delicious because it was sweetened by the lobster meat.
The rest of the lobster arrived as sashimi:
If you've never had lobster sashimi...you're missing out.
One of my favorites was the steamed fish:
You could taste how fresh the fish was; the meat was that supple.
Last but not least was our crab:
I don't usually like to get my hands dirty, but I made an exception for this crab. The meat was super delicate and very sweet.
Before all our food arrived, we had a moment where we realized that we'd ordered too much. But in the end, the four of us polished off just about everything. The entire meal cost slightly more than $80. For a seafood feast, that's pretty incredible. Half of the price was due to the lobster itself. Everything else was insanely cheap.
I love Asia.
The moment we drove into the parking lot, all these women swarmed around our car, gesturing toward their respective restaurants. It was a bit overwhelming, but thankfully my uncle knew exactly where we were going.
Outside the restaurant were colorful bins filled with live seafood. You're supposed to choose which creatures you want to eat and tell the restaurant how you want them cooked:
All the ladies were fearless, plucking crabs out of the bin with their bare hands and scooping out flopping fishes for our perusal. They also have the ability to talk you into anything. If you're not careful, you'll end up ordering more than you can eat...and more than you want to pay for.
To start, we got two free dishes. First were the yam leaves:
Next were the clams:
Our server brought out a little paper cup filled with a mysterious liquid, which I later learned was the blood of the lobster we picked:
I wanted to like it, I really did...but it tasted a bit alcoholic and that just killed it for me.
Next came our steamed clams with ginger:
The best part was the soup. There's something magical about clam juice infused with ginger.
Our lobster finally made an appearance in a miso broth:
The miso soup was especially delicious because it was sweetened by the lobster meat.
The rest of the lobster arrived as sashimi:
If you've never had lobster sashimi...you're missing out.
One of my favorites was the steamed fish:
You could taste how fresh the fish was; the meat was that supple.
Last but not least was our crab:
I don't usually like to get my hands dirty, but I made an exception for this crab. The meat was super delicate and very sweet.
Before all our food arrived, we had a moment where we realized that we'd ordered too much. But in the end, the four of us polished off just about everything. The entire meal cost slightly more than $80. For a seafood feast, that's pretty incredible. Half of the price was due to the lobster itself. Everything else was insanely cheap.
I love Asia.
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