CRUSTASIA

One of the necessities in life that I enjoy doing is EATING.
(Well I love breathing too, more so if I was breathing in the smell of chicken broiling in the turbo, or garlic frying in butter… But you know what I mean…)

One of the things that give me utmost fun is spending time with my family.
(Unless it’s accompanying my husband to watch PBA because after Jaworski left the game, it became boring for me.)

Now…

If you put EATING and SPENDING TIME WITH FAMILY together, what will ERICJAZ Foodies have?

A helluva GRAND TIME.

And that is what EXACTLY happened during Mother's Day at CRUSTASIA.


Crazy... Beautiful... just perfectly Delicious!
(and no need for open close parenthesis disclaimers...           Oops!)

CRUSTASIA!

It was Mother's Day and we celebrated by having lunch out in Powerplant Mall. We were asking my Mom what restaurant she wanted to eat in, and being the lady she is, she just asked what the majority of the family liked.

We were in the mood for sweet crabs and so the venue was set.  

Upon sitting down, the waiters of CRUSTASIA gave us complimentary appetizers to munch on while they prepare our food. The chilled vegetable sticks were surprisingly satisfying along with the tasty dips consisting of Hoisin Sauce, Vietnamese Fish Sauce, and Chili Oil.  

Hellow Crabs! We will see you LATER!

CRUSTASIA in Powerplant Mall is spacious with a back to nature relaxing feel. The waiters though informed me that they will be renovating sometime in June as they will add breakfast grub to their menu and adapting their look with it.

Hmmm... If it is not "baroque", why fix it? But okay, you know what is best CRUSTASIA :)

Normally I do not like having gadgets on the table but Andrei behaved like a gentleman today that he deserved a game or two.

The wait staff of CRUSTASIA was very accommodating and attended to every whim of my very outspoken family. Kudos especially goes to the ones pictured above and manager Rodel with waitress Princess!

While waiting for our food...

Ate Jojit gave out gifts for the Mommies! Yey! I'm now glad I have 2 kids... KIDDING!

Dessert came early? Tee hee!

We started off with everyone's favorite, CRUSTASIA'S Catfish Salad (P235.00). Even if this was an appetizer, I loved eating this with rice (bagoong rice especially). Their Catfish is shredded and fried to salty crispy then served with raw mangoes, peppers, and onions with a spicy, tangy vinaigrette.

  

The waiter of CRUSTASIA laid the Catfish Salad on the middle of the table but little sneaky (and hungry) me related something exciting for my family while I slowly inched the whole plate towards me. 

When there's hunger, there's a way. 

It's Mother's Day anyway. Ha ha ha ha!

Even if this already tasted perfect, I would still request for extra vinaigrette because I like slurping on it while munching on the crunchy catfish!!!

See?

For Mati and Andrei, we ordered their usual favorite, CRUSTASIA's Baked Oysters (P235.00). It was cheesy and balanced with the sweetness of the ripe mango. Andrei loved scraping the creamy baked cheese onto his plate and giving the naked tahong to his Kuya! He he!

That's what you call brotherly love then!

Even if nobody was celebrating his/her birthday, we ordered CRUSTASIA's Pad Thai. 

We mixed everything up to distribute the peanut-y flavors into the noodles!

Of course when you go to CRUSTASIA, you should not miss their CRABS!!!

We ordered 2 of these fresh-off-the-aquarium babies and had it cooked ala CRAB MARITESS.

In no time, the 2 Crabs were wiped out. But please, do not leave those garlic bits in olive oil behind. Spoon it over your steamed rice and you got for yourself something that will make your eyes pop. Yes it is THAT good. Take my word for it.

Now who is crazy enough to leave THAT? The garlic bits are just packed with flavor. I even requested the waiter to pack it for me to take home. 

I would probably do the same if I ate in CRUSTASIA with you! He he he he!

While savoring CRUSTASIA's Crab Maritess, my Mom suddenly remembered how she loved Singaporean Chili Crabs. The waiters then graciously gave us some of the sauce to dip our garlicky crabs in. 

Then we remembered the Crabs were already resting in peace inside our tummies....

So I just spooned it over my plain rice...

"Isipin mo na lang, crab yan!!" ("Just imagine that it is crab"!)

He he he! Kidding but hey, it did make my rice MORE exciting and delicious! 

My two brothers!

Yup, I did tell you we were all silly right?

My Daddy, Mommy, and her dopplehanger, Ate Jit.

Usually when food is on the table, we would grab the food for our plates because it was either eat or be eaten off!!

That was when we were kids to the embarrassment of our parents.. HA HA HA HA! 

Now as adults, we still do it for fun.

... really now?

My plate!!

Check out the naked Tahong... Like I said, toppings were scraped off by Andrei already!

Later on it just got so messy... but I still LOVE it.

Food...

My Chinese stalker giving me that weird smile.... 

Mati arguing with his favorite cousin Rocio!

Then shoveling spoonfulls of CRUSTASIA's Pandan Chicken onto his mouth!

Let's EAT from this view...

Then let's EAT from this view...

(l-r, my sis in law Karen, my niece Rocio, Mati is suddenly invisible, my husband sucking on his crabs, GLORIOUS ME, my Daddy, my Mommy, Ate Jit, Kuya Jon, and Kuya Jay!)

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to the best Mommy in the world!!! Truly THE epitome of a perfect Mom and Lady! 

AND just to clarify, my mom is the pretty one on the left.... 

So there Ate Jit! Ha ha ha ha!

We were so full and deliriously happy after our meal from CRUSTASIA but we still wanted to chat and chika! So we had coffee somewhere with Bread where we could Talk. (Tee hee!)

As they say, time always fly so fast when you're having fun...

The same could be said when I am eating with my family. And whatever time it is, it is NEVER enough! 

Like I said... Crazy... Beautiful... Delicious... ALWAYS perfect!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY again Mommy!

Crustasia

Power Plant Mall

G/F Power Plant Mall, Amorsolo Drive

Poblacion, Makati

(02) 728-5463