ERICJAZ FOODIES: EL CANGREJO

Sunday, February 2, 2014

EL CANGREJO

Last Thursday, we were invited to try out the surf and turf restaurant in South Triangle Quezon City which opened it's doors October 13, 2013.

EL CANGREJO!!!!

Oh crab in logo.Why are you so happy when we will be eating you later?

EL CANGREJO, or "The Crab" in English, is located at the cozy corner of the establishment of Jardin de Zenaida.

Inside, EL CANGREJO is well lit with red bricks and wooden chairs. The restaurant would sort of remind you of crab shacks in the US but with a more chic vibe going on.

Thankfully, traffic was smooth flowing and we were right on time for the great seafood feast ahead!

menu from EL CANGREJO fb site

EL CANGREJO MEYNUH!!!

According to Chef Nino Runas, chef and owner of EL CANGREJO, he wanted to introduce a specialty seafood restaurant in Quezon City where diners would get their fill of the fresh bounty cooked in not the usual way.

Since the opening of EL CANGREJO, regular customers would load up on their surf and turf menu during lunch and weekends. It's the perfect venue for meetings and Sunday get togethers as they accept reservations.

Now enough talk.

LET'S EAT!

First on the table were some delectable EL CONGREJO baked scallops (P395.00) which were just baked perfectly and held up well with the garlic and herbs.

This EL CANGREJO appetizer was swimming in tasty seasoned butter which, if you're not watching your cholesterol, is perfect to slurp up in just one go.

If slurping flavored fat is not your thing, you could just mop it all up with EL CANGREJO's crusty home baked bread (P75.00). Come to think of it, this wonderful carb is perfect to sop up the juices, gravy, and sauces of everything on the table!

As much as I was excited to pig out on the seafood meal ahead, I happily eyed the EL CANGREJO boneless buffalo wings (P295.00).

The sauce had just the right spice to it and was complemented well by the cucumber infused yoghurt dip.

Never thought I would still be able to enjoy buffalo chicken WITHOUT the usual bones (which I love to suck) and bleu cheese!

One of our favorite dishes of the night was EL CANGREJO's Clam Steamers (P180.00)!!

Believe me I wanted to drop the whole dish in my bag if there were leftovers!!!

We all enjoyed scooping up the lovely clams in the savory sauce and giving it a loud slurp!!

When we ran out of clams, the EL CANGREJO bread came to the rescue!

Except for my husband though who tried to be dainty by using a fork (cough weird cough).

Ha ha ha ha ha!

Believe me... I wanted some MORE.

Up next were some EL CANGREJO crabmeat ravioli with aligue sauce (P325.00)!

The crabmeat ravioli was "lined up" with squid ink.

You would surely taste its mild flavors when you bite into it. Don't forget to get a good serving of the aligue sauce with your ravioli!

We also had some EL CANGREJO seafood linguine (P295.00) which I only got to taste 6 pasta strands of since dear Spanky loved it so much that he owned it. Ha ha ha ha!

I don't blame him though because this albeit subtle tasting pasta dish was just overflowing with seafood and fresh tomatoes!!!!

It's okay if I didn't get more of that pasta because I fell in love with EL CANGREJO's Grilled Prawns Aglio Olio (P395.00)!

We got 4 fat pieces of grilled prawns atop pasta that was sauteed with garlic and olive oil. Give it a good stir before swirling your fork into the al dente noodles. Very heavenly! I love oil based pastas because it just satisfies my tummy so without that cloying feeling!

I was savoring the pasta dishes too much that I wasn't able to try the EL CANGREJO fish and chips (P370.00)!

My husband was able to get a piece (or 2) and said it was already delicious without dipping it in their homemade tartare sauce.

When we return here with the kids, we'll definitely have an order of this with their garlic rice!

The EL CANGREJO servers distributed red bibs for everyone and you know what that means....

No this is not my "change outfit"... DUH.

But in the same way as the handsome Ned Stark would say...

"Seafood is coming..."

When the EL CANGREJO servers laid down this wonderful plate of steamed mud crabs in beurre noisette, or burned butter sauce (P595.00), we were taken aback by its beauty.

I mean, wouldn't you be?

It's time to get your hands dirty (and greasy) so just crack these babies open and give the sweet meat a generous dip in the butter sauce!

With crabs, I love it oozing with fat! I would really scoop it all out or give it a good suck!!!

Hmmm... I may just need to give it a good push after all!

Another seafood heaven on a plate is EL CANGREJO'S with gastrique or sweet and sour sauce (P595.00).

Ulang is giant freshwater shrimp with very tender white meat that is mild in flavor.

Don't be shy to just scrape out all the meats in its crevices especially if you love your prawn soft and succulent with the sauce!

As much as I love the EL CANGREJO home baked bread, I am still a rice kind of lady. A GARLIC kind of rice at that!

Oh yeah... Give it to me MAMAH.

My husband really worked at that EL CANGREJO crab and scraped it clean!

Teehee... My PLATE! My VERY full EL CANGREJO plate!

I think I need ONE PLATE MORE!

A perfect Thursday night of seafood and great company!!!

After that ginormous meal from the sea, it was time for dessert!

My husband pounced on the EL CANGREJO Blueberry Chocolate Cheesecake and finished the whole thing.

To think my guy is not really big on desserts. And yet. HE DID NOT OFFER ME A BITE.

Tsk tsk tsk... That's what 10 years of marriage gives you!!!

Ha ha ha ha!

It's okay though (really!) because I was happily swooning over their appie pie ala mode which had just the right tartness and sweetness to it! I shamelessly scraped the plate clean with my wee spoon! So perfect with coffee!!!

I really love pigging out with my foodie fam!

l-r Chef Runas, Laurene de Luna, OHMYGOSH IT'S MR. AND MRS YAP, dear Spanky (THE DAILY SPANKS), Richard Co (TALES FROM THE TUMMY), Irene Co (INDULGENCE BY IRENE), Rina Zamora (RINA'S RAINBOW), and her sister Chaikka.

The lovely tandem of Laurene de Luna and Chef Runas were so gracious to us the whole night! Hopefully we didn't shock you with how much we loved your food! He he he he!