Shrimp Bucket

I love seafood but I'm always discouraged to order it in restaurants because let's face it, there's no better way to eat them than with your hands -- not the most glamorous thing to do when you're surrounded by strangers who might be judging your table manners. I was a bit skeptical about eating in Shrimp Bucket when my friends recommended it precisely for that reason but upon seeing other guests diving right into bags of seafood, getting their hands dirty, I was all aboard.

True to its theme, the interiors of Shrimp Bucket make you feel like you're dining inside a ship (it quite reminded me of Titanic, to be honest). Their seafood are served in bags by the pound with your choice of sauce so we had a pound each of Shrimps (P560) and Mussels (P350). 

To go with the shrimps, we had the Salty Eggsperience. As the name suggests, this sauce is primarily made with salted egg which didn't seem quite appealing to me since I was thinking that it might make the dish too salty. However, when I tasted it, I understood why this sauce is their best-seller. The salted egg mixes with the flavorful shrimp juice from the shrimp heads and creates this rich, creamy sauce that almost reminds me of indulgent crab fat. It's not too salty at all and tastes so good especially when mixed in with hot rice. The shrimps are huge and juicy, and are perfectly cooked. I could seriously finish the whole bag if only I didn't have to share it with my friends.

For the mussels, we had the Mardi Gras sauce which is a spicy, chorizo-based sauce. Unlike the creamy Salty Eggsperience, this one has an oilier consistency but is seriously packed with flavor! Aside from the beautiful mussels, you really get toasted chorizo bits which is good enough to be a viand all on its own.

On the other end of our surf and turf meal, we also ordered the Crispy Belachan Pork (P255) which is crispy pork with a bagoong (shrimp paste) sauce. The bagoong sauce has a thick, gravy like consistency, and is topped off with crispy garlic chips which is my favorite part about this dish. I love garlic, and I got as much as I can to go on my rice.

Peeling shrimps and cracking opening mussels with your bare hands isn't the most glamorous thing to do when you're in a restaurant, but I'm glad there's finally a place like Shrimp Bucket where it's not only tolerated but actually encouraged.