Crabs ala Gusteau’s

Saturday, January 14, 2012

TITA Pong was leaving for Canada to spend some time with hubby, and so, despedida was in order. The date: at Gusteau’s in its new location on the fourth floor of Gaisano Mall.

Errr… yes… that was the first time I checked out this floor since it was refurbished to house posh eating places. The last time I was on the fourth floor, we were at the parking lot on our way to watch Despicable Me, the movie. (Gusteau’s used to be located at Market Basket in Damosa Complex, but the space there was too small. The new Gusteau’s sits more diners).

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While it was my first time to be there on the fourth level, I have heard about it, and apparently a lot of people have, too. There was a crowd there, some promenading and having their photos taken, many more dining.

We joined the dining throng.

Since it was Pong’s despedida, then we just waited for whatever dish she ordered for us. First, the veggies that looked like lumpiang hubad but isn’t. It’s cabbage sliced in strips and sauteed with chaosansi (bamboo shoots with pork cooked Chinese style). A pleasant surprise and gives me an idea with what else to do with chaosansi, which I like to eat with very hot lugaw.

Then the whole throng… deep fried tuna belly, lechon kawali, and… crabs in spicy garlic sauce.

With Dengdeng content with the lechon kawali and tuna belly, Trisha, Pong, and I attacked the crabs.

Oooopsss… wait. Did I just hear Pong ask for “dukot”? Oh yeah!

A bandehado of tutong or dukot (the burnt part of boiled rice) arrived and I quickly returned my steaming bowl of white rice.

Deng swears by the tuna belly. I was not to be distracted. With Christmas binges just over, there was not enough space for everything. My priority was the spicy garlic crabs eaten with slightly burnt rice. Heaven.

Although I’m not sure if you can normally order ‘dukot’ there; being with the relative of the owner has its privileges, you know…

With just half a female crab and Trisha’s crab carapace and an additional ‘sipit’ (pincer) eaten with loads of the spicy garlic sauce and spoonfuls upon spoonfuls of ‘tutong’, it was getting difficult to move. But I had to taste the other dishes, having already tasted the sauteed cabbage in chaosansi and crabs. I only managed to tuck in a few pieces of the lechon kawali with no more room left for the tuna belly.

I guess, this time, I just have to take Deng’s verdict that the tuna belly was very good.

Dinner was over much faster than we would normally take as every minute that passed was making our eyes get heavier. We were home by 9 p.m. swearing once more to start on our diet for the New Year.

Seriously, while Davao has a lot of places that serve yummy crabs, you can’t say you’ve tasted them all if you haven’t tried the ones served at Gusteau’s. On that night, the place was all filled up with apparently all tables ordering their share of the crab, such that, when I stood up to wash my hands, there were only two live crabs left in the aquarium. There was a mound there staring at me when I entered the restaurant just an hour earlier.