金海岸活蝦店, Taipei

Dinner at 金海岸活蝦店 (台北市基隆路一段126號, http://www.prawn.com.tw/goldocean/) was easily the lightest meal of the trip as it was smacked in between tea at VVG Bon Bon and supper at 台灣第一家鹽酥雞. It was more of a last minute “light snack” brought on by cravings from Stella and her mum.

At 7pm, we were lucky enough to have to wait only for 10 minutes for a table as the double-storey restaurant is absolutely packed with people tucking fastest-fingers-first into prawns and other seafood.

Between the two prawn dishes we ordered, I preferred the salt-crusted baked prawns over the peppers prawns but I was the only one who felt that way (haha!). It tasted “cleaner” and the taste of the prawns was more distinct.

The pepper prawns, on the other hand, were a hit with the others around the table. You could hear the symphony of “hsu hsu” as everyone ignored the warnings of high cholesterol and sucked relentlessly on the prawn heads.

I liked the pepper conchs too. They were like escargots of the sea though a little tougher and utterly enjoyable to pry them out of their shells.

As we only ordered these dishes, the entire meal was excruciatingly salty. Tasty but excruciatingly salty. Judging by the crowds, I think it is safe to say it is our loss for not being able to order more dishes.