Crustasia: Shrimply delicious!
MANILA, Philippines — It is the only Thai restaurant at the Shangri-La Plaza Mall in Ortigas Center, Pasig City. Crustasia’s Thai Shrimp House is located at the sixth level of the mall, another among the many concept restaurants of young restaurateur Raymond Magdaluyo, the brains behind other popular restaurants such as Red Crab, Crustasia, Clawdaddy, Fish Out of Water, BluFish and Flying Pig, iRepublik and Heaven and Eggs.
As its name suggests, Crustasia’s Thai Shrimp House features authentic Thai cuisine. Thai Chef Chaiong Wongjandaeg, who is married to a Filipina, hardly speaks English, but the restaurant’s menu speaks for itself. “He does not believe in using substitute ingredients,” says Crustasia operations director Ida Gelangco. “The spices that we use come directly from Thailand and Vietnam.”
You’ll also find some Vietnamese, Singaporean and Chinese dishes on the menu.
From the list of appetizers, soups, noodles and all-time favorites, you’ll find shrimp dishes such as Thai Shrimp Pancake, Thai Shrimp Roll, Tom Yum Goong, Shrimps and Pomelo Salad, Prawns in Chili and Basil, Chicken and Shrimps Laab, and Shrimps Pad Thai, as well as live shrimp preparations, seasoned with salt and pepper or simply steamed.
In addition to the shrimp dishes, there are a number of other seafood dishes as well as meat and vegetables, rice and noodles. The seafood is flown in fresh from the Visayas, particularly Roxas City. Other house specialties include Crustasia’s Pork Ribs, Grilled Lamb Shoulder Thai Style, Thai Osso Bucco and Thai Pata Tim.
There is a daily buffet, where you get to enjoy bestselling dishes for only P395 (P495 on Sundays, with additional dishes). The buffet spread includes a dim sum cart with a selection of siomai, chicken feet and steamed tausi spareribs. For appetizers, you have Thai spring rolls, California maki, pinsec fritos and crackers. The soup varies from Monday to Sunday — tom yum clam soup, seafood and bean curd soup, hot and sour soup, crabmeat soup, minced beef soup, cream of chicken soup, and bird’s nest soup. There are three kinds of noodle dishes — Hofan oyster, seafood spaghetti and, naturally, Pad Thai noodles. They also offer Lohan mixed vegetables, a typical dish that usually consists of peas, corn, mushrooms and bean curd.
You could go for the buffet every day and enjoy a different rice dish each day — crabmeat fried rice on Mondays, Yangchow rice on Tuesdays, salted fish fried rice on Wednesdays, chicken rice on Thursdays, seafood paella on Fridays, Khao Pad Thalay on Saturdays, and pineapple rice on Sundays. Every day, the carving station features the US Angus beef short plate, while the entrée of beef, chicken and fish varies daily.
The thing about buffets is that, too often, there are just too many dishes to choose from and you never actually get to sample all of them. It can sometimes be overwhelming. At Crustasia’s Thai Shrimp House buffet, the selections are just right to satisfy your craving without blowing your mind — or your budget.
“You’ll also notice that our chafing dish trays are just the right size, not too big, so that the food is kept hot all the time,” Ida explains. “We cook in batches so that you get it freshly cooked as much as possible, and we replenish them frequently.” King Dao spareribs, beef with oyster sauce, curry chicken, steamed white chicken, fish fillet with tausi, catfish chili basil, and steamed fish with superior sauce are some of the main dishes offered from day to day.
Every day, you’ll find crab, cooked in different ways — crab sotanghon, roasted garlic crab, Schezuan crab, butter ginger crab, black pepper crab, and on Sundays, Crab Maritess. There is a story behind the Crab Maritess. “It is named after Maritess Revilla Araneta, who is a friend of Raymond’s mom,” Ida relates. “When they were conceptualizing Crustasia, they asked their friends to contribute some recipes, and Maritess generously shared this crab recipe.” It is superb in its simplicity — cooked with olive oil, lots of garlic, chili, and white wine. It is an easy favorite.
You may choose to have fresh fruits for dessert, or to satisfy your sweet tooth, try the pudding or the banana caramel sticks, which are like mini turon, or mango or pandan panna cotta, which is simply yummy.
Crustasia’s Thai Shrimp House at the Shangri-La Plaza Mall in Ortigas, Pasig City is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday to Sunday. The buffet is from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. for lunch and 6 to 9 p.m. for dinner. For inquiries, call 910-4096.
