Holy Crab!

Location in Google maps here

In the middle of Kep's Crab Market in between the fisherman stalls, it suddenly a very tidy, modern restaurant who is reputation precedes it:

Holy crab: Is this place good!

Alone the fact that the crab has already been removed from shell and property dissected onto the plate is a joy when you think of how often pieces of meat stuck inside pieces of shell float around in heavy sauces, where you're not really sure how to get the meat out of it without making a mess!

I shall definitely be returning over the next few days and adding to this list of things I've tried here - also to check if this was just a lucky moment of perfect service paired with perfect food, or if this is their norm – in which case, they are amazing!

Tonight we had steamed crab in lemon butter paired with a green mango salad with fresh seafood... two glasses of Chardonnay, and one large bottle of Perrier ... oh, and fresh fruit for dessert:

Price

Crab in lemon butter ($13.50), plus a seafood-mango salad, 2 glasses of Chardonnay and a large bottle of Perrier (and some fresh fruit for dessert) cost me in total $35 (32€).

Edit: visit #2

I returned to recheck: just as amazing as the first visit! And that was especially nice after the disappointment of the second visit to Kep West.

This time I opted for pomelo salad with grilled prawns, a sour lemongrass soup with prawns, crabmeat (so no shells where you have to lick the sticky sauce off of like a dog!!) in green pepper sauce.

It was AMAZING. DELICIOUS. And did I mention 1/3 of the cost of Kep West ... for twice the quality?

Edit: visit #3

Where I was going for dinner on my final evening and Kapp was a no-brainer: visit number three:

I ordered two of Cambodia's signature national dishes ... Amok and Lok-Lak.

Now THIS is Amok done properly!

When you read up on Amok (one of Cambodia’s national dishes), you find that it is NOT simply seafood in a curried coconut sauce, as is (sadly) served in most restaurants.

Instead, it is a dish where the spiced coconut milk and fish are wrapped in banana leaves and steamed until the coconut milk has the consistency of a fluffy soufflé, not a liquid sauce.

There is obviously quite an art to this, and, of course, Holy Crab has mastered this dish as well.

But they don’t only do crab … they do an excellent Beef Lok-Lak also!

After three visits, Holy Crab remains by far the best restaurant I’ve tried in Kep.