Priscilla and I bonded and became good friends over our shared love for food. (Also, because I'm super charming, but that's not the point). You know what, she actually was the first person to introduce me to good Surinamese food. For months she has been pushing me to go to this wowcrab place. I mean, I love a good seafood boil, but can a restaurant that went viral because of short videos really be that good?
We went back and forth about it. She kept insisting it was very good. However, she only told me about the restaurant in Rotterdam which is a few hours away from me, not to mention the crazy train ticket prices. However, once I was in Rotterdam I was just a few meters away from the restaurant but missed it. Priscilla was pretty mad about that.
But then, as we planned ahead, she told me about the Amsterdam restaurant. Eureka! That's more than possible to visit! Priscilla went out of the picture as her son got sick, but another friend still wanted in. We decided to go without Priscilla since she had already tried the seafood there.
The restaurant is a little far from Amsterdam Centraal. If you want to look at the canals and enjoy the 'Dam vibes, then the restaurant is about half an hour walk from Centraal. Or else the restaurant is just a few minutes from Centraal by tram.
All the wow from wowcrab shot out the window as soon as I stepped in. Warm, dry, silent, no maitre, no greeting. I wondered if service was opened as I took steps into the dining with the beautiful cracking of the typical Amsterdam wooden floor.
As we got seated I realised we had just come in at opening time. The entire restaurant is family run. We were so early that the second floor wasn't even ready for serving. I did venture upstairs to see what the place had to offer and I was met by a huge smile from the grandma folding paper bibs that would later be given to us.
Wowcrab has a huge array of choices to put together the seafood boil. However, we were 4 and we wanted to be conservative as it was our first time in the restaurant. We went with the 2 persons seafood boil, but took extra sea oysters and fried shrimp.
It was Siro and Vin's first time trying sea oysters. I always enjoy the expressions when someone tries sea oysters for the first time. Some love it while some can't get over the visual taste. Vin liked it, Siro might avoid the sea itself for the forseeable future.
For the seasoning we asked for non-spicy garlic butter rub, cajun flavoring, and lemon pepper for that tangy hit.
It didn't take long before the boil was ready to be presented. It comes in a huge plastic bag and then poured out on the table.
This was a first for me. Back in the Emirates days, they'd bring it in a bucket and either pour it out on layers of grease paper or let us do it. This was a bit too..."uncontrolled" for me.
The boil we chose was with a whole lobster, north sea crab, jumbo Greenshell Mussel and shrimps. I don't eat spicy so we collectively decided to go with mild spice. Which directly translates to extremely hot for me.
I mean, the experience is cool. I could go back to Priscilla with Vin and bash her about her recommendation, especially given how much she pushed for it. The food wasn't a landslide, neither was the service. Some things should remain a hype as video content but not real food service. Wowcrab is a one time thing, really. On to better gastronomy experiences!!
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