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Adventures with Hairy Crab A group of people who are working in the office, none of whom are from China, decided we’d do dinner as a group. Singapore girl (whom was part of Thursday’s dinner) heard that Hairy Crab was in season and that this particular restaurant had it. A quick search on the internet wasn’t very promising, but I promised myself I’d keep an open mind. So, off we went in two cabs (there’s a four person limit per cab, and we were a party of 5)."><meta name=author content="Gary Allen Vollink"><link rel=canonical href=https://blog.vollink.nyc/in-china/2007/10/friday-night-out/><link crossorigin=anonymous href=/assets/css/stylesheet.min.043dbe50dd3b5aeece8e1fd6b52fdb9ce2bb5c714d321cc709b5e740e61345eb.css integrity="sha256-BD2+UN07Wu7Ojh/WtS/bnOK7XHFNMhzHCbXnQOYTRes=" rel="preload stylesheet" as=style><script defer crossorigin=anonymous src=/assets/js/highlight.min.67ab6ccbad53232b614f9dbcbe19c8759e16f8552b23f5068b953ee70a6dd94f.js integrity="sha256-Z6tsy61TIythT528vhnIdZ4W+FUrI/UGi5U+5wpt2U8="></script>
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Adventures with Hairy Crab A group of people who are working in the office, none of whom are from China, decided we’d do dinner as a group. Singapore girl (whom was part of Thursday’s dinner) heard that Hairy Crab was in season and that this particular restaurant had it. A quick search on the internet wasn’t very promising, but I promised myself I’d keep an open mind. So, off we went in two cabs (there’s a four person limit per cab, and we were a party of 5)."><meta property="og:type" content="article"><meta property="og:url" content="https://blog.vollink.nyc/in-china/2007/10/friday-night-out/"><meta property="article:section" content="in-china"><meta property="article:published_time" content="2007-10-20T14:00:00+08:00"><meta property="article:modified_time" content="2007-10-20T14:00:00+08:00"><meta property="og:site_name" content="On My Mind..."><meta name=twitter:card content="summary"><meta name=twitter:title content="Friday Night Out"><meta name=twitter:description content="October 19
Adventures with Hairy Crab A group of people who are working in the office, none of whom are from China, decided we’d do dinner as a group. Singapore girl (whom was part of Thursday’s dinner) heard that Hairy Crab was in season and that this particular restaurant had it. A quick search on the internet wasn’t very promising, but I promised myself I’d keep an open mind. So, off we went in two cabs (there’s a four person limit per cab, and we were a party of 5)."><script type=application/ld+json>{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"In China","item":"https://blog.vollink.nyc/in-china/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Friday Night Out","item":"https://blog.vollink.nyc/in-china/2007/10/friday-night-out/"}]}</script><script type=application/ld+json>{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BlogPosting","headline":"Friday Night Out","name":"Friday Night Out","description":"October 19\nAdventures with Hairy Crab A group of people who are working in the office, none of whom are from China, decided we\u0026rsquo;d do dinner as a group. Singapore girl (whom was part of Thursday\u0026rsquo;s dinner) heard that Hairy Crab was in season and that this particular restaurant had it. A quick search on the internet wasn\u0026rsquo;t very promising, but I promised myself I\u0026rsquo;d keep an open mind. So, off we went in two cabs (there\u0026rsquo;s a four person limit per cab, and we were a party of 5).","keywords":["blog","in-china","history","work"],"articleBody":"October 19\nAdventures with Hairy Crab A group of people who are working in the office, none of whom are from China, decided we’d do dinner as a group. Singapore girl (whom was part of Thursday’s dinner) heard that Hairy Crab was in season and that this particular restaurant had it. A quick search on the internet wasn’t very promising, but I promised myself I’d keep an open mind. So, off we went in two cabs (there’s a four person limit per cab, and we were a party of 5). Only two in the party know enough Mandarin to talk to people, so I rode with Singapore Girl - who has the stronger skills.\nSG and Chinese London Girl (CLG) ordered stuff for the group. The Other American (OA) and London Dude (LD) were also there. The food started to arrive.\nThere was this sliced beef with onion and green peppers - which SG and CLG ordered for us non-Asians (neither of them eat cows).\nFried chicken bones, which was basically joints and cartilage deep fried with cashews. I tried one, and wasn’t able to take the cartilage part, so I spit that out. It tasted like Fried Chicken should - it just didn’t have any muscle.\nThere was this chicken broth and mushroom soup. The mushrooms were not a type that I recognized, and were decidedly tough and stringy.\nChicken dumplings. Like chicken pot pie back home, except the “crust” is similar to a large soup wanton noodle instead. Mmmm.\nPapaya, Ginger and Fish. The Papaya was whole, but also formed a sauce with chunks of ginger and rings of fish fat (that is to say, it’s the fat layer off of a fish - under the skin and above the meat. I tried this too, and didn’t really like it. Papaya is very strong, but I liked the ginger bit.\nHairy crab. Well, that’s what the menu said, but SG was immediately convinced that it wasn’t really hairy crab at all. She went through it looking for something to eat and really couldn’t find anything. Myself, I ate a few tiny skinny legs worth of meat, but couldn’t find anything substantial either.\nAt this point, OA and LD were both thinking that I’m just crazy for listening to these Asian folks at all. Dessert came and there were custard pies (which LD really liked) and durian puffs. Whether or not anybody would eat it became a joke. CLG took a video of me trying while quietly laughing. .. At the table they suggested that another name for it was Jack Fruit, but it turns out (thanks Google) that it’s definitely durian. It wouldn’t take long to get used to, but I really wasn’t in the mood with a camera in my face.\nReally - nobody really liked any of the food (which wasn’t cheap by local standards). It was approx $30 each. The service was good, and the presentation was great, but as SG said, “It’s not Szechuan”.\nCleaning the Palette Afterwards OA went back to the hotel, and the remaining four of us went to a bar for a few drinks. It took a while to find a bar that wasn’t a restaurant or a “club”. Finally we did, and I had a Heineken or two. We got back here just before 10PM.\n","wordCount":"556","inLanguage":"en","datePublished":"2007-10-20T14:00:00+08:00","dateModified":"2007-10-20T14:00:00+08:00","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Gary Allen Vollink"},"mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://blog.vollink.nyc/in-china/2007/10/friday-night-out/"},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"On My Mind...","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://blog.vollink.nyc/favicon.ico"}}}</script></head><body id=top><script>localStorage.getItem("pref-theme")==="dark"?document.body.classList.add("dark"):localStorage.getItem("pref-theme")==="light"?document.body.classList.remove("dark"):window.matchMedia("(prefers-color-scheme: dark)").matches&&document.body.classList.add("dark")</script><header class=header><nav class=nav><div class=logo><a href=https://blog.vollink.nyc/ accesskey=h title="Home (Alt + H)"><img src=https://blog.vollink.nyc/AllenWrench.gif alt=logo aria-label=logo height=35>Home</a>
<span class=logo-switches><button id=theme-toggle accesskey=t title="(Alt + T)"><svg id="moon" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentcolor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"><path d="M21 12.79A9 9 0 1111.21 3 7 7 0 0021 12.79z"/></svg><svg id="sun" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentcolor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"><circle cx="12" cy="12" r="5"/><line x1="12" y1="1" x2="12" y2="3"/><line x1="12" y1="21" x2="12" y2="23"/><line x1="4.22" y1="4.22" x2="5.64" y2="5.64"/><line x1="18.36" y1="18.36" x2="19.78" y2="19.78"/><line x1="1" y1="12" x2="3" y2="12"/><line x1="21" y1="12" x2="23" y2="12"/><line x1="4.22" y1="19.78" x2="5.64" y2="18.36"/><line x1="18.36" y1="5.64" x2="19.78" y2="4.22"/></svg></button></span></div><ul id=menu><li><a href=https://blog.vollink.nyc/post/ title=Posts><span>Posts</span></a></li><li><a href=https://blog.vollink.nyc/tags/ title=Tags><span>Tags</span></a></li><li><a href=https://home.vollink.com/ title=home.vollink.com><span>home.vollink.com</span></a></li></ul></nav></header><main class=main><article class=post-single><header class=post-header><div class=breadcrumbs><a href=https://blog.vollink.nyc/>Home</a> » <a href=https://blog.vollink.nyc/in-china/>In China</a></div><h1 class=post-title>Friday Night Out</h1><div class=post-meta><span title="2007-10-20 14:00:00 +0800 +0800">20 Oct 2007</span> · 3 min · Gary Allen Vollink</div></header><div class=toc><details><summary accesskey=c title="(Alt + C)"><span class=details>Table of Contents</span></summary><div class=inner><ul><li><a href=#adventures-with-hairy-crab aria-label="Adventures with Hairy Crab">Adventures with Hairy Crab</a></li><li><a href=#cleaning-the-palette aria-label="Cleaning the Palette">Cleaning the Palette</a></li></ul></div></details></div><div class=post-content><p><em>October 19</em></p><h2 id=adventures-with-hairy-crab>Adventures with Hairy Crab<a hidden class=anchor aria-hidden=true href=#adventures-with-hairy-crab>#</a></h2><p>A group of people who are working in the office, none of whom are
from China, decided we’d do dinner as a group. Singapore girl
(whom was part of Thursday’s dinner) heard that Hairy Crab was in
season and that this particular restaurant had it. A quick
search on the internet wasn’t very promising, but I promised myself
I’d keep an open mind. So, off we went in two cabs (there’s a four
person limit per cab, and we were a party of 5). Only two in the
party know enough Mandarin to talk to people, so I rode with
Singapore Girl - who has the stronger skills.</p><p>SG and Chinese London Girl (CLG) ordered stuff for the group. The
Other American (OA) and London Dude (LD) were also there. The food
started to arrive.</p><p>There was this sliced beef with onion and green peppers - which SG
and CLG ordered for us non-Asians (neither of them eat cows).</p><p>Fried chicken bones, which was basically joints and cartilage deep
fried with cashews. I tried one, and wasn’t able to take the
cartilage part, so I spit that out. It tasted like Fried Chicken
should - it just didn’t have any muscle.</p><p>There was this chicken broth and mushroom soup. The mushrooms were
not a type that I recognized, and were decidedly tough and stringy.</p><p>Chicken dumplings. Like chicken pot pie back home, except the
“crust” is similar to a large soup wanton noodle instead. Mmmm.</p><p>Papaya, Ginger and Fish. The Papaya was whole, but also formed a
sauce with chunks of ginger and rings of fish fat (that is to say,
it’s the fat layer off of a fish - under the skin and above the
meat. I tried this too, and didn’t really like it. Papaya is
very strong, but I liked the ginger bit.</p><p>Hairy crab. Well, that’s what the menu said, but SG was immediately
convinced that it wasn’t really hairy crab at all. She went through
it looking for something to eat and really couldn’t find
anything. Myself, I ate a few tiny skinny legs worth of meat, but
couldn’t find anything substantial either.</p><p>At this point, OA and LD were both thinking that I’m just crazy for
listening to these Asian folks at all. Dessert came and there were
custard pies (which LD really liked) and
<a href=http://web.singnet.com.sg/%7Etonym/durian.html>durian</a>
puffs. Whether or not anybody would eat it became a joke. CLG took
a video of me trying while quietly laughing. .. At the table they
suggested that another name for it was Jack Fruit, but it turns out
(thanks Google) that it’s definitely durian. It wouldn’t take long
to get used to, but I really wasn’t in the mood with a camera in
my face.</p><p>Really - nobody really liked any of the food (which wasn’t cheap by
local standards). It was approx $30 each. The service was good,
and the presentation was great, but as SG said, “It’s not Szechuan”.</p><h2 id=cleaning-the-palette>Cleaning the Palette<a hidden class=anchor aria-hidden=true href=#cleaning-the-palette>#</a></h2><p>Afterwards OA went back to the hotel, and the remaining four of us
went to a bar for a few drinks. It took a while to find a bar that
wasn’t a restaurant or a “club”. Finally we did, and I had a
Heineken or two. We got back here just before 10PM.</p></div><footer class=post-footer><ul class=post-tags><li><a href=https://blog.vollink.nyc/tags/blog/>blog</a></li><li><a href=https://blog.vollink.nyc/tags/in-china/>in-china</a></li><li><a href=https://blog.vollink.nyc/tags/history/>history</a></li><li><a href=https://blog.vollink.nyc/tags/work/>work</a></li></ul><div class=share-buttons><a target=_blank rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-label="share Friday Night Out on twitter" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet/?text=Friday%20Night%20Out&url=https%3a%2f%2fblog.vollink.nyc%2fin-china%2f2007%2f10%2ffriday-night-out%2f&hashtags=blog%2cin-china%2chistory%2cwork"><svg viewBox="0 0 512 512"><path d="M449.446.0C483.971.0 512 28.03 512 62.554v386.892C512 483.97 483.97 512 449.446 512H62.554c-34.524.0-62.554-28.03-62.554-62.554V62.554c0-34.524 28.029-62.554 62.554-62.554h386.892zM195.519 424.544c135.939.0 210.268-112.643 210.268-210.268.0-3.218.0-6.437-.153-9.502 14.406-10.421 26.973-23.448 36.935-38.314-13.18 5.824-27.433 9.809-42.452 11.648 15.326-9.196 26.973-23.602 32.49-40.92-14.252 8.429-30.038 14.56-46.896 17.931-13.487-14.406-32.644-23.295-53.946-23.295-40.767.0-73.87 33.104-73.87 73.87.0 5.824.613 11.494 1.992 16.858-61.456-3.065-115.862-32.49-152.337-77.241-6.284 10.881-9.962 23.601-9.962 37.088.0 25.594 13.027 48.276 32.95 61.456-12.107-.307-23.448-3.678-33.41-9.196v.92c0 35.862 25.441 65.594 59.311 72.49-6.13 1.686-12.72 2.606-19.464 2.606-4.751.0-9.348-.46-13.946-1.38 9.349 29.426 36.628 50.728 68.965 51.341-25.287 19.771-57.164 31.571-91.8 31.571-5.977.0-11.801-.306-17.625-1.073 32.337 21.15 71.264 33.41 112.95 33.41z"/></svg></a><a target=_blank rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-label="share Friday Night Out on linkedin" href="https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https%3a%2f%2fblog.vollink.nyc%2fin-china%2f2007%2f10%2ffriday-night-out%2f&title=Friday%20Night%20Out&summary=Friday%20Night%20Out&source=https%3a%2f%2fblog.vollink.nyc%2fin-china%2f2007%2f10%2ffriday-night-out%2f"><svg viewBox="0 0 512 512"><path d="M449.446.0C483.971.0 512 28.03 512 62.554v386.892C512 483.97 483.97 512 449.446 512H62.554c-34.524.0-62.554-28.03-62.554-62.554V62.554c0-34.524 28.029-62.554 62.554-62.554h386.892zM160.461 423.278V197.561h-75.04v225.717h75.04zm270.539.0V293.839c0-69.333-37.018-101.586-86.381-101.586-39.804.0-57.634 21.891-67.617 37.266v-31.958h-75.021c.995 21.181.0 225.717.0 225.717h75.02V297.222c0-6.748.486-13.492 2.474-18.315 5.414-13.475 17.767-27.434 38.494-27.434 27.135.0 38.007 20.707 38.007 51.037v120.768H431zM123.448 88.722C97.774 88.722 81 105.601 81 127.724c0 21.658 16.264 39.002 41.455 39.002h.484c26.165.0 42.452-17.344 42.452-39.002-.485-22.092-16.241-38.954-41.943-39.002z"/></svg></a><a target=_blank rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-label="share Friday Night Out on reddit" href="https://reddit.com/submit?url=https%3a%2f%2fblog.vollink.nyc%2fin-china%2f2007%2f10%2ffriday-night-out%2f&title=Friday%20Night%20Out"><svg viewBox="0 0 512 512"><path d="M449.446.0C483.971.0 512 28.03 512 62.554v386.892C512 483.97 483.97 512 449.446 512H62.554c-34.524.0-62.554-28.03-62.554-62.554V62.554c0-34.524 28.029-62.554 62.554-62.554h386.892zM446 265.638c0-22.964-18.616-41.58-41.58-41.58-11.211.0-21.361 4.457-28.841 11.666-28.424-20.508-67.586-33.757-111.204-35.278l18.941-89.121 61.884 13.157c.756 15.734 13.642 28.29 29.56 28.29 16.407.0 29.706-13.299 29.706-29.701.0-16.403-13.299-29.702-29.706-29.702-11.666.0-21.657 6.792-26.515 16.578l-69.105-14.69c-1.922-.418-3.939-.042-5.585 1.036-1.658 1.073-2.811 2.761-3.224 4.686l-21.152 99.438c-44.258 1.228-84.046 14.494-112.837 35.232-7.468-7.164-17.589-11.591-28.757-11.591-22.965.0-41.585 18.616-41.585 41.58.0 16.896 10.095 31.41 24.568 37.918-.639 4.135-.99 8.328-.99 12.576.0 63.977 74.469 115.836 166.33 115.836s166.334-51.859 166.334-115.836c0-4.218-.347-8.387-.977-12.493 14.564-6.47 24.735-21.034 24.735-38.001zM326.526 373.831c-20.27 20.241-59.115 21.816-70.534 21.816-11.428.0-50.277-1.575-70.522-21.82-3.007-3.008-3.007-7.882.0-10.889 3.003-2.999 7.882-3.003 10.885.0 12.777 12.781 40.11 17.317 59.637 17.317 19.522.0 46.86-4.536 59.657-17.321 3.016-2.999 7.886-2.995 10.885.008 3.008 3.011 3.003 7.882-.008 10.889zm-5.23-48.781c-16.373.0-29.701-13.324-29.701-29.698.0-16.381 13.328-29.714 29.701-29.714 16.378.0 29.706 13.333 29.706 29.714.0 16.374-13.328 29.698-29.706 29.698zM160.91 295.348c0-16.381 13.328-29.71 29.714-29.71 16.369.0 29.689 13.329 29.689 29.71.0 16.373-13.32 29.693-29.689 29.693-16.386.0-29.714-13.32-29.714-29.693z"/></svg></a></div></footer></article></main><footer class=footer><span>© 2022 <a href=https://blog.vollink.nyc/>On My Mind...</a></span>
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