Restaurant An Hoa: The Best Crab in Hoi An
The sun was setting by the time we took the coconut boats back. Now it was time to check out the Hoi An Night Market, often called the highlight of the city, but my body felt like lead. It wasn't even a few days into the trip; today was only day one. But my body just couldn't handle my travel buddy's elite, boot-camp-level itinerary, chopped up into minute-by-minute schedules. I wondered if we should have just gone trekking in Annapurna instead. They insisted we needed a relaxing vacation so I didn't prepare anything, yet here we were walking and moving more than a mountain trek. As exhausting as it was, we still had to see the night market and, most importantly, we had to eat.
We strolled through the night market wondering what to eat, passing by skewers and fruit stands. There was definitely more street food than during the day, and the smells were incredibly tempting. However, to eat a "proper" meal—that elusive proper meal—we skipped all the street stalls and looked for a restaurant. We arrived at a pho place highly praised on Korean blogs, only to realize we had left our money at the hotel. A wave of dismay washed over me, but honestly, the place was packed entirely with Koreans, so I wasn't too thrilled about it anyway. "Perfect! Let's eat something else then," we said, wandering around near our accommodation until we found a place at the end of an alley that looked like a pojangmacha (street food tent).
This time, the restaurant next door was packed with Westerners, maybe because it got famous on TripAdvisor. We tried to see if we could squeeze in, but there were no seats. Then, I made eye contact with a lady next door who was looking at us with sparkling eyes, hoping we'd come in, so we ended up taking a seat at her place. "Same same, same same~~" she insisted, emphasizing that it was the exact same food anyway, and quickly brought over a menu. Oh wow—it was filled with things that looked pretty delicious.
What surprised me looking at the menu was that the crab dish was only 15,000 KRW. Thinking, "Even a small steamed seafood dish in Korea costs 50,000 KRW, how is this so cheap?" and "Crab will take a long time to cook, so I'll be able to sit and rest for a while," I ordered the crab without hesitation. My friend, insisting they absolutely needed rice, ordered what we assumed was squid fried rice.
Drinking a 'Saigon' beer I'd never seen before, I rested to my heart's content. In fact, I rested so much that I started wondering, "Will the food even come out today?" After a long wait, the food finally arrived. Not the crab, of course. We had ordered fried rice for a hearty meal, but completely unlike the picture, the stir-fried squid and the rice came out separately. Feeling like things weren't going as expected, I let out a sigh and took a bite of the squid...!!! It was seriously so delicious. Honestly, it wasn't even about the cooking skills; the squid was just incredibly fresh. When you think of squid, you usually imagine something chewy, but this sweetly sauced stir-fried squid was—to exaggerate a bit—as soft as pudding. After we each took one bite, we were too busy stuffing our faces to speak. This place was a true hidden master.
The stir-fried squid acted like an appetizer, only making us hungrier, and the crab still hadn't come out even after we finished the squid. No matter how much we Koreans are known as the people of "bbali-bbali" (hurry-hurry), we couldn't rush a master. Afraid that rushing her might result in a bad crab dish, we just drank all our innocent Saigon beers. After waiting maybe 30 minutes? The highly anticipated crab dish finally made its appearance.
We were hesitating, not knowing how to eat it, so the lady came over, expertly picked out the meat, and handed it to us to eat. The meat was so plump. But the real highlight was the sauce. I don't know what on earth she did to the sauce, but it made us order another bowl of rice. When you think of chili crab, you expect a spicy kick, but this place's chili sauce was predominantly sweet. Thanks to that, it was perfect for my childish palate. Even better, this 15,000 KRW crab was packed with roe, making it absolutely amazing to mix with rice. I only ordered the crab because I was tired and wanted an excuse to sit for a long time, but I was completely blown away.
Of course, Vietnamese noodle dishes are truly delicious. The harmony of broth and noodles is the most outstanding in the world, to the point where "noodles" immediately pop into your head when you think of Vietnam. However, if you come to Hoi An, I highly recommend trying the seafood at least once. You might encounter a culinary delight far beyond your expectations.