I got a really awesome scallops deal, and so wanted to make Sunday a seafood-themed day. For this purpose, I decided to order from Delicasea Food Market – an exporter/supplier of live and fresh seafood to 5-star hotels and high-end restaurants in the Philippines – but have started to cook these seafood as well as an added source of income

At that time, Delicasea had an ongoing promo for their Salt & Pepper Crab Overload – PHP 900 (instead of PHP 1200) for 1.2kg crab. I thought this sounded like a pretty good deal, so I ordered one of that, plus their Baby Octopus Calamari – which looked delicious. I think they offer up monthly promos, so keep an eye out for that

VERDICT: Delicious, but not a great experience overall

What I ordered

Salt & Pepper Crab Overload: PHP 900 (originally PHP 1200) for 1.2kg crab.

Deep fried Salt & Pepper Crab – good for a 5 person lunch (by my estimation)

I thought this was crab, but it was apparently alimasag and not alimango, which was quite disappointing, since alimasag have very thin legs where there’s pretty much zero meat… Plus, alimasag is pretty cheap (roughly half the price of alimango), so the promo price wasn’t such a great price after all. To be fair, I never asked upfront if it was alimasag or alimango, and had just assumed based on the photos… Ah well. I learn something every day

**For those who don’t know the difference between alimasag and alimango – see quick refresher in the section below

Baby Octopus Calamari: PHP 1000 for ~800g

Deep fried Baby Octopus Calamari, with sauce (sweet mayo) – good for ~5 people (appetizer)

I actually really liked this! Of course, the batter was no longer crispy given it had traveled for ~1 hour to reach my house. Sad, but a necessary evil of delivery. Unfortunately, my mom wasn’t too happy with it because she found the octopus rather rubbery/too difficult to chew. Not sure why as I didn’t feel the same way, but maybe her teeth’s more sensitive?

What’s the difference between Alimango and Alimasag?

Alimango is what we commonly call large species of crabs (also called mud crab or black crab). Because they live in the mud, they have darker, thicker shells, rounded bodies, with thick and fat claws (pincers) which are incredibly meaty. Pincers are essentially my favorite part of the crab because it’s easier to get to the meat

Alimasag, on the other hand, are significantly smaller than alimango (also known as sea crab or blue crab). Alimasag are typically spotted, with thin shells and thin legs (don’t think you can call them claws per se since they’re so thin) to allow it to be more agile when moving in water. They’re not bad per se, but definitely missing my favorite part of the crab (aka the fat pincers!)

There’s an even smaller crab species – called talangka, but I’ve never tried those.

Ordering experience

To order, simply submit this google form: bit.ly/delicasea

Sounds simple right? Unfortunately, I found the whole process incredibly frustrating. I submitted my order on a Tuesday, then followed up every single day all the way till Saturday. Only THEN did they confirm my order + the total price to pay.

Apparently, they wanted to check the fresh stock coming in on Friday first before they confirmed with me. While I appreciate the assurance that the seafood I’d be receiving was fresh (you typically want to cook a crab within 2 days of being caught), I would’ve wanted some confirmation beforehand at least… It got so bad that I already found alternative suppliers in case this one never materialized and confirmed. Overall, not an experience I’d like to repeat.

Other pertinent facts:

• Pickup point: Isla Aquamarine, Mc Donough Road, Tambo, Manila
• Set delivery fee: PHP 200 to anywhere in Metro Manila. You can opt to pick up yourself if it’s cheaper for you to do so

Taste and Freshness

Salt & Pepper Crab Overload

I’m not overly fond of deep-fried food, and generally prefer my crab steamed. Having said that, my mom doesn’t know how to deep-fry crabs so I guess I might as well try it elsewhere since I can’t have it at home!

Taste-wise, I thought the salt & pepper crab was very tastefully flavored. It was mildly spicy but acceptable, and I really really liked the bellpepper toppings. So delicious! All the butter oozing out was also sinfully good, but I had to stop after awhile because I felt my heart aching (could’ve been my imagination, but didn’t want to risk it)

Having said that, while I was very disappointed it was alimasag and not alimango, I really appreciated the sweetness of the meat. You can tell a crab is fresh when the meat is very white in color, and the meat isn’t falling apart when you pull it out, and this was certainly fresh meat!

Baby Octopus Calamari

While the deep-fried octopus didn’t have any overwhelming taste – I think it was mildly flavored with salt and pepper, I still enjoyed it as an appetizer. I ended up munching on a fair few while waiting for my family to come down for lunch. Having said that, I suspect this would have been so much more enjoyable if it was still crispy. Downsides of delivery…

I also thought the baby octopus itself were generously sized, and they didn’t scrimp on the content

Overall Verdict

In general, I thought the seafood were very fresh and were cooked well. Having said that, I found the whole ordering process so tedious that I find myself wary of ordering from them again. Plus, they’re a bit far from my house – although this is to be expected, since I would think fresh seafood would generally be coming in through the ports. As such, I may try out other alternatives in the meantime, and go back to them if I’m not satisfied with alternatives closer to my home.