Located at the intersection of Yunlin Road on Taipei 1st Road, Meiya prawns belong to a small flavor shop that only a few gourmets know. The visual façade of Shaxian snacks is not eye-catching, coupled with the fact that there are few restaurants around, and the per capita consumption of restaurants far exceeds that of Shaxian snacks, and few diners passing by will stay here. Patronizing the Meiya prawns is generally for repeat customers, as well as customers brought in by repeat customers. In this context, Meiya prawns have been operating silently for more than ten years.
Meiya prawns are the least elaborate restaurant on the list, and the area is also the smallest, only accommodating 5 or 6 small tables, and the maximum number of customers is not as good as Chef Huang's spicy shrimp. The popularity of Meiya prawns is not enough to drive the development of surrounding restaurants, so it is unrealistic to want to "take the nearby location for yourself" like Chef Huang's spicy crab. As an unscrupulous small restaurant, Meiya Prawn is naturally very weak in crayfish supply chain management. For many years, the boss chose to work with a seller in the nearby fish market to keep more than 1 tael of prawns for himself every day, and the boss personally picked up the prawns at 5:30 p.m. every day. After the crayfish arrived at the store, the boss began to prepare for the evening market, and the crayfish entered the pre-treatment process.
Generally speaking, the biggest attraction of Meiya prawns to diners is its special marinated prawns, and many regulars are very familiar with the boss "from snack to large". The crayfish has been pre-treated with brushing and deheading, but the shrimp line has not been removed, so diners are reminded to remember to remove it when eating. Piles of crayfish are fried at high temperatures to make the shells crispy. The crayfish out of the pot also needs to be marinated in the sauce specially prepared by Meiya for 2~3 minutes to fully absorb the flavor. The boss finally served the crayfish with minced garlic, cumin powder, exclusive seasoning, etc. Embellishment with various spices, the shrimp meat is fragrant. Compared with fried prawns, Meiya braised shrimp is fragrant but not greasy, and the texture of shrimp meat is smoother and more tender than traditional braised prawns.
Although the marinated shrimp performed well, the shrimp yellow has long been lost during the cooking process. Diners who want to eat shrimp roe can try the braised crayfish in oil, which is well-preserved, spicy and fishy. The steamed crayfish in the store are relatively average, the shrimp meat is not large, and the dipping sauce has a weak flavor.
Although summer is the best season for shrimp roe (Wuhan saying, that is, eating shrimp roe), Meiya prawns can hardly be called a comfortable place to eat shrimp. There is no air conditioning in the cramped building, only two large ceiling fans that are busy. When there are more diners and the outside temperature is higher, the overall experience will be greatly reduced.
