Bubba Gump Shrimp Co, The Curve Mutiara Damansara

Bubba Gump Shrimp Co was a restaurant I knew nothing about until I saw it at The Curve, Mutiara Damansara one day. Even then, I was never really interested in trying it because I thought it just another themed restaurant. In a way, it is – it is after all inspired by the movie Forrest Gump. If you’ve ever watched it, you’d know that Forrest Gump ran a shrimping boat and from there this franchise was born.

I decided to try it for a lark one day. I had nothing to lose right? What I did not quite expect was that it is literally all about shrimp! To you and me, the shrimp was pretty much like largish prawns (udang besar) and the menu is inundated with them cooked in any number of ways.

As we were just trying it out, we opted to share an appetizer platter – Run Across America Sampler RM42.90.

You get Tortilla Chips and a dip, Chilly Shrimp (chilled boiled shrimp), Spicy Chicken Strips, Hush Pups and Fried Shrimp. All pretty decent and good sized portions to share. The Spicy Chicken strips were a little salty and the dip takes a little getting used to. Ditto the chilled shrimps – I’d never eaten prawns cold so this was an experience.

We also had a Shrimper’s Heaven (RM44.90) which had 4 different types of shrimp – coconut shrimp (shrimp coated with coconut and fried), chilly shrimp (cold boiled shrimp), Fried Shrimp (battered and fried) and tempura shrimp (normal tempura batter shrimp).

If you were having this as a main course, do share. It can easily feed 3 persons with no problems.The dipping sauces that come with this platter are a must to try, especially the tangy one. It goes very well with most of the shrimps.

If you want to get a waiter’s attention, flip the board on your table to red and a waiter should stop for you.

It’d work if it wasn’t busy but I don’t know how effective it would be if they were busy and don’t enter your scope of vision. Still its an innovative concept.

There are also some Jacob’s Crackers on the table for you to snack on while waiting for your food. It gave me the impression that service might be slow, which it was not. And you really don’t want to fill up too much on the crackers because food portions are huge!

Prices too are on the high side in my view. Not super high, but high enough to make you feel the pinch. Our whole meal came up to about RM100 for 4 persons for a meal of what consisted of mainly prawns. Definitely not a restaurant for those watching their cholestorol or those who are allergic to seafood! There are other foods – beef, chicken and fish, but I couldn’t go to a restaurant claiming to specialize in shrimp and not have it!

I’m not sure if I’ll return. I thought the food was so-so and I’m not that into prawns (or shrimp as they call it) so if I was in a group of people who wanted desperately to go then I might but I’m not sure I’d go back of my own accord. Still, its an interesting place to try and an interestingly decorated restaurant that is worth visiting at least once… just to say you’ve been.

Pink Parisian [rating:3/5] for taste
Pink Parisian [rating:2/5] for price

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