I AM in the America city of Seattle for a few days, on a trip organised by Qantas and Boeing, and for the group’s first meal together we visited one of Washington State’s most famous restaurants.
The Crab Pot, which sits on one of the old piers along the city’s historic waterfront, is a Seattle icon where people congregate to feast of seafood.
But this isn’t a fancy fine-dining establishment with china plates, sterling-silver cutlery and linen serviettes.
The tables at The Crab Pot are covered with white paper rather than fabric tablecloths and when you take a seat you’re given an oversized bib to tie around your neck, a wooden chopping board and a mallet, a roll of paper towel, and a bucket to put on the floor beside you.
Our waitress told us the best option was to order a "Seafeasts" – we chose The Alaskan combo – with enough food for each of the people in our oversized group instead of everyone finding something on the menu to suit their tastebuds.
When the food was ready it came to our table in a bucket, was tipped onto the paper right along the centre of the table, and everyone was told to dig in and use their fingers to peel the crab, prawns and scallops that were piled high between us.
Turns out The Alaska featured king, dungeness and snow crab, shrimp still in the shells, steamed clams, pacific muscles, corn on the cob and baked potatoes and it didn’t take long before everyone was using their mallets and fingers to get a stomach full of this fresh seafood feast.
Trying to keep clean went out the window and we were all elbow-deep in seafood, throwing the shells into the buckets between us, until we had our fill and could find a bathroom to clean up.
To wash it all down I ordered fresh lemonade which was served in a one-litre carafe that was served with a pile of fresh strawberries in the bottom of the oversized glass.