Scorpions and Crickets in Santa Monica, CA

Thai Typhoon is conveniently located in the Santa Monica Airport not too far from the famous pier amusement park.  It's a five star upscale restaurant that caters to the filthy and dirty rich.  Reservations are a must for a trendy place like this.  When I arrived I didn't have one but was lucky enough to get a table just for one hour until the reserved guest arrived.  A great place for rich and snotty travelers to kick back and grab a cocktail or a bite to eat after catching the red eye.  I seem to be under dress but could care less of how other people looked at me as long as I get my grub on.  

At the entrance they flaunt a display of assorted live seafood, as most upscale restaurants nowadays will have.  The kitchen is open with visible hanging display of expensive copper ware.  There's no walls or windows separating the dinning area from the kitchen, only a 12ft long rectangular kitchen island.  It is also equipped with a shiny polished mahogany bar that is facing a 180 degree window with a clear view of the airport.  It sits on the third floor of the terminal complex to ensure great panoramic view of jet setters.    

Once I began to soak in the snottiness I got settled down and began to browse and place my order.  I've ordered the lamb satay which was served on skewers.  They had given me a hot mustard sauce to dip the lamb in.  The lamb was marinated in teriyaki sauce to help kill some of the gameness.  It was very tender and sweet with a nice charred taste on the outside.  A great and fun way to wake up my taste bud to prepare me for my next two dishes.

My next dish that exited me very much is a handful of crispy deep fried crickets serve with potato strings and jalapenos.  The cricket had a very nutty flavor too it and had a nice crunchy texture with the deep fried potato strings.  This dish was superb, I absolutely loved it!  Its like eating deep fried walnuts with wings.

For my final dish, I ordered the deep fried whole scorpions.  $11 for two inch in a half long scorpions, are you kidding me?  Nonetheless I had to fork up the clams and try it.  It was serve on some short of sweet dumpling pastry.  Since the scorpion was too small I couldn't really get much flavor from it.  It did have a nutty crunch like the crickets but the inside was  hollow, perhaps they deep fried it too long.  I was hoping to get a seafood flavor as described by Andrew Zimmern when I saw him tried it on TV.  I had also ordered chicken fried rice which taste nothing like the Thai version my mum makes.  It was very bland and boring in flavor.  A simple dish as fried rice being bland?

You can certainly find scorpions and crickets here at the Thai Typhoon in Santa Monica, CA.  I personally wouldn't eat there on a daily basis due to the price of it's mediocre dishes.   Otherwise I rather you spend your cheese at the famous Santa Monica Pier nearby and try the $3 trailer trash hot dog at any vendor scattered about there.  It has all the fixings including chili cheese and Frito Lays, very divine for the price.