Wowcrab: Seafood in a plastic bag for 90 euros in Madrid

Seafood in a plastic bag: 90 euros for the combo in Madrid

Would you pay 90 euros to eat seafood with your hands, without a plate or cutlery, over a plastic bag? That is, in essence, the proposal of Wowcrab, a seafood chain with locations in the Netherlands and Belgium that has just peine its first restaurant in Spain, in Madrid. The formula —mixed seafood, potatoes, corn on the cob and spicy sauce inside a bag on the table— has gone viral through reviews, and not because of the rating: 4.1 out of 5. The photos do the rest. The result is one of those discussions that start talking about food and end up talking about money, tourism and what the city is willing to swallow.

What is Wowcrab and how is the seafood served

The chain presents itself as a place for big seafood antiestéticasts at affordable prices in a casual atmosphere, aimed at a young audience. In each option, the customer chooses the seafood from a selection that includes prawns, North Sea crab, clams, jumbo mussels, scallops and lobster. Everything arrives cooked, mixed and without ceremony.

There is no plate. The contents fall directly onto the table, and the table has no tablecloth. There are no cutlery either: you eat with your hands. Casualness, they call it. The chain already operates in the Netherlands and Belgium, and Madrid is its first opening in Spain, which explains part of the stir: the place is sold as an absolute novelty in a market where seafood has centuries of history.

The controversial bill: 90 euros for the combo for two or three people

A video hosted among the venue's reviews allows the bill to be read in detail. The bag or bucket for two or three people costs 90 euros. A draft Estrella, 3.50. A litre of Cabreiroa water, 5.50. The cheesecake and Oreo, 8 euros. Fries with mayonnaise, 4. The total explains much of the anger, especially when the diner already knows they will eat without cutlery.

One of the arguments that appears is that of spiciness. Some claim that the different levels of sauce exist precisely to mask the flavour of the product: if everything tastes of spices and chili in industrial quantities, no one can tell if the seafood is fresh. The defence has less traction and is simpler: the quantity is considerable and the diner leaves satisfied. Little more.

Why is the seafood served in a bag? The Cajun origin

The format is not a Madrid invention. It comes from Cajun-style seafood from the southern United States, where it is customary to pour the boiled product with potatoes, corn and spices onto a covered surface and share it without protocol. In Louisiana it is popular with crawfish. In Maine and New Hampshire, lobster is boiled in seawater and served with corn on the cob and melted butter. The lobster rolls of the Atlantic coast are first cousins of the invention.

Anyone who has travelled has seen it before. The same display, with bag and bare table, was being served in Dubai a decade ago. Therein lies the uncomfortable nuance of the story: what is presented here as gastronomic avant-garde has been working in other markets for years.

How much does a comparable seafood antiestéticast cost in Spain?

Less. According to one diner's account, a seafood platter twice the size, served on a tray and with cutlery, can cost 35 euros. In Bangkok, a special seafood platter for two with unlimited beer cost 30 euros in 2012. In Madrid, the reference seafood was never cheap, but it was served differently: product cooked to perfection, tray and fork.

The comparison with Galicia appears on its own, and not only because of the price. Each product has its cooking point and its grill, and mixing them all in a single sauce seems questionable. In a community where seafood functions as an identity issue, the reaction was predictable: no one serves goose barnacles in plastic bags.

Why does the place have a 4.1 rating with those reviews?

Because the average rating measures something else. A 4.1 out of 5 coexists without problem with outraged reviews: whoever pays 90 euros for an experience they have seen before on social media tends to defend it, and the restaurant is designed for video, not for the palate. The stained table is the content. The steaming bag, the shot.

At the bottom of the controversy lurks a broader suspicion: that spectacle has replaced judgement when choosing where to eat. It is a thesis difficult to prove and easy to illustrate with examples like this.

Sauce, corn and origin: where the comparison breaks down

The accompaniments are those of the American recipe book: corn on the cob, potatoes, celery, a good block of butter and spices. The problem, according to several reviews, is that everything ends up tasting the same and the spiciness deadens the taste buds.

Origin also enters the discussion. Snow crab, Pacific clams, Irish beef and Argentine prawns are cited; the only Spanish thing, some joke, would be the bag. Others defend imported produce without complexes: Dutch sole has a good fruta among professionals and it is recalled that Iranian caviar is considered superior to national. The debate, at that point, stops being gastronomic and becomes a discussion about what local product means.

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There is a curiosity that sums up the general tone. In the middle of the row, someone opens a front about whether the prawn is a crustacean and the cockroach an insect. Both are arthropods. The matter went no further.

A note before closing. Part of the controversy drifted towards reproaches about tourism and the demographic transformation of the capital. It is a framework of opinion without data that appears in almost any conversation about urban hospitality, and it should be treated as what it is: background noise.

90 euros, a plastic bag and a table without a tablecloth. Here it is called gastronomic avant-garde. In Dubai they called it dinner.