Santa Monica, CA - Typhoon; Some of the dishes here are right out of Bizarre Foods. Literally, they are bizarre and there was an episode recorded her, which is how I found this place.

I am in the right place with the menu has an actual section for insects! They are not hiding it or putting an slick names to hid what they are. It's straight up scorpions, crickets, and pupae. That's what I'm talking about.

The server was extremely helpful in assisting me to decide which to get and how they are presented. Ask them anything about the dishes if you are unsure which to order or what to expect. I started with the Singapore-Style Scorpions served on shrimp toast. The overall dish is very light. The real question on your mind is how were the scorpions. They are crunchy, that's about it. It is difficult to see from the picture, but they are really small. In addition, all the flavor is from the shrimp toast, not the scorpions. I recommend trying the scorpions separately to see if you can get any of their flavor and then try the toast. A bit of caution, stinger and pinchers are still there. At first I was worried with them on it, but these guys are so small, it does not matter at all. If you are curious, I asked about their origins and they are Baby Black Scorpions farm raised in AZ. An unexpected surprise was the sauce had some real heat to it. I thought it was only going to be a typical sweet plum sauce, but I was wrong. Prepare yourself, it won't burn your mouth, but be ready for the heat.

The scorpions were okay, but I was hoping for a full plate of them and the Taiwanese Crickets are getting closer to the picture in my head. These are much more plentiful on the plate, but they are hidden inside fried shoe string potatoes. They are stir-fried with raw garlic, chili pepper, and Asian sweet basil. The potatoes almost make you hunt for them, which on one hand is annoying and the other hand, its as almost they are in the environment and you have hunt for them and they wouldn't be easy to catch. Look closely and you will still see that most of them have their antennas. I, once again, recommend trying them alone because the potatoes will mask their flavor. I thought they had this nutty undertone, with a crunchy outside from sauteing with a slight soft inside, since there is not much there to begin.

I finally receive a plate of what I was hoping, Silk Worm Pupae stir-fried and served straight up, nothing masking it. It comes with assorted dipping sauces to experiment with and see which is better with these little critters. When you eat them alone without any of the "dressings", they are crunchy on the outside and soft and meaty on the inside. There is not a whole lot of flavor, but a bit of nuttiness to them. The sauces you get to play with are chocolate, chili paste, mayo chili powdered, lemon pepper, chili oil, soy garlic, siracha, mustard, and peanut. I thought the ones I ended up liking with the pupae were chili paste, chili oil and peanut. These sauces helped to either enhance or compliment the crunchiness or nuttiness. The sauces that did not bode well were the chocolate, mayo, lemon pepper, soy garlic, siracha, and spicy mustard. Not that the sauces were not good, its that they were overpowering the pupae and you really only tasted the sauce.

Since I didn't like the chocolate sauce on the pupae, I just saved it for dessert by just dip your chop sticks in it and scoop out. It was the sweetness I wanted at the end of the meal.

I was surprised how much these dishes filled me up. I did have three, but it is a lot of protein when you're not sharing these dishes. All of them are fun to try whether if you're an adventurous eater or having fun with the dishes among friends.