Gumbo at New Orleans, Resorts World

I was at Newport Mall,  Resorts World for a thing a few days ago and while I was killing time I watched some awesome Flamenco Dancers from Spain and enjoyed this Gumbo from Murray's New Orleans Bourbon Street Ribs, Steaks and Oysters.

I myself had cooked some Gumbo not too long ago, sticking to what was purportedly an authentic New Orleans recipe, complete with some creole sausages. It tasted pretty good. I wish now I had written the recipe down or at least took a picture for this blog.

But I wanted to taste one from a restaurant that seemed served authentic New Orleans food, as authentic as one can find it here in the Philippines, that is.

I ordered their standard gumbo dish, which is described as "Creole Cajun stew, shrimp, shellfish, oysters, blackened chicken, andouille sausage, Holy trinity, tomatoes and okra." All right then!

What did I think?

I thought it was pretty good, although I found it a little bit on the salty side. Very salty. It's just probably my taste buds which has been used to less sodium for the past several years. But the taste of the thing was very nice, specially the sausages. The okra was surprisingly crunchy, which was kind of unexpected. All the vegetables were actually kind of crunchy which indicates that they were just perfectly done and not overcooked. However, I thought the shrimp needed a little more cooking time. It was just almost there, and had a bit of a slimy bland taste to it.

I did bite into a piece that turned out to be something like a gob of peanut butter? What the? Peanut butter? That's what it tasted like that is. Perhaps it wasn't mixed in the soup properly? Was it supposed to be a thickening agent of some sort? Upon realizing it was something like peanut butter, I went ahead and crushed it and blended it into the soup. And that worked just fine. The taste was surprisingly complementary to the whole thing.

Based on what I've seen of New Orleans food, it's something I feel I would naturally be attracted to. Jambalaya, for instance, is something also enjoy quite a lot.

I don't mind coming back. I'm hoping I can request for less sodium next time around.