What is Boom Boom Shrimp? The crispy prawn starter, explained

If you’ve spotted Boom Boom Shrimp on our menu and wondered what you’re in for, here’s the short answer: crispy fried shrimp, tossed in a sauce that’s creamy, a little sweet and properly spicy. It’s a starter built for sharing, though plenty of people don’t.

What goes into boom boom shrimp

The dish has two parts.

The shrimp. Small, bite-size shrimp are coated and fried until the outside crackles. The coating matters because it has to stay crunchy once the sauce goes on.

The sauce. Boom boom sauce is the reason the dish exists. Recipes differ from kitchen to kitchen, but the typical version is a creamy base, usually mayonnaise, mixed with sweet chilli sauce and a hot sauce for heat. The result is rich, tangy and sweet up front, with the heat arriving a second later.

The shrimp are tossed in the sauce just before serving, so every piece is coated.

Boom boom vs bang bang shrimp

You may know bang bang shrimp, the fried-shrimp starter that American casual-dining restaurants made famous. Boom boom shrimp sits in the same family. Both are crispy shrimp in a creamy, sweet-spicy sauce. The names get used loosely, and each kitchen tweaks the sauce its own way.

How it compares with prawn dishes you already know

If you’ve grown up on Indian prawn dishes, two comparisons help:

• Prawn koliwada is fried prawns with a spiced, crunchy coating, eaten dry with chutney. Boom boom shrimp shares the crunch but adds a creamy sauce on top.
• Chilli prawns are tossed in a glossy, sharp Indo-Chinese sauce. Boom boom sauce is creamier and sweeter, with a gentler kind of heat.

Put simply, it’s the saucier American cousin of the fried prawns Pune already loves.

How to eat it

Boom boom shrimp is a starter, so order it to share while you decide on mains. Because the sauce is rich, it pairs best with something cold and sharp. At our place, that means a Lemonade (₹69) or one of our iced teas (₹89). If you want more seafood after, the Shrimp Korean Burger (₹289) keeps the prawn theme going.

Where to try Boom Boom Shrimp in Pune

We serve Boom Boom Shrimp at Brioche & Beyond in Kothrud for ₹349 a plate. It’s on the starters section of our menu, alongside Nashville Tenders and Fish & Chips. Read more about it, and everything else on our seafood list, on our Boom Boom Shrimp page.

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