LA MERCY is like a side note from a Paul Theroux novel: seedy, weathered, typically subtropical in the seeming lack of desire to maintain any of the buildings, notwithstanding that most of these structures would give any architect the cold shivers. So it is with the building that houses the famed Sea Belle, which seems at some point to have served as a hotel, when the fortunes of the town were better.Entry is through a side entrance, past missing persons posters and local Indian families with kids sporting judo tunics. Then a brag wall, with press clippings and a history of the restaurant, which is in its fourth decade. Sea Belle has a legendary status, built on its prawn curry and that its mien is so "anti-cool".It’s a large, open and unremarkable space, even a touch ugly, with a dance floor dissecting the middle of the hall, with disco lights for the many group and family events hosted. You dine at plastic-clothed tables, and select from plastic menus, while you sit on 1970s funct...
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