What are tiger prawns?The banded giant of the prawn world, cooked with garlic and white wine at Fiena, King's Cross

"Tiger prawn" is the everyday name for Penaeus monodon, also called the giant tiger prawn, the Asian tiger shrimp or the black tiger shrimp. Its body is marked with bands running across the shell, and it's big: females can reach about 33 centimetres, though most are 25 to 30 centimetres long, with the males a little smaller.

It was first described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1798. In the wild it lives across the Indo-Pacific, from the east coast of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula to South-east Asia, the Pacific and northern Australia. Young prawns grow up in sandy estuaries and mangroves, then move to deeper water as adults. They're nocturnal, burrowing into the sea floor by day and coming out at night to feed.

As its many common names show, the same animal is sold as both a prawn and a shrimp. Tiger prawns are the second most widely farmed prawn in the world, after the whiteleg shrimp, and they're farmed for food in many countries. Background from Wikipedia's Penaeus monodon page.

On our main menu, the Tiger prawns are a starter, cooked with garlic, cherry tomato, white wine and a touch of tomato sauce, and they're marked gluten-free. Garlic, white wine and tomato is the same trio that runs through so much Italian seafood cooking, from our linguine vongole to our mussels. Order some garlic bread alongside for the sauce.

If you love prawns, they turn up elsewhere on the menu too: the Risotto asparagus & prawns with king prawns, the Linguine vongole with baby prawns and clams, and the Mixed fried seafood with calamari, Argentinian prawns, tiger prawns, sea bass and salmon. See our posts on risotto and seafood and fritto misto.

The tiger prawns are good on their own, but even better as part of a spread. Pair them with the Capesante, pan-fried scallops in a lemon butter sauce; the Padron peppers with flaked sea salt; the Bruschetta; or the Baby calamari with tartar sauce. See our posts on scallops, Padrón peppers and bruschetta. To drink, a crisp white suits the garlic and wine: the Pinot Grigio, the Gavi di Gavi or the Albarino from our drinks list.

Guests often mention the quality. Ryan wrote that The food was high quality (Ryan, Google review), and Robin summed up a meal in two words: Stunning flavours. (Robin, Google review)

“the sauces tasted homemade”

Ayub, Google review, 2025