Whenever I’m travelling, I try to eat a new thing every day. Living in a new country, this doesn’t happen daily, particularly as living somewhere entails me making my own food.
Today, however, I managed to eat a meal filled with foods I never had consumed before. I went with a few of my friends to Saigon Saigon, which is one of the tasiest Chinese restaurants in Edinburgh.
We looked over the menu and then ordered, my friends (two from China, one from Taiwan) suggesting and selecting some of their favourite dishes. I just had one request: whatever we ate, there had to be at least one dish that wasn’t too spicy.
We ended up with five dishes. One, my favourite, I can’t recall what it was called. But what else did I eat? Let me preface by saying yes, I knew what I was eating. And it was all delicious.
Shredded chicken–my choice. Not too spicy at all.
Roasted duck tongue–a favourite of one of my friends. A bit spicy for my taste, but I did eat three tongues. As well as the bones of two, I didn’t realize there were bones in it…the crunchiness should have tipped me off.
Cow stomach–I’ve had stomach before, when I was in Italy (lamprodotto). I wasn’t a fan then, I’m really not a fan now either.
Pig’s feet–Um, these were delicious. Succulent and tasty, with a lovely sauce.
Sadly, the duck gizzards were unavailable. My friends said that they’re delicious, and I wanted to try them!
For desert, I had coconut milk with soga and tapioca. Wonderful!
And no, I still haven’t tried haggis.
Ned Wolfe 
Saigon-Saigon?
Wouldn’t that be a Vietnamese restaurant?
Just asking….
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That was my thought as well. Apparently not, though, they serve Chinese dishes!
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Hahaha… This made me laugh. First thing is.. we have to accept that eating ducks and other living things is horrifying. Second thing is… these things are very tasty (not that this is a justification slurp slurp!). That said, I’ve eaten cow’s stomach, squid, snails, pig’s feet, ox tongue, crab, swordfish and even… wait for it…. locusts and liked most of em (not the cow stomach ‘tripe’ thing). To me I think most things are nice if they are properly cooked. The thing that puts people off certain foods is conditioning; e.g. eating horse is seen as unacceptable here in England and yet it’s fine to eat cute little lambs. I really wish I could become a vegetarian. One day I will. Until then though… I love trying all kinds of different stuff.
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I’ve had a lot of different things myself, never locusts though! I think, apart from the cow’s stomach, my least favourite thing I’ve had is cuttlefish. That’s just disgusting tasting. Though, I did cook the cuttlefish, so that may be part of why it didn’t taste terribly good…
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I love trying new foods. But I love the spicy, so we differ in that. 😉
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I need to try more spicy foods. I’ve a bland palate.
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