It has been a little while since my last full post and this might be a short one, but last night I had another interesting experience. There is so much different food here it is hard to not have something new on the menu but last night I had something I don't think you will ever see on the menu in the USA... raw horse. Yep ground up dipped in citric acid then placed over shredded cucumber, garlic, bean sprouts and a raw egg yolk poured around it.
I was eating out with a group from work who every Thursday night goes out to try new and different restaurants in town. I had wanted to start bridging out and with a group that always seems a little safer. So we ended up in this place that was much more traditional (take off your shoes kind of place) that actually I realized when going here that I actually had been to the restaurant before but missed the horse on the menu. There was six of us and so we ate family style sharing lots of dishes, everyone ordering something they thought sounded interesting and wanted to try. Some how it got to the horse and we ended up ordering a plate for our table.
The dish was small, maybe a cup of horse total and three cups of food overall. But when it did arrive there were two guys who really wanted to try it, leaving just about one helping left... so I tried it. Yep, I ate raw horse. And actually it tasted great. To that point it was the best thing we had on the table. I think the other three people were missing out, and by the time I had finished my serving I was kind of wanting a little more... though I wasn't up for ordering another whole platter of it for myself.
Now I can definitely say that I have eaten something here I don't think I will ever get the chance to over there in the states. Oh and don't worry about any food sicknesses, the cleanliness level in restaurants is very high and the way the horse is "prepared" the citric acid it is dipped in kills off anything on the exterior to the meet and so writing this blog post the next morning I still feel great and have no worries about getting sick.
Thanks to all for the warm wishes and support.
Yum Yum. Sounds VERY interesting! And you are right - being the dietitian I am, I was thinking about the safety of raw anything (especially horse & eggs). You've convinced me otherwise, at least in Japan (and the additives DO help).
ReplyDeleteThanks, I am on day three and not sick still so I figure I am in the all clear if I was going to get something like food poisoning from the horse or eggs... Speaking of eggs, it seems like that is a theme here to under cook eggs. every time I have gotten them they are runny, even hard boiled eggs have a runny yolk... weird.
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