Buffalo Burger from Gourmet Burger Kitchen - £8.95 / $12.95

29-31 George Street, Oxford, OX12AY - 01865 245 424

http://www.gbk.co.uk

This was my first time eating buffalo, and I must say, I was pleasantly surprised. I'm not quite sure what it was about it that made it so good. The consistency? The spices? Anyway, if you get the chance to order buffalo and it's just a little bit more cost, I highly recommend it so you taste for yourself.

8 Ounce Wagyu Kobe Foie Gras Burger from Gallagher's - $24.95

1133 Boardwalk, Atlantic City, NJ - (609)340-6555

"Topped with porcini mushrooms and fresh Hudson Vally foie gras."

Look at that price! Wow. So why did I buy a ridiculously priced burger in the first place? 1) It was my vacation and 2) I wanted to try foie gras for the first time.

Foie gras means "fat liver" in French. They force feed a baby goose or duck in order to fatten the liver and make it more supple. Therefore, the serving of this food is frowned upon by many, although highly desired at the same time.

Anyway, knowing that ahead of time, I might have been expecting more out of foie gras. And after tasting it for myself, I was highly disappointed. I didn't HATE the flavor, but I wasn't impressed by it either. I've never eaten liver before, but my friend said it tasted like normal liver but just a bit softer. And then I discovered this little article stating that people think it tastes the same if not worse than dog food. Greeeeat. Glad I spent $25 on it.

The rest of the burger wasn't all that bad. The kobe beef was very tender and practically broke apart the moment I gripped the burger and the fries were what you'd expect of fries.

Alligator Tail from Crazy Cajun - $9.95

125 Inverness Plaza, Birmingham, AL - (205) 408-0630

This is just as its name implies - fried alligator tail. You know that phrase, "tastes like chicken?" Well, that applies here, HOWEVER, it chewed like calamari... weeeeiiird.

Century Eggs - $0.41

Malaysian Chinese Hawkers – Lobak Stall

Since somebody’s being a lazy hobo (name starts with an e and ends with an rnest), I figured I’ll post the promised follow-up to the Balut post. Well not so much a follow-up as it is a related post and since I mentioned it there…. yeah you get the idea.

Century eggs. Very dark brown bordering on black, translucent, coral/snowflake patterns on the egg white (technically black), Dark grey-ish green yolk, again bordering on black.

Contrary to what Americans think of it, and that it is actually a 100 year old egg, it is not. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I did see at least 3 different and separate occurrences of this, one being Fear Factor. If that is indeed what you are thinking, give yourself some time now and think that through and you’ll see why that is impossible. I’ll give you some keywords to help the with the thought process : hatch, rot.

Century eggs are actually preserved eggs, the process of which include ash, clay, salt, lime and rice straw, lasting for several weeks to several months (Source: Wikipedia). The egg has a very strong ammonia smell to it, which brings us to popular misconception #2, and that is that the eggs have been marinated in horse urine. They haven’t.

But it does have a very strong taste to it, and the ammonia smell plays a big part in that. Once I bought some and steamed it (it’s always served hard boiled), it wasn’t ready yet but somehow the genius in me decided to give it a try. The egg-white was barely taking form. It was like jello, breaking form on contact. Because it was still steaming hot, when I took a bite the ammonia scent whiffed up my nose and I started tearing. All in good fun, I still ate it all. The yolk is the best part, having a custardy texture to it if cooked right and tasting/smelling like sweet and salty sulfur.

I don’t know if there are any health benefits to eating this, I’m guessing there are none. Popular dishes that have century eggs as an ingredient include the Century Egg and Lean Pork porridge which is mostly available during Dim Sum breakfasts.

There’s also the Penang Lobak (hence the suggestion to find this at the Lobak stall in any Chinese hawker), a mixture of fried tofu and other stuff (these eggs included) cut up into pieces and eaten with sweet sauce. I don’t normally eat Lobak, hence this post focusing only on century eggs rather than Lobak.

(Ed: I wrote this MONTHS ago and never posted it. I figured there was no point to it since this blog was dying. But *someone* promised to stop spending so much time on the Xbox 360 and post more, so here’s to keeping that promise, hobo.)

Aussie Trio from Matilda's Pub & Barbie - $12.99

801 South College Avenue, Newark, DE - 302.737.4800

"An awesome trio of Emu, coconut prawns, and Roo, served with three sauces: sesame ginger, teriyaki sauce, and manga salsa."

Okay, first look at the food. Then look at the price. Now look at the food again. If you're anything like me, then your brain just went, "Really? Is that all I get for $13?"

This appetizer was disappointing in almost about every way thinkable. I say "almost" because the coconut prawns' flavor wasn't bad. However, you'd think an animal the size of a kangaroo or an emu would be able to produce more meat than this. Give me some pouch or thigh for crying out loud!

Even if you put the size factor aside and judge the quality only, you'll still be let down. Had one of the skewers tasted okay, I might have cared to find out which skewer was which animal. But no, the meat was tough, dry and flavorless, so now I know to avoid them both.