Day 3 - T Meets the Durian

Tonight, T and I continue on the theme and try classic Peranakan cooking at a place called True Blue Cuisine.

Our Menu Selection included:

Banana Flower and Cucumber

 Salad

Chicken with Black Nuts

Grilled Tiger Prawns with Curry Leaves

Some sort of vegetable mish mash

Durian Fruit with Steamed Tapioca

The Spicy Banana Flower Salad with Cucumbers is very good.  Tart and firery.  I didn't know what to expect here - petals maybe--but judging by the little green coins that came in the salad, I think it's a banana flower bud that has been harvested before blooming and sliced. Crunchy!

Also worth mention is this famous Chicken with Black Nuts.  Right.  

Imagine a soupy black colored sauce, with hunks of chicken and charcoal briquettes.  Said briquette/nut looked like it had been cleavered on one side, and the dish was served with little-people spoons, which you were supposed to use to slide into the cleavered hole to pull out the black, pasty meat of the nut.  None of this was self-evident, and I found myself to be extremely grateful for the ever-present waiter at this point.  You know the type—he would be terrific if the joint was packed—except tonight it  was just you and 3 German tourists in the next booth.  Oh, and T still is claims it wasn’t chicken.  Ominously, he keeps saying “vertebrae don’t come that big …” and I trust a man whose Italian grandmother was famous for eating the neck of the Sunday roaster.

Next, the Durian fruit dessert.  Me being somewhat suspect after having watched the episode where Andrew Zimmern actually gags and spits out this delicacy, I chose to pass.  Being an observer, I can only attest to the smell (not that bad) and look of it (Lipton Onion Dip).  In order to fully capture this experience, I have decided to interview my better half:

L: What is the Durian? 

T: A smelly Malaysian fruit

Official definition:  Widely known and revered in Southeast Asia as the "King of Fruits," the fruit is distinctive for its large size, unique odor and formidable thorn covered husk. The edible flesh emits a distinctive odour, strong and penetrating even when the husk is intact. Regarded by some as fragrant, others as overpowering and offensive, the smell evokes reactions from deep appreciation to intense disgust. The odour has led to the fruit's banishment from certain hotels and public transportation in Southeast Asia.

L: Why did you want to eat it so badly?

T: Because I wanted the experience of trying one of the world's smelliest foods.

Again, why?

I am trying out for a show, "Weird Foods."  

Is this a sitcom spin off?

Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern : Weird Foods :: Friends : Joey

L: What was the texture of it?  Some of our readers are very concerned with the texture of their food.

T: A cross between Greek yogurt and mashed carrot

I didn't know you can mash a carrot

Yes you did.  We made it one night after we had it at Francois', remember?

Oh Yeah.

L: And the taste?  What did that stuff taste like?

T: Epoisse (stinky, delicious wash rind cheese), vegetable frittata, and a touch of citrus.

There you have it folks.