Saturday, March 14, 2009
Bizarre Foods
Anyone familiar with "Bizarre Foods" on Discovery travel & living, hosted by Andrew Zimmern? Well, it's this show that showcases Zimmern travelling around the world, trying out foods that are, well, bizarre. From eating a live insect to squished octopus boiled with leaves, the guy has done it all, and still doing it!
It's not a fear factor type of show, where you eat bizarre foods to conquer your fear.. In this show, Zimmern eats something bizarre,willingly, but the things he eats are original/traditional foods from a certain country/region. Everytime I watch that show, I always think that the man should go to Indonesia, he can tape a whole season just by visiting this one country! Like.. We eat almost every part of an animal here! Even a goat's balls is served on the menu - although I could never bring myself to try them-, and some of my friends really like them, right Tutut? ^^;;
I went to Medan last month for an event, and since I always love trying out local dishes everywhere, I was looking forward to get a taste of Medan, and what I experienced was my own moment of Bizarre Foods
It was a cloudy Saturday Morning. We were at the venue, drinking our tea with kaya toast, wondering where to have lunch. And then Arief said,"My friend said we should have lunch at Daun Pisang, and try their Gulai Bibir Ikan (best translated as Fish Lips in Coconut Milk Soup, I think)". And I was like, "Whoaa... I didnt even know fish have lips!" Hahaha..
Being adventurous, Arief-Fadil-Rio-Bayu-and I decided to give the restaurant a go. It was located in Jl. S. Parman, in a ruko. It was nothing fancy, but it sure was crowded. We ordered the Gulai Bibir Ikan (GBI), among with other things on the menu. As it turned out, the GBI was delicious! All of us (except Bayu, he was never in to Bizarre Foods ^^;;) gave it a try, and loved it. The texture is kind of like Tunjang (I absolutely don't know what this is called in English), but very soft and smooth, not chewy like Tunjang. And the soup tastes very good too, very savory and tasty. The only thing off about the GBI is that the lips are still attached to the mouth and you can see the fish's teeth.. not something I'm fond to see, I tell you. But that's not really a problem, you can just skin the lips off the bones and throw away the part with the teeth to another plate. The others that we ordered were also delicious, there was the chicken (I forgot the name but it's covered with leaves), and the deep fried squid (this tastes good anywhere :P), and the vegetables in coconut milk soup-also forgot the name, is also tasty.I didn't take pictures though, so you'll just have to see it for yourself should you ever go to Daun Pisang ^^ (So Flo, this is what you missed while you were being talent coordinator, hehehe)
I guess this is not the first time for me to eat something bizarre in Medan. Back in 2007, I had bone marrow (sumsum) soup at this place (I forgot the name) where the bone was absolutely humoungous! Usually you just need to tap the bones to the plate until the inside comes out, right? At this place, the bone was so huge that you can just sip the insides using a straw! Saves the trouble of tapping the bones, definitely. Hihihi.. How big are the bones, you ask? Just take a look at Banto and Pak Hamdan sipping the bones below! Now.. I wasn't exaggerating, was I?
Bottom line, if you're going to Medan anytime soon, and you're feeling like trying out something new and a bit bizarre.. you should try Gulai Bibir Ikan at Daun Pisang restaurant (Jl. S. Parman). And if you're into bone marrow soup, perhaps you could ask the locals where you can find the place where they serve the huge bone marrow soup v(^^
Selamat Makan!
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