I ATE PIG ORGAN SOUP!

I said that it would take either a whole bottle of gin or a subtle lie from Chong to actually get me to put anything remotely associated with pig organ soup into my mouth, but apparently all it required was a sob story and my willingness to be supportive.  

            As we continued our Friday tradition of hunting out fun local specialities, this Friday lunch saw us pulling up chairs at another bak kuh teh restaurant. Which literally translates as “meat bone tea”. Delicious, huh?

Last week was pretty darn tasty, but this other local spot was brighter, airier and the meat definitely tasted like it came from happier pigs! If you ignored the vomit warning on the wall (as pictured – apparently intended for drunk westerners), it was really quite a nice little spot.

            As always, Chong ordered in stern sounding Chinese, and I just quietly waited, bracing myself for another soup-with-chopsticks challenge. Whilst the little old lady shuffled around getting our lunch ready, Chong told me a horribly sad story about a friend of his who had died on the operating table just yesterday afternoon! With his fairly stern way of talking and communicating I couldn’t really work out how to respond, but as he was clearly pretty upset by it I tried my best to be supportive, before desperately searching for a way to change the subject to something more light-hearted.

            By the time the organs arrived (this was a surprise addition to the table) I knew it was going to have to happen, and so I bit the bullet (or organ, actually) and braved a loop of intestine. Imagine a giant, fat onion ring, then remove the batter and throw it in a dark, worryingly rich soup that tastes very, very meaty. It almost tasted like a dish of game meat, only the actual colour of the chewy bits was a lot lighter in colour and texture. 

            I knew that my desperate attempts not to be considered a useless white girl would mean that I would cave in and try the dish eventually, but I certainly didn’t think that it would happen this quickly. Luckily, the slightly disgusting plan worked as intended, and Chong looked a lot more cheerful as he got to pat himself on the back for making me eat my words so soon after promising him that I wouldn’t be trying this particular delicacy any time soon.

I was trying to be adventurous, and I have ended up in massively freaking myself out now. Not because I’ve eaten something that in England I would have avoided like the plague, but because I actually liked it!

There is no way that I would order it again if it was just for me, and even if it’s presented to me again in the future I think it will probably still worry me quite a bit, but for now it’s ticked off the list, and I am feeling a little bit smug about that!