Snake's Heart in my Mouth

The hasselhott city of Hanoi was an interesting experience due to the volume of decent food. You've already seen some in the last post but this next meal is really different. "Never try, never know" is a commonly used expression by Vietnamese hawkers / sellers. With this in mind, we stepped into another culinary adventure.

On the Ha Long Bay trip, we met some topless Norwegians and a Dane, and agreed to meet up for some drinks. We ended spending a few nights with them trying out a variety of cheap beers. Then one night we went to an area of Hanoi famous for eating one type of very traditional meat.

Not porcupine! They just had some there as pets I suppose... The restaurant was famous for serving snake, in all manner of forms.

I assume they're not poisonous

First you choose your snake and then they then serve you some liquor made with its insides.

Green - Sweet liquor mixed with snake's 
gall bladder, releasing the bile.
Red - Snake's blood and sweet rice wine.

Top Left: Grilled Snake - Like tiny little barbecued ribs - very tasty!
Top Middle: Fried Snake Ribsbrittele - Crushed up bones & spices. Crunchy.
Top Right: Snake Spring Roll - Pretty darn good, like a normal spring roll.
Middle Left: Snake Pied - Spices made these snake-meat balls dead tasty.
Middle Right: Soft Snake Skin - The worst of the lot. A hard, rubbery texture.
Bottom: Sauteed Snake with Citronella - Really delicious. Soft like fish.

A close-up of the soft snake skin.

The snake skin tasted strange with a highly unusual texture, but it wasn't as strange as something I had eaten a bit earlier.

I volunteered to have the honour of the most sacred part of the snake - the heart. I didn't eat it using the usual method of knife or fork... I didn't even use chopsticks.

Ripping an animal's beating heart out with my teeth has always been an ambition of mine.

Now there's something you don't do everyday.