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Balut (egg)

Ho Chi Minh City - A good Vietnamese friend brought us to Hoang Yen restaurant - next to Sheraton Riverside Hotel.  This is a Vietnamese buffet restaurant and they have a very wide selection of buffet dishes at affordable prices of SGD 15 per person.

They had Balut as one of their dishes and thought it was a delicacy only to Philippines but further research revealed that it is also cherish as an aphrodisiac in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand too.  I was challenge to try one.

me holding up my Balut
That is the de shelled portion of the Balut egg revealing the yolk of a boiled and cooked embryo duck's egg. To a novice like myself it was an overwhelming feeling similar to a 'Fear Factor' competition.  The very thought of being able to see feathers and beak; though it was soft; was extremely a slow process of swallowing each teaspoon of the Balut.

Not much taste to the Bulut egg so spice and salt are dipped to taste.

The taste of one was enough for me...



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