This is the first in what will hopefully be a series on weird foods that I see around the world.  The articles will be on food that as a carnivorous westerner I find odd.  It’s not judging other cultures, just highlighting certain features of them which are different to my own…

I was in Cambodia about six weeks ago, and I was witness to some of the most bizarre food being sold and eaten that I’ve experienced.

I’d heard of the general availability of spiders and insects as food in Cambodia for some time, and was surprised after arriving in Siem Reap that I couldn’t find any in any of the markets. Read more

I was in Hanoi, Vietnam this Christmas.  Why?  Well, my mum decided to move there and work for a year or so, so I went over to spend Christmas with her (blog entry on the trip to come).

Anyway, she doesn’t really have much of a kitchen in her apartment, and neither of us were that keen on cooking Christmas dinner anyway, so we decided to pay a visit to one of Hanoi’s finest eating establishments, Restaurant Bobby Chinn.

Restaurant Bobby Chinn is located in Westlakes (it recently moved), an area very popular with expats living in Hanoi.

They had a special six course Christmas day degustation menu which we of course chose over the à la carte menu. Read more

Generally I try to keep my birthdays low key, and are never inclined to have parties or anything in my honour.

I think as each year passes though, I’m becoming more likely to actually do something for my birthday.  Siboun and I have the same birthday, and so this year we decided to go to Red Lantern in Sydney’s Surry Hills for a joint birthday and Christmas dinner with a few friends.

We had a table outside, which unfortunately is covered as this particular night was beautiful.  The setting was still quite nice, and contained many eponymous red lanterns hanging from the ceiling. Read more