Duck tongues

An Asian restaurant in the Brisbane suburb of Sunnybank had a selection of BBQ takeaway in the window, including duck tongue. I had seen duck tongues in the butcher shop a few doors down, but they were expensive and I had no idea what to do with them, so buying ready cooked tongues seemed like a good idea at the time. Unfortunately I couldn’t just get one to try, so a very small handful of these cost me $6.50, not a cheap snack.  But that’s the price you sometimes pay to eat weird stuff. I resisted the temptation of asking if I could put them on my bill (a duck joke). Ducks tongues are small, about 4-5 cms (but bigger than I thought would fit in a ducks head).

Towards the back of the tongue there is a bone, but there is actually a suprising amount of meat on each tongue (it’s probably not actually meat, has the texture of tender well cooked cartilage).  Now, I don’t know what is  in a Chinese BBQ marinade, but I do know I don’t like it! All the BBQed meat in the shop had a similar almost greyish, greasy appearance, and the taste of the tongues was unlike anything I have eaten. And that wasn’t a good thing, I thought they were bloody awful. Apparently duck tongues should have a duck flavour but these didn’t. So the experience was very disappointing, but I will try again if I can get them prepared differently.

Fleurs Place, Moeraki, NZ

I try to make these posts about food that is unusual and not eaten by the majority of people that I know. This post features a restaurant and food that is unusual for a different reason, it is unusually good. We had heard about Fleurs Place before our recent trip to NZ, and research indicated it would be worth the detour north of Dunedin to visit. We were not disappointed, with the experience well and truly meeting our expectations. Fleurs Place is right on the waterfront on an old jetty, and serves fish straight off the fishing boats.

As seems to be the case in seafood shops in NZ, there is a large selection of fish species offered.

A delicious feed of Moki

and mouth watering fresh blue cod

The fish and vegetables were cooked to perfection, and a side dish of fresh asparagus and hollandaise sauce was spectacular. I particularly enjoyed the chowder, with Queen scallops, Green lipped mussels and Cockles (small necked clams).

The fabulous food, spectacular location and great atmosphere of the restaurant certainly made our detour well worth while.  Thanks Fleur.

Haggis, mutton bird and black pudding.

What a combination and three items crossed off my wish list in one meal.

Dunedin in NZ has a strong Scottish heritage, so I did a bit of research before visiting the city last month, and found a restaurant that served haggis, which I had never eaten.   We only had one night in Dunedin so headed off to dinner at the Scotia Bar and Bistro, in the city centre. The restaurant has a great atmosphere, the staff are fantastic and the menu offered so much more than expected.

I ordered an entree of haggis with neeps (mashed swede) and tatties (mashed potatoes). Swede was apparently out of season so sweet potato was used. The haggis was quite a surprise. I had always imagined it to be the consistency of sausage meat but it has a course grainy texture and a rich, spicy flavour, definitely a meal to have again when the opportunity arises.

Haggis, neeps and tatties

Mutton bird was also on the menu, so an entree of this was ordered. Muttonbird (shearwater or Titi) is a sea bird and quite a delicacy in NZ. As these birds feed primarily on fish, they are high in Omega-3 fatty acids. The meat, which is dark red, has a flavour somewhere between lamb and fish, and is very oily, but delicious.

Mutton bird

The final taste test at Scotia was black pudding, which was served with another dish. I was happily served a small side dish of this when I asked.  The black pudding didn’t taste as strong as I expected, and was a very light almost fluffy texture. I have eaten black pudding as a child, but this is quite different to my memories of it. I’ll just have to try it again for a third opinion.

Black Pudding

I left Scotia with two regrets.  The first is that I only had small portions of these fantastic dishes. Next time it will be main courses. The second regret is that we didn’t spend more time with Scotia’s collection of over 300 whiskies. Scotia is a restaurant I would recommend to anyone visiting Dunedin, and I also recommend trying all three dishes wherever they are available.

  A few days later in Queenstown, on our last day in NZ, I bought a can of haggis at The British Lolly Shop.  I look forward to opening it soon.

Haggis