Deer Placenta

Shanghai, China



There's a hub of fancy-pants clubs and restaurants surrounding the intersection of Dongping Road and YueYang Road in Shanghai. French bistros and bakeries, German breweries, wine shops, upscale Chinese and Japanese, and even an old stalwart, the Eager Beaver Bar (English teacher watering hole). Between that and Club Mao (Euro-trash disco), is a fine little Chinese restaurant called Mingmen Private Kitchens. Mingmen specializes in deer. Most famously, deer placenta.

What is placenta?

The sac-shaped organ that attaches the embryo or fetus to the uterus during pregnancy in most mammals. Blood flows between mother and fetus through the placenta, supplying oxygen and nutrients to the fetus and carrying away fetal waste products. The placenta is expelled after birth. - Dictionary.com

Some humans eat human placenta, it's supposed to be good for you. Tom Cruise is rumored to be one of these humans. Don't you like eating "sac-shaped" things?

So, at Mingmen restaurant, you can order deer placenta in a soup.



Deer placenta soup. (click on pic for larger view)



There's also mushrooms, flowers, black chicken, and deer tendon in the broth. Nice soup broth. The placenta bits where elastic but not rubbery. The portion is small, especially considering you're paying 158 RMB (over 20 USD) for a small bowl.

Deer placenta is said to be good for -- these guys are good at marketing! -- male sexual performance, kidneys, women's skin, people of all ages, and in all seasons. Hmmm. How can you continue life without it? No worries, you can order deer placenta in pills! These pills even list "ass glue" in the ingredients. Good for flatulence, we suppose?


Deer placenta, and other parts ... on the menu at Mingmen. Unfortunately, they were sold out of deer brains on this visit.

Deer placenta is also said to be chemically close to human placenta, and is now considered, according to this hawker, the "premier" source of placenta.


Deer steak, cubed, and served with black pepper sauce. Pretty good stuff, tasted like a stronger, gamier beef.

Oh, check back again soon so I can tell you about the "deer dick-in-a-box" and the deer antler candy I had on Christmas day. Poor Rudolph...





Mingmen Private Kitchens (open to the public)
42 Yueyang Lu, near Dongping Lu, Shanghai
021-6466-2626


P.S. How about some Frog Ovaries for Dessert?

Public Durian Eating #1

Public Durian Eating #1
Location: Logo bar, Shanghai, China
Victims: South Rakkas Crew, various drunken patrons



We always pick a vice for a new year's resolution. We wrote about that before, here. This year we struggled with a few ideas -- prostitution, petty theft, nose picking... and then settled on something brilliant. Public Durian Eating.

Durian is the best thing you can ever put in your mouth. But it's also one of worst things you'll ever smell. It's completely offensive and inappropriate. And so so so so good !!

Like stinky cheeses, the stronger the better. Durian is a magical food. Like wine or good chocolate, you taste hints of all sorts of other foods and aromas in the fruit. One bite tastes like strawberry, the next like raw garlic, the next like creamy vanilla custard. And it all smells like dirty old wet socks. Which is why some people completely freak out when they smell it, and why it's banned in many public places, like the Singapore subway.

So we went to Sogo on Nanjing Road and found a really nice 50 RMB cut of durian. Took it out to Logo bar to share with the South Rakkas Crew, who were in town for the Jue Festival. But no camera was present, until later. The cops came in right when I was bringing out the durian, perfect timing! But they turned out to be more concerned with the volume and choice of music I was playing. We turned it down and put on cheesy Chinese pop. Local singer Vivian had her camera and she digs durian, so here's the proof (yes, it's legal to eat this in public in China).



We want to see massive durian flash mobs all over the free world. Durian eating contests. Durian orgy porn. Durian haiku. Durian therapy.

Want to know more about durian? And this guy is making "odor-less" durian -- that's bogus dude!

Oh, speaking of new years, I got a call at 8am on New Years Morning (what were they thinking?), from an Australian radio host. The interview is here: Weird Meat on ABC Radio Canberra. The audio clip is under the egg photo, click on "Weird meat passion" to listen.

More public durian eating pics:


DJ Tootekool, even after a summer in Kuala Lumpur, can't do it.


Logo owner Taipei enjoys a piece.


Durian food coma bliss...