Brains in Bombay

After a month of easy village living in the South of India, we took a break from the yoga routine and went up for a wild weekend in Bombay (Mumbai). There we ran into our friends in the Smirnoff Ten, and checked out a new music club called Blue Frog. In the club's brochure, the chef claims to be knowledgeable about "obscure meats" but we didn't see any on the menu.



We were told that lamb brains were on menus all over the city, so after a long walk among the grand colonial buildings of Colaba, we stepped into an Iranian restaurant north of Victoria Terminal, called, simply, "Iran Like Restaurant," with Pepsi/7UP as a sign sponsor. Sure enough, fried lamb brains was listed as a special.



The manager recommended the brain masala fry with a side of roti bread, and an order of sweet chai to wash it down with. Everything was matter-of-fact, and I didn't attract stares or smiles as a foreigner ordering something "weird", as often happens in China.

The lamb brains were soft and delicate like silken tofu, and soaked up the curry sauce perfectly. They were white in color, unlike the pink pig brains we ate before. We haven't been fond of animal brains thus far, but we really liked these, and even ordered them again a few days later. The soft smooth texture and neutral flavor compliment the spicy masala.



Iran Like Restaurant
69/73, Palton Road, Opp. J.J. School of Arts
Besides New Haj House, Mumbai 400001

Pig Brains at 4am

After another legendary party night at my current favorite bar / live music club 4 Live (now closed), I got pulled into late-night eats with my drunken friends. We ended up meeting another group at some OK hot pot place in Hongqiao. I have no idea where. It was 4am and we were all drunk. Good idea to eat a bit to soak up the beer before bed.

About 15 people were at the table, and I had no idea who was ordering the food. And more beer, of course. An endless procession of dishes -- big leafy greens, tofu-type skewer things, various meats and mushrooms -- and then, a plate of slimy pink blobs. I started to sober up. As I've said before, I'm into weird, but I'm not crazy about animal brains. These, as I suspected, turned out to be pig brains.



We picked up the plate and slid the mushy brains into the boiling pot. Half in the spicy broth, half in the mild. We let them stew for a while before digging them out, steaming and soaked with flavor. It's difficult to eat slimy brains with chopsticks, so we had to scoop them out of a bowl held up to our mouths. They were soft and succulent like soft tofu.

Despite our lack of enthusiasm for eating brains, these were fine, we had seconds, and we wouldn't turn them down again. Besides, we've had them before, pig brains in Cambodia.

Pig Brains

Siem Reap, Cambodia

We were eating at one of those large shacks -- the big roadside restaurants with no walls and a tin roof -- in Siem Reap . We'd eaten quite a bit already, and drunk a ton of beer. (The beer in Cambodia is quite good. It's a mystery why a country with this climate produces at least 3 dark stout beers, which seem totally unfit for the hot weather. There's a reason Guinness comes from Ireland.) So fueled by the beer, I suppose, and the urge to drink more, we decide to order more munchies. Someone decides we should get the pig brains. Good with beer! is the concensus.

I expected something like the minced meat "larb" popular in Thailand, but the pig brains are more like a soupy stir-fry, with tomatoes, shallots, parsley, and fish sauce. I wouldn't have known it was pig brains unless someone had told me. Nothing remarkable but, yes, fine with beer.

I have to admit that animal brains is something I balk at before digging in. I suppose that's because things like Mad Cow disease have hit modern, western countries so recently. While I'm at it, I've never understood the logic behind feeding a naturally vegetarian cow some cow meat. Here's your cousin's brains to eat, moooo.

And, speaking of both Cambodia and Mad Cows ... did you hear the one about the Cambodian diplomat who suggested England send her mad cows over to run around the Cambodian countryside and knock out a few land mines? Two birds with one stone, eh? Sounds like a Jonathan Swift proposal -- absurd and offensive, but quite reasonable.

In America, they have this TV show called "Fear Factor". On this show they dare contestants to do things like eat weird meat. Read about the cow brain episode here.