Sheep Placenta Shots

I was in a crappy hotel room in Hangzhou, China last week for this party at a bar called Joy Luck Club. The morning after the party, woke up with a fuzzy head and looked at the mini-bar in the room to see what might un-fuzz my head. Coca-cola, 7-up, hmm, how about this little bottle of ... "SHEEP PLANCENT ELEMENT" [sic] (羊胎素精华口服液).

What?

Bad spelling. They mean to say Sheep Placenta. It's a brand called Boss Forest from Australia. It has a jumpy kangaroo on the logo, and a happy little lamb cartoon guy on the bottom. Says it's good for skin, anti-aging, repairing damaged cells, and improving organ functions. Which organ, hmm?

Only 15 RMB (about 2 USD).

I drank it up in two quick swigs. Like taking a shot of liquor, but instead of burning the throat, it was coated in sweet, herbal syrup, kinda like Jagermeister. It gave me the little sugar rush I needed to get up and moving. Did it help my skin? My fuzzy head? You decide:



Want more placenta? Try this deer placenta.
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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?