Acquired Taste

I walk through a vibrant market place located under this very distinctive building, People’s Park Complex, almost every day.

I like to try one new thing each time. Grass jelly (which deserves its own post one day soon. I. am. obsessed), pandan cake, red bean pastie…

I usually hover at the durian pancake vendor and then walk on. Durian, for readers outside Asia, is a very large, very heavy, very spiky, very stringy, very stinky fruit that looks like this:Like guns, it can not be taken on trains. Like cheese, it is very expensive.

I’ve seen the stinky, sticky delicacy in icecream and smoothies, but, never, until now, as a stinky, sticky pikelet. Today, curiosity got the better of me. I had to try. And while I was at it, I grabbed myself a cup of “antioxidant rich” red bean milk from the same vendor.

Behold, my mini feast.

Verdict? Well, like many things that are oh, so very good for you, such as wheatgrass and puer tea, red bean milk doesn’t exactly ravish your senses. I like soy bean drinks, but I figure the ones I usually drink have more sugar than bean in them. This tasted kind of like a cross between warm tofu soup and bean salad. I couldn’t get through the whole thing, but I’m sure it did wonders for at least a patch of my liver and skin. I definitely needed the mouth-puckering tangy/sweetness of the durian pancakes afterwards. And while I probably won’t develop a craving for the gooey treats either, I can appreciate why there is a stall dedicated to them. Now I can walk past in peace, and move on to the store selling dried pig parts. Oink.