What you thought you ordered?
 

So, when did you think you ordered one dish at a restaurant and discovered something VERY surprising? This is off the Smile and Language thread... <BR> <BR>My contribution, when at 17 I was the only one who "knew" german, in Berlin, translating a menu for a group of other 17 year old 4-Hers, and chaperone. One of them got steak tartar with raw egg. OOPS! Bless his heart, he ate it, saying it was part of the experience. I've always thought of him with a smile.

OOOOOh, the worst, the very worst... <BR>My husband and I were on our first trip to Europe. To this halfway point in our three weeks in Italy we had been doing very well with food and drink... <BR>With the pensione manager's recommendation, we set off for a nice little restaurant. It was well-liked by the locals, he said. <BR>After a charming bottle of wine over with candlelight and music, what was the recommendation of the waiter when we asked for a local dish? <BR>TRIPE! We had never heard of TRIPE before, thought it sounded kindof <BR>"fishlike" and thought we'd give it a go... <BR>My husband and I stared at the dish for several minutes and because we "had" to eat the local cuisine, tried it. <BR>Anyone who knows what this is can only imagine it slippery and covered with marinara! <BR>We still laugh to this day about that meal!

I forgot to say...we did NOT finish the meal! <BR>But, the vino was superb.

I ordered Cochinillo at Candido's, the popular restaurant by the Aqueduct in Segovia. I knew it was pork; what I wasn't aware of is that it was served looking like a fully intact baby pig, laying on the plate like if it was taking a peaceful nap. I almost croaked in horror. My husband was laughing at the situation so hard, that he got me even more upset. Determined to prove myself, I digged in. Wouldn't you know it was delicious, and of course, well cooked. Go figure.

One time at the cafe portion of Cibreo in Florence, we ordered what we though was stuffed chicken breast. Well it was definitely chicken, but it was a stuffed head and neck. The beak was a dead giveaway! Good stuffing though...

In the Cinque Terre, we stopped for lunch in Camogli. Charming little piazza with outdoor tables. We couldn't get enough calimari, so ordered an appetizer that we thought was a little sample of local seafood. Yes, it was! They brought us NINE different platters of every kind of seafood prepared in every way. Our favorite was tiny little fish about 2 inches long, very lightly battered & fried whole! They were yummy, although we couldn't bring ourselves to eat the heads. We called them "fish fries".

Too fun for words! Thanks for the sharing so far! <BR>Danna

This happened here, in Dallas, but at a French restaraunt during a wedding rehearsal dinner...I ordered veal sweetbread, thinking it's just a veal dish nothing unusual. But as you know, I was presented with a thick slice of (very recognizable) baby calf brains in vermouth sauce. My husband leaned over and told me that I had to eat it because the groom's father was sitting across from me and he was picking up the tab. I ate one chewy bite and broke out in hives. I had to take a cab home.

Not exactly on point but funny: Many moons ago when I was a young teacher, I took a tour to the Canary Islands with the NJEA (teacher org). One of our tour lunches included paella. Some "Mrs. Malaprop" type woman on the tour was trying to show off because she thought she could ID the ingredients better than anyone else. She announced that the paella was full of testacles because Spanish people love to eat testacles. (I never understood why my friend and I were the only people who got hysterical laughing. Were the others very polite and controlled or just as ignorant?)

This is to Sandi in Dallas, <BR> <BR>Sandi, I was so hoping you would come to our "First Occasional Fodorites" get together in Austin this past weekend, I am dying to see your pictures and hear all about your last trip (your trip report on Fodors was GREAT). <BR> <BR>Maybe next time, <BR>Sandy (in Denton)

last 2 posts <BR>HUH? <BR>

Sandi, whoever told you that the veal sweetbreads were baby calf's brains was pulling your leg. They aren't. Maybe just as disgusting to some -- the "thymus" gland of a calf, not brains. But I order them whenever I can, especially simply grilled and think they are delicious.

Dear Confused, <BR> <BR>Re next to last post: "Mrs. Malaprop" said "testacles" when she meant squid or octopus "tentacles" -- as I said, not exactly on point, but sort of, and funny. OK?

I would like to hear a few more stories. <BR>Surely there must be more...

My friend went to Vietnam and was really struggling to find something edible in the local cuisine. She wasn't very kean on chinese food anyway so was off to a bad start already. After 3 days of nibbling on dry biscuits, starvation drove her to order something from a local, recommended restaurant. The choice was very limited, and she had no idea what she was eating, but struggled through some weird, very chewy meat. <BR> <BR>She only discovered the next day that what she'd had was definately dog. She wasn't so hungry after that...

On a trip to France and Belgium with my (then) boyfriend, we first stayed with friends of his parents in Grenoble. The man, who spoke only French, took us to his extensive wine cellar during the day and picked up a bottle of wine and announced, "Ce sera bon pour le lapin!" Now, I know a lot of you probably love eating rabbit, but I do not, and all day, I panicked about the impending dinner. When the rabbit was finally served, I looked at the casserole dish and actually hallucinated and thought I could make out a fuzzy tail! Then, on to Antwerp where my boyfriend's family served their very special Boudin Noir! I was so sickened at the sight of this blood sausage on my plate that when all eight pairs of eyes were looking elsewhere, I put my sausage on my boyfriend's plate. When his aunt looked over at my empty plate, she immediately left to get me seconds. Ever since that trip, every time my (now) husband chooses a bottle of wine for us, he says, "Ce sera bon pour le lapin!"

Maaaaany moons ago, first trip to Paris, totally exhausted, ask the waiter to recommend something. He asks (in French) if I like what I thought was rice and veal. Sure I say, and he brings me...ris de veau. With a lovely Newburg sauce, one of the best things I've ever eaten. Have not (deliberately) ordered it since, in case it isn't as good as I remember it. <BR> <BR>Paris, with my sister, at a tiny restaurant with the tables only 2" apart. Waiter brings our dinner (I think she had ordered some sort of beef thing and I'd ordered veal) and we dig in, just as the waiter brings two more meals to the table next to us. We're chewing away, both with furrowed brows "I think mine's pork" "I think mine is too"...and the people next to us with the exact same quizzical look on their faces. <BR> <BR>El Gato in Chioggia, the maitre d' asks if we would like him to select from the daunting fish and seafood menu. We say sure, expecting sort of an appetizer tray idea with little bits of everything. We get, instead, course after course of fish dishes, including entire baby octopi - which 2 girls did eat. <BR> <BR>Somewhere west of Malcontenta, we stop to have lunch. We can read the Italian menu, no problem, but the head waiter brings us an 'appetizer' which consisted of grits with tempura-battered - er - sperm. That's what it looked like, complete with eyes. Tasted ok, but we have no idea what the sperm things were. And it was just our first encounter with grits in Italy. <BR> <BR>First trip to Bordeaux, years ago, take a bus tour of a couple of wineries. At a small family-run vineyard, we sample a couple of wines. Mmmm very nice, then he pours this gold coloured wine into our glasses. I take a healthy sip, and nearly gag - it's Sauterne, and I hate sweet wines. I managed to swallow the stuff, then 'cleansed my palate' with about a litre of water. <BR> <BR>

Poor Maira, <BR>Pig on a platter! <BR>Not Europe based, but... <BR>When my husband and I were in Tobago, the grandson of the caretaker of the house we rented became a friend (we ended up being there for a month) <BR>One night early in our stay, he made us his grandmother's Fish Head soup. <BR>Yes, it was made out of fish heads which were still floating around in the soup, eyeballs included.It did taste good though! <BR>And the chicken rotis, which had cut up pieces of chicken,( bones included)presented a bit of difficulty in chewing. <BR>We did have an interesting drink, and I wish I could remember the name! <BR>It was non-alcoholic, green in color and whipped up in a blender, at a small roadside stand. <BR>It was a moss /seaweed based drink, not unpleasant at all.Just alittle stringy. <BR>I am enjoying these stories very much! <BR> <BR>

Testacles, tentacles, beaks and pigs... too fun! Keep it up!

A friend and I were on the last few days of a 3 week trip in Thailand. We were in the North @ a beautiful guest house taht had a very popular restaurant. Everyone had these great looking (and smelling) dishes and grilling fish & meat on little hibatchis @ their tables. When the waiter aske if he could order for us we declined and ordered ourselves- after all we had been in the country for 3 weeks and we KNEW what we wanted. Well what we got was a plate of branches and leaves! We were starving. Luckily the rest. was outside in the jungle along a river. We threw the branches and leaves into the brush. Breakfast was very early the next morning.

As a young'n living in San Francisco and infatuated with the cultural diverity of the place, I set out to find the "most authentic" Chinese restaurant I could find in Chinatown. I finally picked one with no printed or spoken English on anything or from anyone (only one or two people in the place, hmmm...) <BR>When the waiter signed what do I want off the all-Chinese menu, which I couldn't read, I shrugged and pointed to an old man across the room, indicating "I'll have what he's having." <BR>The waiter raised his eyebrows then shrugged okay, and a few minutes later presented me with a plate of chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and green beans.

country fried chicken! ROFL

I'm not sure this story belongs here, but it is one food memory I will never forget. <BR>Spain, many yrs. ago (just after Franco died). Went to see Spainish friends I met in school (we had promised to meet in Spain when Franco died). After 2 or 3 days of "making the rounds" in Madrid (and drinking way too much and getting way to little sleep), a group of us ended up at the house of a friend of a friend in the hills west of Madrid (between Avilia and El Escorial/sp?) Small village; (think horses, not cars). Welcomed like brothers and the meal they served! I'm sorry to say I can't remember the fronte end of the meal, but I do remember the pomp and circumstance of the serving of the baked severed goat head (skinned, but w/eyes) and covered in laurel leaves (I think laurel, or some kind of leaves that it was baked with). Anyway, more bino, the head is, of course, passed first to us, and my Spanish friends are actually loving this,(brains, the eyes, etc.)! I think I tried the brains, but I do remember NOT trying one of the eyes! <BR>Needless to say I am still here, didn't get sick, and still enjoy their friendship.

Mike, <BR>allI can say is Wow! <BR>Along the lines of Maira's pig. <BR>I had goat once in Tobago. <BR>tasted O.k. <BR>But seemed to stay with one for days after.

to the top! <BR>

On a trip to China and traveling with a group on most occasions we ate in the top restaurant of the city we were visiting in several provinces. Each province had its specialty which was cooked especially for the visiting Americans. The restaurant owner and chef always came out to the table when the food was served, beaming, bowing and rubbing their hands in anticipation of our enjoyment of the special treats they had prepared for us. Not wanting to disappoint our hosts we ate water buffalo veins (I thought they were noodles at first), water buffalo tendons, duck's tongue served in three different ways, snake, and crickets. I tried them all and they were delicious! But the one I just couldn't even put in my mouth were the most beautiful roasted seahorses -- hundreds in the dish!

topping this for more culinary delights! <BR>but I am sad to hear about the seahorses. <BR>I can see how it would be impossible to eat one, Spanky! <BR>I think it was Smithsonian magazine that had an article on the declining seahorse population, due to desirability of these cute animals for food and medicine. <BR>I think there is an effort underway to increase the number of "farms" though to provide enough so the seahorse does not become extinct. <BR>I hope they don't, they are quite unique!

I thought the branches and leaves was the unusual till I got to hundreds of "beautiful roasted sea horses!" <BR> <BR>WOW

On our first trip to Paris, my husband and I enjoyed a great meal at Brasserie Balzar on Rue des Ecole. My husband wanted a mesclun salad (baby mixed greens) but pronounced it as muslin instead. When it arriived, the plate was full of thinly sliced meat and chopped up baby dill pickles. Well, it was delicious; the taste was very like "head cheese". When we returned to the hotel and looked it up, we found that we'd had snout!

Rognons d'agneau. In Paris. Figured this meant "rounds of lamb." Ws I surprised when I got a HUGE rare lamb kidney on a skewer with liver attached. Ate the liver. Couldn't manage the other. I'll never forget that rognons in French means kidney.

When we were in Tuscany we ordered a first course called "fondutta di crostini neri". Okay, I though fondutta was fondue, and crostini are those little toasted bread rounds. I know neri means black, but honestly, I thought it applied to the crostini! I figured this was a cheese fondue, with grilled bread. Oops. Neri applied to the fondue. It was a nice, hot bubbling, puree of liver and spleen. By far the most disgusting thing I've set eyes on. I even like the Florentine liver crostini, but this was just too awful to eat.I usually try to be adventuresome and have eaten all kinds of things, but this was too much. We had to ask the waiter to take it away. I was mortified, but the waiter was really nice, and insisted on bringing us some nice, safe bruschetta and didn't charge us for the liver.

Kidney, liver and Spleen OH MY! <BR>If He*# exists, the evil one would serve this on my plate. Gadzooks! Raw even adds insult to injury! <BR> <BR>Wow!

Anybody hungry?

Menu translations may be an entirely different thread that I haven't discovered yet, but please allow me to contribute this one. When I was a kid I went to Mexico with my parents, and one of the items on the menu in the hotel dining room in Mexico City was "Anahogs in a Seamanlike Manner." We didn't order it, but I've often wondered what we might have ended up with.

Hi Danna and All, I was just about to go have breakfast when I read your posts. Makes me want to become a vegetarian.....for a little while anyway. <BR> My own little rule: when in doubt, order pasta/rice, bread....and pass on the haggis! Judy ;-) <BR> <BR>

I too had a rognon experience. First night in Paris after arriving with my wife and kids by train at 8 am from Barcelona. Had a fantastic day walking around the city,Eiffel tower, local markets etc. Asked at our hotel for recommendation for a local bistro. Lovely place, casual, nicely decorated with soft lighting. We were handed menus that baffled-( 3 of us speak Spanish, only my wife speaks French)--and I selected the dish Rognon de ______( which my wife translated as something that was a mixed grill of various meats). I ended up with a plate of 5 types of kidneys from 5 different species, all nicely grilled. Travelled with dictionary thereafter.

Elvira: You and your sister must have been the two women at the table across from MY sister and I in Paris... too similar: Snooty, impatient waiter, I order what I recognize: BOEF (sp), she orders veal. We even point to it on the right side of the menu. Dishes come, both are potpie-like. We break the crust, smell of fish comes out. She tastes hers--it's fish. We call him over, he looks down, wordlessly removes the BROKEN CRUSTED FISHPIES, takes them to a table of two women across the room and sets them down in front of them! Couldn't believe it--and they ate it! A younger, sweeter waiter brought our veal and steak--with apologies.

(Warning: not to be read close to a meal) <BR> <BR>Before we married, my midwestern husband had never even had a taco, but over our 3 decades together, he's become much more adventurous even than I am about food. Once or twice, however, it's backfired. <BR> <BR>In Barcelona a couple of years ago, we were in the wonderful Cafe de l'Accademia in the Barrio Gotico. Figuring we were in a coastal Mediterranean city, I ordered seafood. It was delicious, and I've never had gazpacho that even came close to theirs. <BR> <BR>But Spouse was more focused on being in Catalunya and thought he'd try something from the "specials" menu, which (unlike the "regular" menu written in Spanish, English, and Catalan) was only written in Catalan. He saw the word "porc" and figured whatever it was, it had to be pork prepared in a very special way. <BR> <BR>Well, yes it was. It turned out to be a plate of knuckles, kidneys, and (we think) hearts, all cooked for a split second so incredibly rare, and clotted with chunks of fat. The sauce was a blood sauce -- blood plus wine. The presentation was "artful" -- sprigs of parsley and rosemary around what looked to me like fresh roadkill. After trying to navigate the knuckles, he cut into one kidney, which bled, and that was the end of dinner for him. <BR> <BR>He did eat a lot of dessert, though. <BR> <BR>The waitress was diplomatic -- offered something else -- but I did see her talking with other servers and they seemed much amused by something.

Well kids, after reading this thread, I can assure you all that I will be travelling with a food dictionary from now on. A bowl of grilled seahorses?! That's only funny when it happens to someone else! LOL

In my own hometown of St. Louis, i did something embarassing....it was after <BR>my first baby was born and my first outing for llunch. A trendy spot for lunch serves popovers with a bowl of strawberry butter. I thought i was so sophisticated,and assumed it was sorbet to "cleanse my palette(sp)...imagine my horror after a whole spoonful!!