Scorpion restaurant has bite

10 April 2012

This article was published in May 2002

It looks like the most horrendous dish ever encountered in a restaurant - a plate of chilli crickets with chocolate-covered worms. But that is what you get at Edible - London's new, and probably most bizarre eaterie - which provides the sort of food to turn even the most sturdy of stomachs.

The black ant mash could be mistaken for being just overly peppery to look at, but the ant bodies pop in the mouth like space dust, and the hairy legs can prove difficult to swallow. Valhrona chocolate-dipped mealy worms were a wow, with a creamy flavour and crispy texture, and five times the protein of chicken or fish.

Then there are the scorpions. The Chinese eat them for their cleansing properties and high protein content. The flavour of those I tried was dulled by the excellent chocolate but pincers and tails left sharp remains in the mouth. Not recommended for children.

And it can all be washed down with a scorpion martini, which is likely to leave the drinker shaken and stirred.

Two weeks ago the Standard revealed the restaurant and bar in Exmouth Market in Clerkenwell was opening, to the horror of vegetarians and animal rights protesters.

It is the creation of 26-year-old Todd Dalton, who has been supplying his stylishly branded range of prime-quality exotic foodstuffs to London's finest food halls for four years. He already sells 100kg of ants and 250,000 scorpions a year.

It's one thing to sell tinned cobra, crocodile and insect snacks and sweets to Selfridges and the Bluebird deli. Whether Londoners are ready for a £30 plate of sweet-and-sour crocodile with ostrich fried rice remains to be seen.

The westernised versions of unusual foods look, largely, tasty enough. Many ingredients, like farmed crocodile and ostrich, are already regular low-cholesterol features on English plates.

Mr Dalton insists he does not view his venture as a gimmick. "It's a culinary adventure. These foods are eaten seriously in other parts of the world. In Asia fried water beetles or locusts are street foods, evening snacks to take with your beer.'

Customer reaction was mixed when the Standard visited. Jonathan Weir, an actor from Clapton, described the oven-baked and seasoned mole crickets as "tasty. I've eaten 20 or more." My reactions improved with each mouthful, though their fiendish appearance and faint aroma of Winalot was off-putting, and it took courage to eat the first one.

In the mouth they have a chewy and crunchy texture, and a meaty flavour which - if not for the bits of wing that get stuck in your teeth - would be palatable.

Rachel Rosen, a solicitor from Kentish Town, was only looking for somewhere to have a cappuccino with friends. Once inside she went for a flower salad, with rose, nasturtium and pansies. She liked the look of the purple taro root biscotti.

Mr Dalton says the menu will change frequently but, for the time being, they will do English comfort food with strange ingredients. In all, I fairly happily ate more weird creatures than your average Survivor contestant.

Vegetarians and animal rights protesters have voiced their disgust but Mr Dalton says that all his ingredients are reared humanely. His rattlesnake is taken from an annual cull to control the dangerously high population in the US.

As most vegetarians will have swatted flies or inadvertently eaten caterpillars in their time, some might see their protests as hollow. Some of the insect ingredients could even offer them an interesting alternative to tofu.

But a word of warning to meat eaters who think they could handle the Edible menu: it's about to get longer, and even more varied. Prepare yourself for Kentucky fried bullfrog, cobra korma with ant popadoms and piranha fish and chips.

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Top Fives: Eccentric restaurants

Edible
Exmouth Market, EC1

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