Vietnam (pt. 2/4 A Little Cobra Won't Kill Ya): An Excursion Through South East Asia

We arrived back in Hanoi just in time for dinner. One main thing that I wanted to do while we were traveling through Asia was try snake which is why this adventure deserves a post by itself. In Vietnam as well as most of Asia eating cobra is supposed to give the consumer increased vitality, stamina, and is even considered an aphrodisiac. When we got back to our hotel and mentioned it to our friend Tam the travel, he knew just the place to find some cobra.

We walked up to the restaurant and Tam explained to the staff what we came to do. At first I honestly didn't know what to expect but as it turned out I got exactly what I was looking for. 

A man went to a cage outside of the restaurant, reached in and pulled out a king cobra. He asked if the snake he retrieved was OK and as we nodded yes, they began to prepare the meal. 

"Its go time"

Clear bottle for the cobra blood, Green bottle contains rice wine

Once the blood had been drained, the staff took the cobra to the kitchen to prepare the meal. It came as a shock to us that one snake could be made in to so many dishes, SEVEN in total. The cobra was surprisingly flavorful. 

My "Fuck it, lets eat some cobra" face

On the left is the heart of the king to be eaten/drank with a shot of wine&blood.

In addition to shots of cobra blood&heart there was also...

 cobra neck...

 cobra spring rolls(2 types)...

 cobra salad...

  

fried cobra skin...

 cobra porridge... 

and what I can only describe as cobra mystery dish.

Props to Bango who actually tried the cobra 

John couldn't stomach eating cobra so he stuck with the chicken

We came, we saw, we ate some fuckin' cobra. I'm glad I got to try this delicacy and mark one more thing off the Asia 'to-do' list. Now that I've eaten king cobra, doesn't that make me the KING?