Scorpion puts sting into menu

TREVOR REID/ Taranaki Daily News

TRUE STINGER: Fancy a drink with more of a kick? Scorpions are now on the menu and drinks list at New Plymouth's Flame Indian Restaurant restaurant.

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Fancy an after dinner drink or a meal with a sting in its tail?

New Plymouth's Flame Indian Restaurant (previously Agra) has added scorpions to its menu.

Diners can enjoy a scorpion in a cocktail, shooter, pan fried with ginger or garlic, or as a garnish with their favourite curry.

If you are afraid your friends won't believe you, your picture can be taken as you devour the arthropod and the restaurant will e-mail them the proof.

New owner Gurpinder (Gur) Singh said he was always on the lookout for something to spice up the menu.

"There is no other place you can get this in New Plymouth," he said.

The 2006 graduate of the Pacific International Hotel Management School has worked in a Rotorua restaurant where scorpions were served and they were very popular.

So Mr Singh was quick to introduce the dish here.

"We had people coming in here saying that they had tried them in Rotorua," he said.

The scorpions are imported from Mexico, preserved in vodka, and are certified safe to eat.

Popular in China, along with beetles and silkworms, 24-year-old Mr Singh hopes they will catch on here.

"We are already getting people coming in just wanting to try a scorpion."

In China scorpions are stir fried quickly in hot oil, which renders their poison harmless. They can also be eaten live, although a bit drunk, after being drowned in rice wine until semi-comatose.

Scorpions are not a traditional Indian dish, but were catching on in the western part of the country, Mr Singh said.

Diner Dave Adams said he noticed the sign outside the restaurant advertising scorpions.

Mr Adams said he would try the dish at a later date.

"I'm just wondering about the amount of meat in them," he joked.

- © Fairfax NZ News