Eating a snakes heart

Shots of snake blood and bile. Yum!

Eating a snakes heart is not for the faint hearted; in fact you really should be aware of exactly what goes on before making the trek out to the renown village, 15 kilometers from Hanoi. I made the trip yesterday with a Contiki group where my mate was the tour leader. About 12 of us jumped on a mini van in the Old Quarter and headed out to Le Mat village.

The killing of the snake (don't watch if you don't want to see)

The restaurant setting is very nice indeed but the festivities are somewhat different. Basically they bring a bunch of snakes out and present them too you, still very venomous. From there you can decide on your snake, it's level of aggression an apparent sign of its tastiness. Being amateurs we opted for one of their choice. The process happens pretty quickly with the snake being brought out by a handler, its throat cut for the blood, followed by the bile and then lastly they rip out the still beating heart. The snake is then promptly taken away where everything, and I mean everything, is cooked to make 7 different dishes.

The end result; a glass of blood, a glass of bile and a beating heart

The snakes blood and bile is mixed with rice wine and served in shot glasses. The heart was presented to me still beating in a little white dish. After instruction I dropped the heart in the glass of snakes blood and downed it. It reminded me of many an oyster shot I have done but this time I decided not to chew. It wasn't that bad but I could definitely taste the blood. They say you can feel it beating as it goes down your throat, which I didn't, but without a doubt I could feel it lodged at the entrance to my stomach. Cheers!

Angry Cobra

The snake dishes were mediocre to say the least and at 200,000 VND a head it is not my number one for a culinary experience. Locals Vietnamese were flocking to the place though and by 12.30pm it was packed meaning that there was a lot of snake killing going on. Animal lovers to put it bluntly would hate this place. Some of the cobras they had were massive and at times we were less that a meter from the deadly creatures. After lunch and about 12 snake killings it was definitely time to go. It was an experience to say the least!