Locusts are pests that harm crops. A restaurant in Vietnam, Highway 4, has gotten it right by putting them on the restaurant's menu and serving them, roasted, to patrons.
Crunchy roasted locusts.
Locusts are really grasshoppers that have decided to misbehave. They become destructive by congregating into migratory, voracious, ravenous swarms with out-of-control breeding, while feeding on our crops. These invertebrates are grasshoppers mobbed together, and morphed into locusts. Even among insects, mob mentality is as dangerous as shoppers on boxing day.
Woman removing the thorny legs from locusts in Hanoi's wet market.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization runs a comprehensive Locust Watch site to give updates of the whereabouts of locust swarms. Losses in agriculture caused by locust plagues can amount to billions per year if left uncontrolled. Which is why we should nom down hard on locusts - as their population needs to be controlled.
Locusts in Hanoi, Vietnam
As with most insects, a locust not contaminated with pesticide is high in protein, and low in fat. There are also adequate amounts of iodine, phosphorus, ion, thiamin, calcium, magnesium and selenium.
Getting ready to eat my roasted locusts.
These crunchy, delectable insects are roasted with lemon leaves, onions, pork lard and served with vietnamese dipping sauce. Making every bite and crunch a memorable experience . And not forgetting all those times they stole my food and gave me sores. (Price : 65k Dong / USD 3.10 / RM 10).

Weary of food deals? Don't be! This is a review of Brotzeit's Ultimate Pork Feast on LivingSocial :
Ultimate Pork Feast (4-5 Pax) + 4 Paulaner Beer Mixes @ Brotzeit German Bier Bar & Restaurant (Mid Valley & Sunway Pyramid)

Where you spend RM 198 to save RM 280.

Oh yes, I love how these deals make you spend money to save more money. Guilt free expenditure on experiences one wouldn't normally splurge on. Afterall mother always says, little drops make an ocean. With RM 280 saved, I'm well on my way to buying my own private jet plane and an airstrip field in every continent. Goodbye 3-hours-to-45-minutes-annoying-airport-check-ins, hello destination anywhere & anytime at my convenience! As with all things, there are usually gotchas to such awesome deals on groupon / livingsocial / dealmates / milkadeal etc.
Funny pork ad (... and if you can't pork the one you love, pork the one you're with)

Reservations

Honouring a deal like the above means restaurants need to make sure they can accommodate anyone who walks into their establishment. If you've watched an episode of Hell's kitchen, preparation for dinner begins as early as 10am with the chopping, grinding, peeling, and marinating. Having a rough estimate of how many pork knuckles need roasting helps a lot with pre-dinner preparations.

But that also means planning is required on your part before your party can enjoy the deal. In case of unforseable circumstances like the flu, the tsunami, or a drunken night out where you threw up after drinking 7 pints of beer and 7 shots of tequila in record 3 minutes time (an exaggeration but true story nontheless), you would still need to show up and try to eat pork cooked in 7 different ways.

For really popular deals, reservations for the "hot slot" (which is the weekend slot) can require up to 1 month booking ahead. This can be gauged by checking the deal's "Total Purchased" count.

Quality

It is said that God created man in his own image. With 7 billion poeple on earth and amongst them, psycopaths, serial killers, paedophiles, rapists, child-molesting-priests, corrupt politicians, terrorists etc. - mass production is clearly not one of God's strong suits.

Quality is always inversely proportional to quantity. At Brotzeit, my Pork Knuckle wasn't piping hot when I took a bite - either the result of pre-cooked, heated back pork knuckle, or food photography that went on for too long.

My only other complaint : the flies. I'd hope a place like this would have no-fly zones in the entire restaurant. Unfortunately that was not the case.
More Pork!

Expectations

What you see is what you will get, right down to the position of the little brown Brotzeit toothpick flag poked into the Pork Knuckle. This work of art was worth the price, and a great opportunity to sample 7 of the many different types of pork dishes available at Brotzeit. Leftovers from this feast is still sitting in my freezer.

With so many choices of pork, everyone will have a favourite. We nomed:
Pork Knuckle (Schweinshaxn) - Yummy
Grilled Pork Sausages (Nürnberger Würstchen) - Ok
Garlic Pork Sausages (Knoblauchwurst) - Very Yummy
Smoked Pork Sausages (Bockwurst) - Very Yummy
Gipsy Pork Belly (Bauchspeck "Zigeuner Art")
Meat Loaf (Leberkäse) - Very Yummy
Pork Roast (Schweinebraten)
The Ultimate Pork Feast!

Dessert

For dessert, worth mentioning is the Schokoladen Mousse - White chocolate mousse with forest berry sauce. Melts in your mouth but not before you have savoured the fluffy, light, smooth, creaminess of the mousse. (RM 19) Apfelstrudel / Apple Strudel - Traditional homemade Apple Strudel filled with sliced apples, chopped walnuts, rum and raisins, flavoured with cinnamon & lemon, served with vanilla ice cream. There were too many things in this strudel ... (RM 22). Tasted like some variation of fruit cake, and I do not like fruit cakes. Visited on 11 August, 2012.

top