Worst. Lunch. Ever.
[caption id="attachment_1480" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="Hey, wait, that\'s not chocolate pudding!"]
[/caption]As many of you know, we typically try to get out of the office to eat lunch. Like Southwest, sometimes you wanna get away. Ok, more like gotta get away. Anyway, we try to mix things up and today was no different. We went to a Vietnamese place that is located close to the former location of Comedy City. I can’t recall the name of the establishment. With good reason – it’s been banned from the lunch locales.
I thought I was playing it safe by ordering Bún bò Huế (basically, beef and noodles). According to Wikipedia:
Bún bò Huế is a popular Vietnamese soup noodle dish. The predominant flavor is of lemon grass. The broth is sometimes mildly spicy, rarely very spicy, and occasionally not spicy at all.
Bún bò Huế originated in the old imperial capital of Central Vietnam, Huế. The rice noodles used in this soup are much thicker than the ones used in phở. The noodle is most similar to the Japanese soba noodle in size and texture. The broth is prepared by cooking beef bones for a long period of time, as well as a large variety of different spices including lemon grass and chili. Shrimp paste is also a very important ingredient.
Bún bò Huế usually includes thin slices of marinated beef shank, chunks of well-cooked oxtail, and pig’s knuckles or pork. It can also include cubes of congealed pig blood, which has a color between dark brown and maroon, and a texture resembling gelatin.
Bún bò Huế is commonly served with bean sprouts, lime wedges, cilantro sprigs, raw onions, and thinly sliced banana blossom. Thinly sliced purple cabbage or iceberg lettuce are common substitutes when banana blossom is not available. Purple cabbage most resembles banana blossom in texture, though not in taste. It is also common for a diner to add a small dollop of shrimp paste directly into the soup
Notice that middle section? Right about the spot where it details congealed pigs blood? Yeah, that’s the disgusting stuff in the picture above. I had no idea what it was at the time, so I cautiously pinched off a piece from the corner and popped it into my mouth. I should have been paying attention to Heimer’s gag reflex (he had the same thing) and I might have saved myself from the worst lunch experience of my life. I think Jeremy (our network admin) summed it up best when he said,
I’ve never been so angry at food!
He only sat next to Heimer and I and caught a whiff of it all. He didn’t eat it. In fact, he gave his to-go lunch away to Heimer since he was so nauseated. For the record, the restaurant itself wasn’t necessarily bad, the food was simply awful. For those who enjoy that kind of meal, more power to you.