Tokyo Restaurant Serves $110 Dirt-Infused Meal
René Redzepi might have the ant course down, but Tokyo French restaurant Ne Quittez Pas is apparently focusing on dirt.
Fox News reports that chef Toshio Tanabe has created a dirt-based, five-course menu, going for 10,000 yen a person (about $110).
The dirt, a special black soil from Kanuma, is reportedly tested for safety, and then infused in appetizers (potato and dirt soup with black truffle, eggplant salad with dirt dressing), a dirt risotto with seabass, and an aspic of oriental clams with a "top layer of sediment." Dessert includes dirt ice cream and dirt gratin.
According to Rocketnews24, Tanabe actually won a TV cooking show with a sauce made of dirt, and the taste tester found the meal to be delicious, without any earthy tastes of dirt or smells. Apparently the dirt, supplied by company Protoleaf, is created from composts of coffee grinds and palm fiber. We might be down to try that.