Gilgamesh is a “critically acclaimed pan Asian restaurant” which is sandwiched between the food stalls of Camden Market. Our visit on this occasion however wasn’t for their a la carte menu filled with bizarre flavour combinations (they serve a banana and prawn spring roll. Seriously). Instead it was for a very different kind of menu. For three weeks Gilgamesh will be serving an I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here! inspired Bushtucker trial menu and I was intrigued enough to try it out.
It was a strange restaurant inside; it felt like a cross between a Disneyland themed restaurant and a garden centre. It was massive too and quite chilly – they even had heat lamps on the ceiling. The staff were lovely though and thoroughly looked after us from the minute we walked in.
It was a three course set menu priced at £32.50 and if we could munch our way through the whole thing we wouldn’t have to pay. As I love a bit of free, I made sure I wolfed the lot! They even made us sign a disclaimer before we tucked in. Crikey.
We started things off with some fish eye maki sushi rolls. The sushi rolls were topped with a fish eye and they looked terrifying. We ate the eye separately and it was quite positively repulsive; it burst as I bit through it releasing a weird goo. Bits of the eye got stuck in my teeth too which wasn’t pleasant either.
Next was battered bugs; tempura scorpion, crickets and ants to be precise. The ants were fine if not a little bitter but it was the crickets that were difficult to stomach; gritty, chewy and hard to swallow. The scorpion was surprisingly tasty though. All three were cold which seemed a shame, if they had been served straight from the fryer they might have been a bit more manageable.
Our main course, and the most difficult thing to eat, was the pig brain burger. It was quite literally half a pigs brain in a burger bun with a bit of tomato relish. I’ve had calves brain before at Medlar and loved it – it was however deep fried and coated in breadcrumbs. Here the texture was soft and fatty and just….weird. It was so mushy that it made me gag after every mouthful – lovely! I felt sorry for anyone eating near us. The flavour wasn’t too bad though as it was very meaty.
To finish this stomach churning meal we were served a small scoop of vomit fruit ice cream. Made from Durian fruit our waitress reassured us that although the smell was gross it was actually quite delicious. Oh how wrong she was! The taste was just as bad as the smell; strangely savoury and not at all enjoyable.
We were the first people to try the Bushtucker trial menu at Gilgamesh and I wonder how popular it will turn out to be. I’m glad I tried it though as it was definitely an experience and I was even more glad I finished it all so it was free. I now feel safe in the knowledge that if I ever see a pig brain burger on a menu again – I won’t be ordering it.
6/10
