A Few Unusual Darwin Foods I Ate in the Northern Territory

If you’ve been reading this blog long enough, you know I’m fascinated by weird foods and always want to try as many of them as possible, especially when travelling. It was the same when I was in Darwin—I was keen to try the unique Darwin foods, except Darwin laksa, which I still ate on the last day because I had no choice. Here are some of the Darwin foods I tried that, well, let’s say, were memorable.

Memorable Darwin Foods Experiences:

Green Ant Gin at Stone House

Green ants are a part of native Australian food culture and are plentiful in northern Australia. The first time I saw them wasn’t in Darwin, though—it was in Daintree when a guide picked one from a tree and offered it to us to lick its bum. The second time I saw them was at Uluru, but since we were in an Aboriginal area and there was no such invitation, I didn’t think much of it.

That is, until our last night in Darwin, when we were hanging out with our new friend, Emerald, at Stone House, a repurposed Chinese shop house cum cocktail bar. Two glasses down, we discussed the tale of green ant gin that we’d heard about but hadn’t seen on the menu. But Em was brave enough to ask and returned with a glass of Green Ants Gin.

Since I’m not a gin drinker, I made a pact with Jik: I’d eat the ant if she drank the gin. She agreed, and I placed an order for us.

In the end, we were both curious enough to try it. You’re supposed to eat only the ant’s bum, which is sweet, but if you eat the whole thing, it’s sweet and fiery spicy—just like the ants I ate as a child (oh, don’t tell me you’ve never eaten a bug out of curiosity). Overall, it was an interesting and fun experience. I’d give it a 5/5.

Pickled Quail Eggs at Corroboree Park Tavern

I have been on an undocumented journey to try different types of quail eggs to prove my point that you can’t go wrong with quail eggs—in curry, fried, poached, raw, marinated, BBQ’d, wrapped in bacon, or on skewers—they’re all good.

Or so I thought.

That was until I saw a jar of pickled quail eggs at Corroboree Park Tavern when we stopped at 5-something AM on our way to Kakadu. After seeking unprofessional advice from Jik, “Should I? The sun hasn’t even risen yet, and it looks like bar food…” and getting a yes from her, I bought one and popped it in my mouth. It was, err… horrid.

But I refuse to let this taint my theory that all quail eggs are good. My theory is that the sample wasn’t taken under proper conditions. I wonder whether the taste would be better accompanied by beer after hours (like they do with South Indian Urka), so I’m willing to try again. For now, though, it’s 1/5.

Salt and Pepper Crocodile at Snapper Rocks

I know I’ve written about eating crocodiles before, but this time, we had it at an award-winning restaurant—Snapper Rocks. And I’d like to think NT Crocs differ from QLD Crocs. More importantly, my sometimes-vegetarian BFF tried their Salt and Pepper Crocodile dish and loved it, so it’s a 5/5.

Lobster Ravioli at Pee Wee’s at the Point

Okay, maybe Lobster Ravioli isn’t unusual, but it was for me. It was my first lobster ravioli. I had it in one of the most beautiful restaurants I’ve been to, and I paid top dollar for it, so I’m including it. Unfortunately, taste-wise, it’s 3/5—it could have been 4, but they only gave me three raviolis.

Territory Style BBQ at Parap Village Market

Admittedly, it was a bit of a touristy moment when I saw a ‘territory-style’ BBQ skewer stall at Parap Village Market and immediately ordered one. The so-called Territory BBQ turned out to be just a regular pork belly BBQ skewer glazed with BBQ sauce. There was nothing particularly ‘Northern Territory’ about it; I don’t even think the pig was raised in the NT. Was it good? Yes, but I still wouldn’t pay $10 for it. 2/5.

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