Anyone else had snails?

For my birthday last year my missus took me to Pied a Terre - loved the food and liked the informal style of the restaurant.

Anyway, part of the tasting menu was a course with snails. I acted like a bloke when my wife said "are you ok eating those?", "yeah, of course, always wanted to try them" - my mind was actually flipping between images of the snails that stick to our garage wall and them in a frying pan... I wasn't sure it was a good idea but I was committed now so would see it through.


Turns out they taste like mushrooms with a bit of gritty earthyness - not nice, not horrible, just kind of pointless.



Anyone else had them?

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I haven't and I don't think I could get past the gag factor to try. I don't really mind that they're snails, it's the general mollusc texture that throws me off. Can't eat mussels or oysters either for the same reason.

I think the most exciting thing I've eaten is... buffalo. That's not even exciting. Wanted to try gator last year but didn't find any to eat.

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I find snails harder to eat when they are served in their shells and you have to pick them out yourself. Green Leaf in Holborn serves them on ice and they don't have any of the garlicky, buttery flavour they have when cooked at a French restaurant, so you're fully aware of what you are eating.

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What's buffalo taste like?

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Yeah, snail are odd. They're just a bit... nothing. Whenever I've had them they're a bit rubbery and absolutely festooned with garlic. So garliccy rubber. Mmmm.

Ever had frogs legs? They actually DO taste like chicken. But with tiny little bones that you have to gnaw around.

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Luckily mine were served sans shell and looked more like mushrooms.

What would you compare the taste to? It's quite strange isn't it?

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They're quite bland - they reminded me a bit of scallops, but more rubbery. They came with a Soy and wasabi dipping sauce which made them quite tasty, but I still had to get over the trauma of prizing them out of the shell and having to look at them.

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You just made me lol :laugh:

I'm a vegetarian anyway but i wouldn't even go there.
Just the thought of eating a snail would make me sick..... i don't like to see live ones let alone a cooked one on my plate.

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Was just like beef. Very unexciting!

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I've tried springbok and kangaroo which are also a bit like beef, but leaner. And ostrich meat, which is almost a cross between beef and duck.

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