There are thousands of Chinese restaurants around in the UK
and everyone has their favourite dish, but only in China itself do
chefs specialise in a range of slightly more unusual delicacies.
The dish in front of me is grey and shiny.
"Russian dog," says my waitress Nancy.
"Big dog," I reply.
"Yes," she says. "Big dog's penis ..."
We are in a cosy restaurant in a dark street in Beijing but my
appetite seems to have gone for a stroll outside.
Nancy has brought out a whole selection of delicacies.
They are draped awkwardly across a huge platter, with a
crocodile carved out of a carrot as the centerpiece.
Nestling beside the dog's penis are its clammy testicles, and beside
that a giant salami-shaped object.
"Donkey," says nancy. "Good for the skin."
She guides me around the penis platter.
"Snake. Very potent. They have two penises each."
I did not know that.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/5371500.stm