[caption id="attachment_61038" align="aligncenter" width="580"] Menu With $110 Dirt As Ingredient In Ever Dish[/caption]Tokyo Restaurant Launches $110 Dirt Menu

One of the most fashionable French restaurants in Tokyo has launched a novel menu featuring dirt as one of the ingredients and there have been rave reviews from the customers.

The new $110 Dirt Tasting menu featured at Ne Quittez pas gives diners in search of the latest culinary adventure seven different courses, all featuring dirt as one of the special ingredients.

From the first course, a blend of dark dirt and potatoes, through a salad flavored with ground popcorn and dirt dressing to aspic and risotto all flavored with dirt, guests who have participated in the unusual tasting say that all the dishes taste rich and delicious, including a trio of desserts featuring mint dirt tea, dirt ice cream and a frozen dirt gratin.

"The first course: a potato starch and dirt soup. It arrived in a shot glass looking so dark brown, it was almost black. It definitely looked like it had dirt in it," RocketNews24 reviewer Jessica wrote. "A slice of black truffle was balanced on top, and the staff instructed us to take a bite of it and then try the soup. So we did… and it was divine! There wasn’t a dirty flavor at all. Instead, this simple soup went down smoothly with just a hint of potato flavor."

The dirt that the restaurant's chef/owner uses in the special menu, however, isn't ordinary backyard dirt. He buys it from a company that creates specially blended compost.

According to the staff, the dirt used is a special black soil from Kanuma, Tochigi Prefecture. It’s strictly tested for safety and purity to be used in food, but so far I thought I hadn’t been able to notice a “dirt” flavor in the meal.

if you would like to try Ne Quittez Pas’s dirt course for yourself, reservations must be made at least one week in advance and the cost is about 10,000 yen per person (about US$110).

On The Web:

We Get the Dirt on this Season’s Fad Ingredient. Hint: It’s Dirt.
http://en.rocketnews24.com/2013/01/20/we-get-the-dirt-on-this-seasons-fad-ingredient-hint-its-dirt/

http://news.msn.com/pop-culture/japanese-restaurant-features-dollar110-dirt-tasting-menu