Bird Nest & Duck Tongue – By Megan

It’s almost midnight. My friends and I are stumbling up Bowery looking for dumplings to devour. Suddenly Nam Son Vietnamese Restaurant’s Christmas lights blind us from across the street and we decide to duck inside.

The first sign we were in the right place:

A quick survey of the clientele and it looks like a large percentage of the patrons are Vietnamese families. Always a good sign! The first thing I see on the menu is an authentic Vietnamese delicacy: Nature’s Bird Nest. You could order it served in one of three ways. My pick would have been steamed with rock candy but sadly the dishes were “Order in advance only” so I wasn’t able to try it out. Has anyone had Bird Nest before? Check out the price!! –> $45-$50.

THROW BACK: Peep this video of Tittsworth unpacking bird nests and other oddities from his bags after a summer tour in Asia. Tittsworth Tour Treasures.

So I didn’t have enough battery left in my phone to snap a picture of the duck tongue dish we did have at Nam Son but it looked something like this (Photo credit Chen22.blogspot.com):

I choked down about half a duck’s tongue before I had to tap out. That bone/cartilage thing in the middle? Gulp. I wasn’t sure what to do with that. Overall there were probably 40 duck tongues on that plate. That’s a lot of ducks!!!

If you want to check this place out (and you should)
Nam Son Vietnamese Restaurant is located at 245 Grand St New York, NY 10002 (between Bowery & Chrystie St). Happy bird hunting!!