‘Bug mac’ gives fresh legs to insect fare
It’s the ultimate crawl space: A chef in Cambodia has created the country’s first insect tapas restaurant. As the
AFP reports, bugs as protein are not new to Cambodian diets. But Seiha Soeun’s diner will not be serving them in the typical fashion — deep fried with dipping sauces and washed down with a cold beer at roadside stalls. Instead, his Bugs Cafe in the resort town of Siem Reap, in northwestern Cambodia, will serve plates of grasshoppers, crickets, scorpions and tarantulas alongside cocktails. His pièce de résistance? Brace yourself for the “bug mac.” It’s made with pickle and a slice of cheese, but that’s where the similarities with its corporate cousin end. Seiha’s burger has a patty formed from puréed ant, silkworm and cricket, and it took him hours of work in the kitchen to perfect. “We have a different kind of menu,” he said. For the sweet tooth, there’s cricket cheesecake, silkworm and mango flambé, and sweet potato cream with bee larvae. “We want to show that it’s possible to make quality food with insects,” said Davy Blouzard, the French co-founder of the café. The creepy factor hasn’t put off tourists, AFP said, with visitors from Poland, Malaysia and Britain sampling the crunchy entrées. British backpacker Joshua Bean said the silkworms were “juicy,” as he continued digging into a plate of insect finger food.
AUSTRALIA Undersea rooms bring reef closer than ever
The opening of Australia’s first underwater hotel promises to bring visitors closer than ever to the wonders of the Great Barrier Reef. The Reefsuites, at Hardy Reef, Queensland, will feature two aquarium-like rooms with floorto-ceiling glass windows, allowing tourists to see the reef and all its wildlife after dark. The rooms are built on a floating pontoon measuring about
1,000 square metres in size and sitting 39 nautical miles from Airlie Beach.
It was severely damaged by Cyclone Debbie in 2017. The company behind the $9 million reconstruction project said environmental concerns were top of mind, with 4,000 pieces of coral transplanted to “enhance the attraction to the betterment of the reef.” Rooms start at $715, but there are cheaper day beds available on the top deck for those who want a “glamping” experience under the stars, the Sydney Morning Herald said. Luke Walker, of travel specialists Journey Beyond, said a marine biologist and a master reef guide are on staff to help teach visitors about the reef. “It’s a balance of allowing people to immerse themselves in this World Heritage-listed natural wonder without doing any damage,” he said.
SWEDEN Sun forsakes Nordic cities
Sick of winter yet? Spare a thought for residents in one Swedish city, who saw the sun for only three hours last month. The light-starved denizens of Växjoä, in the southern Småland province, normally see about 45 hours of sunlight, the weather agency SMHI said. But November was the gloomiest in 11 years for the city touted as the “greenest in Europe” for its emissionscutting zeal. Tourist favourite Stockholm has also stumbled through a much darker November than normal, a report in the TT newswire said, with just 28 hours of sunlight, compared with the more typical 50-plus hours. In Gothenburg, on the west coast, the sun shone for a mere 10 hours, well short of the usual average of 56 hours. But hope was at hand, with “properly cold” but sunny conditions expected for December.