CARNIVORE

CARNIVORE is a restaurant that is exactly what it sounds like it should be. Voted one of the 50 best restaurants in the world on more than one occaision, this restaurant is a meat eaters heaven!!!!

When you first walk into Carnivore the first thing you see is the giant grilling pit where sword upon sword of meat (as you can see in the picture) sit coaxing you into what is going to come!! What I also noticed as soon as walking in was just how big the place was. It could have easily sat a few hundred people, and left me pondering just how much meat this place must go through each week!!! The way it works is that each table is given a white flag and the waiters will continue coming by with different choices of meat until you "surrender" by letting your flag down!!

Once you are sat down and drink orders are taken the fun begins!! They start you off with a bowl of squash soup and bread, a clever ploy to try and fill you up before the meat comes. They ovbiously didn't know a Giacomantonio had entered the building because obviously this wouldn't detract me from the main event!!! Once we finished our soup and the plates cleared, our waitress came over with hot plates that were so hot they could have cooked the meat right infront of us!! They also provided the table with a turntable of various sauces and side dishes to choose from. Then came the meat!! Basically ... every two minutes or so a new waiter comes by with a sword of meat for you to choose. Each sword had things like stacks of sausages, chicken wings and pork ribs that they slid right onto your plate!! After all the "usual" stuff came by it got interesting!! They then came by with whole legs of lamb, giant roasts of beef and even an entire turkey!! They simply shaved off as much as you'd like for you and continue on!!!!

Finally it was time for the "exotic meats", and the guys came by with crocodile meat and ostritch meatballs (Dad, I couldn't help but think about our search for pulpette di carne everytime he came around, haha). Crocodile is a little salty but good, and the meatballs were amazing!!! Well ... as you can imagine by this point they are hoping you are full so they don't come around as frequently, but as you all know me I wasn't ready to surrender just yet!!! After a couple more rounds of turkey, crocodile, lamb and ostrich we finally gave in ... leaving just enough room for some dessert!!!

We had a great evening there, and after four hours of great food and conversation (we went with two other volunteers from Canada who were celebrating a birthday) we headed home slightly uncomfortable but so satisfied it didn't matter!!!!! James ... you would have been in heaven here and everytime they came around with a sword of spare ribs all I could think of was you!!!