It’s a menu item that would make any Australian recoil in horror. The platypus is one of the country’s classic animal symbols, a national treasure and an endangered species of native animal protected by Australian law. However, there it was listed on a Cha-Am restaurant menu – ‘Fried Platypus’; at only 80 THB! We are happy to report that this was just a very bad translation.
The platypus is sometimes called a ‘duck-billed platypus’ because of the shape of the muzzle which resembles the bill of a duck. The Thai language version of the dish is a delicacy referring to the tasty part at the base of a duck’s bill, so in Thai – ‘fried duck bill’. The restaurant owner was also horrified when we explained the error. He was very eager to reassure customers that platypus is definitely not on the menu. We agreed not to report him to the wildlife authorities!
