Sorry - I know this picture is a bit grotesque but it is the sole reason why Vince, Laura and I went to The Cannibal. As you can imagine, any place with a name like that is not going to be for the faint of heart or vegetarian. For a place that calls for an intense food outing, the space is not very big. In fact, we sat at at table outside and they literally shoved the 3 of us in a corner that was barely passable for 2 people. I found that to be kind of annoying because there's no bigger buzz kill at dinner than when you're squeezed into a tiny space and unable to enjoy your meal.
Space aside, the menu here is obviously focused on meat. You can order a whole pig or lamb for the table if you order in advance. However, our mission was to try the General Tsao's Pig Head ($85) which they said was for 2 but really it's more than enough food for 3 or 4 people. We started with beef tartare ($15), tuna tartare ($16), chicharron ($7) and the potato salad ($8). These sides dishes were merely palate cleansers to the main course. I know it sounds weird but the tuna tartare was a bit too fishy for me. The perfect raw fish dish shouldn't taste like fish but should be clean tasting and this missed the mark a bit. On the other hand, the beef tartare was fabulous. It came on a small crumpet with bearnaise sauce, herbs and crispy shallots and it was wonderful. They were so easy to pop in your mouth one after another - it was a perfect appetizer. The chicharron was ok - it's actually not really my favorite thing in general as I find them dry and tough - these were a bit like shrimp chips where they had some crispy puffiness to it but still not something I would write home about.
And then came the star of the show. It's really quite a sight to be seen and if you are squeamish about seeing an animal's full head - don't order this because it's literally the whole head including the eyeball, tongue and teeth. It's covered in General Tsao's sauce and served with broccoli rabe and scallion salad and some moo shu pancakes in case you want to make it a wrap. The first stab into the meat is amazing. I recommend you go straight for the cheek and jowl area because that's where the meat is at its best - incredibly tender and juicy and the skin crispy yet fatty. There are definite parts of the pig where there is too much fat but you can easily find and pair it a section of moist meat to make it worth your heart stopping while. It's definitely an aggressive dish and it was more than enough food for all 3 of us. There was actually no need for the potato salad as the broccoli rabe was enough of a "green" to make us feel like we weren't being total gluttons.
The presentation is what's most impressive here. I would post an "after" picture but I'll spare my veggie friends the gore of it all. I left feeling uncomfortably full and slightly regretful of eating so much. This is definitely an experience to be had at least once in your life but it's not one to make a habit out of.
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