Daredevil diners hop along to rabbit restaurants

Beijing's Shuangliu Grandma's Rabbit Head, a well-known restaurant is devoted to making this exotic dish. Rabbit is not just a tasty meat, it is also a healthy one. Dietitians say domesticated rabbit meat is high in protein, but low in calories and cholesterol compared with pork and chicken. [Photo by Feng Yongbing/China Daily]

A regional delicacy is all the rage, but it's definitely not for the faint hearted.

Rabbits: cute, cuddly ... tasty.

Braised rabbit heads, traditionally sold as snacks by street vendors in Sichuan province, are now regarded as delicacies by adventurous, wealthy diners at a number of prestigious Beijing restaurants.

In the Sichuan dialect, the phrase for eating rabbit heads is ken tu tou, but the act of doing so - turning your head, sucking the succulent meat, and the craving that accompanies it - gives the term a different meaning: "To kiss".

On Monday in Beijing's Shuangliu Grandma's Rabbit Head, a well-known restaurant devoted to exotic dishes, young ladies in snappy dress, carefully protected by plastic gloves and aprons, were "kissing" rabbit heads. Every evening, usually after 7 pm, at least 30 enthusiastic bunny eaters sit in the restaurant's lounge waiting to be called to their tables.

As Chinese people become increasingly affluent, the habit of eating rabbit heads, which may seem unpalatable to squeamish Westerners, is not fading, but growing.

Demand outstrips supply

China consumed about 500 million rabbit heads in 2013, with people from Sichuan being the largest consumer group, accounting for 200 to 300 million of them, according to Luo Dong, president of the Chinese Rabbit Industry Association.

In 2013, domestic production of rabbit meat was 660,000 metric tons, a year-on-year increase of 10 percent. But domestic supply falls short of demand. "About 100 million rabbit heads - one-fifth of the 500 million - are imported," Lou said, although he stressed that the figure was an estimate.

In July, Germany's Rheinische Post reported that France exported 74 tons of rabbit heads to Hong Kong last year, a huge jump from the 2012 figure of just 4 tons, and the export volume to the Chinese mainland rose from 168,000 euros ($225,243) in 2012 to 443,000 euros in 2013.

"Rabbit heads are not only selling like hot cakes in Chengdu (in Sichuan), they have become popular in other regions, such as Beijing, Hebei, and some southern provinces, in recent years," Luo said.

A fist-sized rabbit head costs 8 yuan ($1.29) at Shuangliu Grandma's Rabbit Head, and the restaurant sells about 1,000 heads every day, according to He Yongsheng, the manager.

The heads come in two flavors: "numbingly spicy", and the milder "five ingredients". A diner at the restaurant, a Beijing native who described himself as a New York-based movie director, said: "I like eating rabbit's head because it's such fun. Different parts have a different tastes and textures. The jaw muscles are tender, the palate succulent, the tongue is chewy, and the brain is creamy. Whenever I'm back home, I call my friends to come here. Rabbit head with beer is such a nice meal, and it's great to eat it while having a good chat with my friends."