At a driver's cafe near Karachi's three-mile-long International Truck Yard (where I turned down an offer of boiled camel meat and cow-leg soup) workers took me by the hand to the shop of Masallah the truck decorator.
We assembled in a small nylon camping tent for a breakfast of chicken and frog-leg soup for good luck.
Ask about the lactic acid buildup that turns your legs into soup.
Oysters, frog's leg-chervil soup and an ice cream Yule log round out the meal, $98 300 East 20th Street, 212-267-7426, lecoqriconyc.com.
Though by the wild standards of art feasts (the artist Gordon Matta-Clark once served a performance-piece dinner consisting mostly of bones — bone marrow, frogs' legs, oxtail soup — and guests wore the remains home around their necks as bone jewelry) the Easter dinner was pretty tame.
He serves traditional fare like foie gras terrine, quiche, onion soup, leg of lamb with flageolets, moules mariniere, steak frites and tarte Tatin.
At the museum where Pocknett works, she serves venison skewers, bison burger, fried frog legs, and turtle soup.
We marched through a parade of tastes, smells and textures, which took us through the regions of China, with Mr. Tong providing cultural and culinary annotation with every dish: red envelope squab vs. firecracker frogs' legs, Mother Goose soup, hacked chicken, lobster Hong Kong, Shanghai red cooked ribs, Buddha's delight.
Just before she turned 90, she switched from using a whole chicken to chicken leg quarters for her soup because she finds more flavor in the legs, and besides, they are often on special.
Recommended dishes: Oysters, double beef consomme, minted pea soup, roast leg of veal, mint-marinated salmon, fricassee of lobster and crayfish, roast breast of duck, rack of lamb, steak for two, lamb chops, frozen raspberry souffle, hazelnut dacquoise.
RECOMMENDED DISHES Steamed dumplings, sweet potato rolls, fried stuffed chili peppers, chicken and rice soup, roasted leg of lamb, saffron chicken with almond and cream, okra with onions and tomatoes, mango ice cream, almond soufflé.
