Then again, no point in forcing yourself to eat something you don’t like, on the chance that one day you might get to like it. There is so much great food to eat out there!

But it doesn’t sound quite right that hearts were tough and rubbery. They have a different ‘feel’ from other offals and can be a bit chewy and ‘crunch’ to them, but shouldn’t be too rubbery.

I think gizzards and hearts are somewhat of an acquired taste generally, though. I used to dislike them but carried on trying them, then I suddenly started liking them one day. In fact I like duck gizzards enough to think about popping over to Paris for it now.

Yes, the gyoza were very different stall to stall. Some were more the bottom-fried, top-steamed type we’re used to, and others were all-over fried, and still others were tiny and all prettily packed into a big cast iron pan and baked. The fillings were all quite different too - pork and seafood and vegetable. The girls loved it - like Japanese yum cha but with only dumplings.

Hi Maria-Wow, the kids were pretty good eaters, I don’t think I would have gone for chicken’s brains at that age (unless I tried your mum’s perhaps)!

Yes the potato salad was definitely necessary for palate cleansing after all of that meat