Low in cholesterol, high in protein and with 85 per cent less fat than beef, camel is being touted as a healthy meat by Australia's burgeoning camel meat export industry. While it may sound exotic, it actually tastes quite like beef.
Camel has long been part of the food culture of countries across North Africa and the Middle East, where the animals are indigenous, and occasionally appears in dishes in Central Asia along the ancient Silk Road. In China, camel hump was a delicacy at the imperial court, and today camel meat is still featured in diets in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
To taste this healthy meat, we headed to Ba Yi restaurant in Sai Ying Pun. Best known for its lamb dishes, Ba Yi is always busy, and reservations are essential. If you want to try a leg of lamb roasted Xinjiang style, you must book that ahead, too.
Xinjiang cuisine is set slightly apart from other Chinese cuisines. Many of its spices are similar to those used in Sichuan cuisine, but some, such as cumin, owe more to the region's role on the Silk Road trade route.
Kebabs, now familiar as street food in cities all over the mainland, are common, and flat breads and noodles are preferred over rice. The region is predominantly Muslim, so pork is off the menu, but lamb and chicken are common, as is camel. We ordered Ba Yi's set for six and an additional dish of pan-fried camel for a group tasting. Meat dominates the table, but in addition to the leg of lamb, a whole chicken, minced lamb with pancakes, and spicy beef, we also enjoyed green beans, spicy cabbage, cold tofu with 1,000-year-old eggs and pickled vegetables, and a refreshing cucumber, tomato and onion salad.
The set also included a tankard of fresh yogurt that we were promised would help digestion and, more improbably, considering all the food arriving at the table, keep us slim.
Our camel dish arrived looking very much like a stir-fried beef dish. The thinly sliced camel is braised with peppers and onion and looked appetising. Surprisingly lean and tender was the consensus, with a texture similar to corned beef or pastrami and a slightly different flavour.