durian fruit

I stumbled upon this one by accident today. I was going to eat futoor at a restaurant i've already reviewed and on the way, in the building, a smell emerged. A friend asked if it was a gas leak. I imagined rotten residue on plastic bags. Maybe pest control chemicals? I asked the waitress what the smell was and she whispered to me, "durian."

The durian fruit is something i've heard about several times from people who've tried it, who always say that it tastes better than it smells, and from some tv shows and other media. I knew that it smelled bad and it was banned from a few places, but nothing prepared me for the smell. As the food got to the table, either I got used to the smell or the smell of wading, but it really didn't bother me so much. But then the smell emerged again after the meal - i think the table of 18 were eating durian for dessert. Appetizer and dessert, same smelly dish.

"The edible flesh emits a distinctive odour, strong and penetrating even when the husk is intact. Some people regard the durian as fragrant; others find the aroma overpowering and offensive. The smell evokes reactions from deep appreciation to intense disgust and has been described variously as almonds, rotten onions, turpentine and gym socks. The odour has led to the fruit's banishment from certain hotels and public transportation in southeast Asia." [Wikipedia]