New York

Meat Dress Barbie Is on the Menu at This NYC Hot Pot Eatery

A Chinese hot pot restaurant in Queens is boasting perhaps the oddest presentation of raw meat for diners, in the form of a Barbie doll.

Evoking the infamous meat dress worn by Lady Gaga to the MTV Video Music Awards in 2010, the Meat Barbie at Flushing's Niu Pot is draped in strips of rib eye, Eater NY reports. The creation costs $18, and about 20 to 30 are ordered a night. 

A manager at Niu Pot tells News 4 that Meat Barbie was created about month ago on a whim, when the chef was brainstorming Valentine's Day menu ideas. The "strip-and-dip" doll is draped in thin slices of prime short rib meat. 

The unique pairing has drawn a flurry of reaction on social media, ranging from fascination to repulsion. 

"This is so disturbing and also I want to eat it," wrote one person on Instagram. 

"Scrumptiously weird," said another.

"Um, there better be liquor involved or Lady Gaga." 

"Love it." 

"Feeling some type of way about Barbie being objectified." 

Despite the unorthodox presentation, one diner told News 4 "it was actually quite good." 

"I would recommend it... and coming from a Michelin-starred restaurant that focuses on meat that is saying a lot," said Victoria James, the beverage director at acclaimed Korean steakhouse Cote in Manhattan. 

Niu Pot restaurant has been open since 2015, according to Eater. Hot pot is typically a group dining experience, where diners dunk thinly sliced pieces of meat into a pot of bubbling broth, in which the meat is cooked. 

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