So much completely polarized prose is out there about this fruit that I had to pick one up from H-Mart while I was shopping for the 2008 LTH picnic. I'd been curious for a long while, and though I'd had a Durian Bubble Tea (which tasted mostly of nothing) this didn't sate my curiousity about the real experience. The fruit, still frozen, didn't smell at all, so I wrapped it carefully in two insulated bags and stuck it in the deep-freeze. A few days later when I was making picnic preparations, I went down to the deep freeze and called in alarm, "I smell a gas leak." The 'spouse came down quickly and responded "no, that's sewer gas," and started looking at our plumbing. Of course, we since learned that the distinctive smell was the Durian, whose pungency permeated two insulated bags and our freezer seal. The smell is very distinctive - it has a kind of burnt quality to it; it reminded me of stale smoke in a jazz bar.
Other comments on that particular Durian can be found starting
here, in the 2008 picnic thread. I tried it twice, once while still frozen, and once late in the afternoon when it was well-thawed. My impression? Kind of like a sorority Christmas party - think really rich, thick, foofy eggnog with an aftertaste of stale cigarettes and just a hint of OMG I drank too much. Would I eat it again if offered? Sure, especially if the world runs out of eggs and milk - the vanilla-y custardy ness was nice, but not nicer than a really good
Ouefs a la Neige. The aftertaste sticks (cigarette butt on the back of your tongue) with you for a while, and at least it made me believe I was breathing dragon-stink on the people I was talking to (sorry if that was the case.) It wasn't a favorite, but I'm glad I tried it - I don't feel the need to add it to our grocery list, though.
More importantly, the smell (which I consider to be only mildly unpleasant; I don't get some of the extremes you read about it) has permeated our freezer and some of the foods there, so today I googled "Durian smell get rid of." God bless Google,
the third or fourth hit suggests you sacrifice some bread to absorb the smell, and then throw it away. Gonna try the old standby of sprinkling with baking soda first, though...