If you ever do, like if you buy at a chinese market or something, look at the ingredients list. I never get the ones that have lye. Those are a lot more fume-y. It's weird. It makes you gag, but not that it smells or tastes bad, there's something funny about the fumes. Even Andrew Zimmern couldn't eat one. But if you get it at a restaurant there's no way to know if it has lye or not. The brand I get has two varieties. One with soft yolk, one with hard, of course you know which one I get. I'll have to check the brand when I get home, but it's preserved with tea not lye, as it supposed to be. It's a duck egg btw, not chicken. The white part has a texture of a very firm Jello and the color is like obsidian (very pretty). The yolk is the same texture as a medium soft boiled egg, the color fades from grey to greenish black. Sprinkle some salt on it and eat it.
I don't know why I like them so much. I've been eating them since I was a kid.