To date, on this little Foodie Friday venture, I have yet to write a post that pertains to or recommends a particular location for actually acquiring any of the dishes or drinks that I talk about. That is all about to change, as this post is solely dedicated to the recommendation of one location to indulge in and feed your inner child...particularly if you were born in the '80s. Ladles and Jellyspoons, can we all be upstanding for...Cereal Killer Cafe.
The brainchild of two hungover Northern Irishmen, Cereal Killer takes your morning bowl of cereal and turns it into something truly magical! There are currently three cafes in England, two located in London (Brick Lane and Camden Town) and one in Birmingham. They all have the same basic decor and premise...transport yourself back to the 90s in a location bursting with things only 80s/90s kids will truly appreciate while gutsing joyously on a bowl of excessively sugary cereal goodness that you know your Mum would never have let you have when you were a kid! Upon entering you make your selection of over 100 cereals (you don't have to pick just one), milk flavour (over 30 choices) and topping (if you can handle more sugar). They also offer dangerously indulgent hot chocolates and malt drinks if you really want to push the limits of your blood sugar levels! Once your sugar bomb has been ordered you enter the ultimate 'Throwback Thursday' wonderland! Spice Girls posters, E.T. bowls, plastic Polaroid cameras, Beano comics and floppy disks all adorn the walls and shelves throughout the cafe which uses beds covered with 'Saved By the Bell' and 'Garfield' bed sheets as one of their choice forms of seating. From here it is time to sit (or lie) down and gleefully devour your bowl of...sugar...in the full knowledge that as an adult this is likely to give you an distinctly uncomfortable sugar high followed by a crippling crash resulting in you wishing you had never taken this nostalgic jaunt down memory lane. Even though this is likely to be the case I can't in all good conscience discourage you from doing it. It is worth the slightly disorientating high from the sudden spike in your blood sugar and even the tugging feeling on the back of your eyes as all those E-numbers start to work their way out of your digestive system and through to wastage where they belong. On our visit to this 80s themed sugary den of iniquity I chose to order a la carte and opted for 'feckin nut case' (a selection of honey and nut cereals served with almond milk) and a Nutella hot chocolate. All I can say is it was yum!! I realise it probably doesn't take too much culinary skill to mix and match a variety of cereals and make it taste good, but they do a very good job!! My wife chose to mix her own and opted for a combination of almost all of the peanut butter flavoured cereals on offer, topped with peanut butter chips, with cookie flavoured milk and a peanut butter malt drink on the side! Good thing she doesn't have a nut allergy!! So, honestly, what can I say?! Cereal Killer Cafe is a great place to head with a group of friends of a similar age to spend a couple of hours pretending you are 13 again and forgetting that a meal is actually supposed to contain a variety of food groups in order to theoretically be classified as such! Go, eat a bowl of sugar clusters, in sugary liquid with sugary chunks sprinkled over the top. Leave feeling absolutely elated and at peace with all aspects of the world in a way that only child high on sugar can!
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Our time in Colombia was an incredible assault on the senses pretty much from start to finish. The astoundingly brightly coloured buildings, music pulsing from every restaurant and bar, intoxicating smell of fresh coffee and often unbearable heat combined to create a totally unique and utterly addictive blend of sensations! And the one thing that made this blend completely irresistible was the addition of foods and flavour profiles that we had never experienced anywhere else before! Nobody ever really seems to talk about Colombian food around the world or, indeed, even in South America. You can't stop hearing about Brazilian BBQ, Peruvian ceviche or Argentinian beef, but no one seems to mention anything about Colombian food at all and I personally consider this to me an astronomical oversight. I could talk about any number of the wonderful foods we tried and loved while we were in Colombia, but on the subject of sensory blends and combinations I am going to focus on a speciality from the Paisa region...bandeja paisa!
As I've said this is a speciality in the Paisa region (centred around the city of Medellín) but can be found all over the country. However, given it's rather calorific and high fat nature it's probably advisable to indulge in this dish while in the area and then leave it behind when you've moved on to other parts of the country (trust me, you heart and liver will thank you for this)! The dish itself is basically a very large plate of lots of different and deliciously prepared elements served together. The name bandeja paisa literally translates as 'platter paisa (referring to a person from the specialities region)'. There are obviously small differences in the exact make up of this dish depending on where you have it, but generally this gastronomic treasure trove is a protein overload with a cursory nod to carbohydrates and something that may have once been a vegetable. The meat elements of a typical bandeja paisa include a generous portion of ground meat, chicharrón (basically deep fried pig fat), chorizo sausage and black pudding. This is served with red beans cooked in pork, a fried egg, fried plantain, arepa (a small piece of maize bread), white rice, a slice of avocado and a wedge of lemon (an addition made to cut through a small amount of the grease created by this meat-fest but also I think to fly the flag for fresh elements in the face of a total and notable absence otherwise)! It is not a dish for the faint hearted nor is it one for the health conscious, but it is one that should definitely be tried once (if only to be able to say that you did and that you survived)! I'm not going to say that this is culinary delicacy worthy of Michelin star status but it's unquestionably an epicurean experience justifying the temporary lapse in positive dietary behaviours! So, as we have said before and as I you have probably gathered, food is pretty important to us when we travel. That sounds ridiculous, food is obviously important to most people when they do most things...but I'm sure you get what I mean! We are foodies, and when we travel we find that food is a wonderful way to get to know a bit more about a culture and they way it works. After all, an army marches on it's stomach and what feeds a country and how it is prepared often goes a long way to explaining their daily lives! To that end, when we find a cuisine in a country that we really like we often see if we can seek out a cooking course somewhere to learn first hand how to recreate the local delicacies. Over the course of our travels we've done a fair number of these and each has provided a different insight into a country or culture we have been in. This week I've chosen to tell you a little bit about three of our favourite cooking courses from around the world. Our first ever course was in Kanchanaburi in Thailand back in 2013 and it was certainly a great start. We did it at 'On's Thai Isaan Vegetarian Restaurant'. Geographically the Isaan region is situated in north east Thailand but the food and culture contains strong influences from both Cambodia and Laos as well as Thailand. The style of food lends itself very easily to being made exclusively vegetarian (and even in many cases vegan) so it suited Riv perfectly. The course is run out of On's restaurant and is conducted in her makeshift outdoor cooking station. At the start you are given a choice of a number of different traditional dishes to cook. We chose Pad See Ew, Tom Yum soup, Curried Brown Rice and Penang Curry. In order to prepare these dishes we were shown all of the ingredients and how to prepare them before following detailed instruction on the methods to combine and cook them all. On was a wonderful teacher and once each dish was prepared we delighted in being able to sit down and enjoy our handiwork. At the end of the meal On then prepared us a regional variation of a classic Thai dish for desert, mango with black sticky rice and coconut cream! This experience was certainly a brilliant introduction to the wonderful world cooking courses. The real beauty of it was the fact that we were introduced to such a wide range of cultural and culinary influences which at the time we knew very little about. This short class alone provided us with an understanding and appreciation for this culture that we would have found very hard to grasp without the opportunity to see it though the eyes of our stomachs! The next course we undertook that I believe definitely needs a mention was at 'Crescent City Cooks!' in New Orleans in the USA. We did this in 2016 about half way through the introductory stage of our epic two year long honeymoon. Now I'm not going to say that food was something we expected to be a particular highlight when travelling around the states given the countries reputation for size over...well everything! However, going through the south we discovered that traditional southern cooking, which blends Creole and Cajun culinary influences (amongst many others) can be something quite magical! We signed ourselves up for the one day hands on cooking class during which our instructor (Scott) taught us how to prepare three of the most quintessentially southern dishes in existence! Gumbo, Jambalaya and Pecan Pie! Whilst teaching us how to prepare the dishes (using all traditional methods but also with explanations of faster/easier techniques), Scott also taught us about the history of southern food in America and why and how it became what it is today! This class entirely represented why we love to learn about food when we travel and demonstrated how truly influential something as simple as an evening meal can be on a society. The final cooking class I want to talk about was done very recently when we were on our second to last stop in Colombia in Cartagena. This experience was again a real affirmation of our feelings about taking cooking courses when we travel but for a totally different reason. The class was conducted by a company called Duran Duran Tours which is a family owned and run business. It began with a tour around a local food market to pick up all of the ingredients we would be using to prepare our food. This was a great introduction as we were given the opportunity to see a local's food market rather than a tourist orientated one and we got to learn a little more about the local and regional ingredients used in cooking. After the market it was back to Duran's house where him and his family all got their hands on deck to join in on the class. We prepared an astonishing amount of food ranging from Colombian street food staples like papa rellena and empanadas to traditional beef based dishes using herb and spice combinations exclusive to that particular area of Colombia. What made this experience quite so special (apart from the amazing food) was how we were welcomed so warmly into Duran's house and invited to share in the cooking of foods which played such a significant role in both his culture as a whole and his family. This unquestioning welcomeness was something we had experienced throughout our time in Colombia, but having a chance to be invited into someone's home and to share with them such a personal experience as cooking with and for a family was certainly something we will never forget!
As I said at the start food and cooking provides incomparable insight into countries and cultures. With each of the experiences I have talked about we both feel we gained something a little bit different, whether it was knowledge of cooking methods, culinary traditions or historical influences. We have taken something away from every class we have attended and look forward to continuing to participate in foodie fun times around the world! This week I am going to invite you to join me in the wonderful world of steamed corn based snacks known as 'tamales'. As with empanadas these come in a variety of shapes, sizes and flavours throughout South America, but the basic premise remains the same. A corn based dough encases some combination of meat, cheese, eggs, rice or vegetables and creates something I believe to be truly magical!
My first authentic encounter with one of these South American staples was in northern Argentina in Jujuy and it was the start of a difficult love affair with which I struggled pretty much until I reached Colombia. Fundamentally my problem lay in the fact that my first taste of this little treat was just too good! Riv and I were wandering around a fairly deserted Jujuy township (it being a Sunday there wasn't a whole lot going on) when we stumbled across a woman with that ever familiar and oddly inviting polystyrene box that as a traveller around South America (or indeed Asia) you know is likely to be filled with some form of street food treat! We wandered over and enquired about the contents, at which point she opened it to reveal a selection of tennis ball sized corn husk wrapped parcels which smelled incredible. With absolutely no idea whatsoever about what lay inside this parcel (our Spanish was still pretty weak at this point) we agreed to buy one and see! What a wonderful and dreamy decision this was! Unfortunately for Riv, after unwrapping the husk and breaking open the thin corn dough exterior, the centre revealed an amazing concoction of meat, potatoes and onions...no sharing this time! It was delicious! Hands down the best thing I had eaten in South America up to that point! There was a very subtle sweetness from the corn dough which was perfectly balanced by the rich saltiness of the meat and then all brought together by the small chunks of perfectly cooked potato. It was honestly a tennis ball sized chunk of foodie heaven! This was it, I had found it, my South American street treat!! Most regions/countries/continents we had visited up until this stage had had them and now, just two weeks into our trip I had found South America's answer! According to my Google research that night these could be found all over the continent and came in a variety of different shapes, sizes and forms...much like the empanada! I was set...or so I thought! As I said earlier, this was in fact the start of a long and complicated relationship. Having discovered these wonderful street treats I then spent the weeks and months following attempting to find them again! Turns out they seemed to be frustrating elusive elsewhere in the continent. Argentina failed to provide anymore for the rest of our stay, Chile never presented any at all and neither did Brazil or Bolivia! I was starting to wonder if I had in fact imagined tamales altogether, based on some deep-seated psychological desire for corn based steamed meat snacks...!! Then, finally, when I least expected, when I had all but given up hope, I found them again in Perú...well sort of! I saw 'tamales con pollo' on a menu in a restaurant in Lima and immediately jumped at the chance to try them again! Oh boy was I disappointed!! I was served a soggy mush of corn meal with a piece of chicken in the centre roughly the size of a penny! This was not the tamale that I had remembered! I was not happy! Onwards to Ecuador and my faith in the existence and tastiness of tamales was restored. Suddenly those ever enticing polystyrene boxes once again presented with tamalified goodness and they were meaty and delicious!! I basically ate my way through Ecuador's annual supply of these at every stop we made for fear that once again they would disappear into an imagined nothingness! My fears proved to be completely unfounded as our arrival in Colombia revealed the biggest, best and tastiest tamales so far! No longer was I happily munching on a tennis ball sized snack, but rather feasting on banana leaf wrapped delight more comparible to the size of an average book! I had finally re-located the dragon, after months of fruitless (cornless) chasing and it was even better than I had remembered!! Viva Colombia for bringing the tamale back into my life...stomach! Lesson to be learned here, if you want a good tamale and you want to find it easily in South America your top location should be Colombia...and I highly highly highly recommend it!! |
Follow us on Instagram or send us a messageAbout Foodie FridaysWe love food, as most people do! And when we are on the road this doesn't change. We, like many people, believe that food is one of the best ways to really get to know a culture and it's people, as so much about the way people live their lives around the world is centred around food. This means that when we travel we actively seek out the local foods and delicacies. Sometimes that comes in the form of unusual and exotic produce from markets and sometimes from street food vendors serving an array of barbecued, fried, steamed or entirely indistinguishable goodies. Having tried and tested these goodies for some time now, on our adventures around Asia, Europe, North and South America we have discovered some pretty wonderful treats that we have decided should earn a bit of publicity. So, as the working week drifts away and the weekend winks at you like a naughty temptress we will share with you one of the delights that we have encountered from around the world! We hope you enjoy reading about these as much as we enjoyed eating them! Archives
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