Eat Like Ushi

After the reasonably poor choices at the taqueria in Cozumel, this one in Tulum sounded much more of a go-er. I had read that the suckling pig and black turkey was the ones to try.

It's a large space where you can sit at the counter where they dish up the tacos, or on more traditional tables. Food and service is naturally fast. You can choose a taco for 18pesos or a torta (bread roll essentially) for 38pesos.

I tried all of them. Relleno negro de pavo (marinated turkey in different smoked & roasted red chillis) was easily my favourite. Lechon al horno (suckling pig) was second, which I had in the torta as had been recommended online. Vegetarian was unusually expensive but a fresh combination. The pulled pork and poc chuc were fine too. Nothing was bad at all, including the horchata and tamarind juice in the bottles.

A cheap, fast and tasty meal.

Naturally I wanted to eat some traditional tacos. On my Cozumel list I had Cuatro Tacos, but for some reason walked past many times but never in, and El Amigo Mario, which I walked to multiple but was never open.

Instead one evening we walked past Jose and made a mental note that it looked quite local. And indeed the next night we went back and discovered it is. Maybe because of quieter times, the full menu list wasn't available, and they only had 3 types - surtida (mixed), maciza (beef I think brisket maybe?) and pancita (stomach). 14pesos per taco - not bad at all.

A soup was a very beefy consumme. Maciza was quite a plain beef and not too bad. Pancita was stomach or omentum and all soft and fatty. I ordered pancita instead of surtida by mistake (or they misunderstood me) and so ordered a surtida in the end. Lo and behold, it was just a mix of the maciza and pancita. It was served with white onions, hot green sauce, salsa not much tomato left.

Dessert flan was very nice with caramel at bottom.

Definitely not the best taco fillings I had. But it's a local experience (I think).

The morning time was already so hot and sunny that it was worth heading to a beach club. As the 3rd and 4th guests for the day, we had our pick of front row deck chairs and umbrella to the water. There's a very nice seating area on the edge of the pier, but the access isn't direct from there and it has rocks directly in front. So I think our choice was the best.

Beautiful waters, excellent snorkelling straight off the beach, not very busy.

There's no entry fee or equipment hire charge. You just buy your food and drinks instead. Whole coconuts 100pesos had a large amount of fresh young juice. Then upon request they cut them open so we could scoop out the delicious flesh.

The seafood platter (1100 pesos) firstly came as a big plate of fried tortilla chips with salsa and hot sauce, before the platter arrived. Lobster flavour was ok but overcooked. The prawns buttery and grilled perfectly with edible skin. Fried fish had an outstanding soft texture. Calamari and octopus were both good. Fries nice, seasoned rice excellent. The only poor bit was the grilled fish was sadly dry.

Not cheap, but for the overall setting and use of the facilities, well worth the experience.

An excellent beach club that I would gladly return to.

On a steaming hot evening, it was disappointing to discover that there are actually very few (decent) icecream places. We came across this coincidentally while walking back to the Airbnb.

I have to admit it was pretty average. The coconut didn't have any pieces and the flavour was very weak. On the other hand the fruity strawberry was zesty and decent.

It was ok - there isn't anything better that I could find.

Economicos are cheap little eateries in Mexico - the local cafes essentially. As we walked past one, I stopped to look inside. A local older guy noticed and gave me a solid thumbs up and a nod. A few minutes later, I was in.

It's local food to the Yucatan region. The staff were (all older men and) very friendly in Spanish.

I couldn't remember what albondigas was - the waiter couldn't describe it, so he brought me one in a bowl. A delicious meatball in soup. Despite this I ordered other local delicacies. They also served a lighter version of the soup (vegetable) which was quite plain and of course some salsa and hot sauce.

I first discovered poc chuc (the name and the dish) in the USA many years ago (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/poc-chuc-san-francisco-10-2011) and haven't had it since. This was the opportune time.

- Filete de pescad empanizado - very soft flakes of fish which was excellently cooked. The batter was not that crisp but ok;
- Poc-Chuc 80pesos - very tender, thin beaten pork chops.

 Simple and cheap meal.

I was quite excited to read about Lobster Shack. A cheap affordable lobster place in the middle of town near the port area. It sounds too good to be true almost - and sadly it is.

It was a very quiet evening in Cozumel and even though it was a little late after sunset I expected more people. The rather disinterested guy serving didn't have any warmth or smile.

I had the lobster bowl (235pesos). Flavours overall were good, but the lobster itself wasn't. It was precooked and cut, then unrolled from cling film onto the grill. As a result it was mushy and lacked that bitey lobster texture.

Also had a tamarind juice which was brought in from somewhere else. I guess that's alright...

I don't know how people can rate this place (I thought Americans knew something about lobster).

Our Airbnb was about 10mins walk from the Cozumel ferry port and so probably in the backstreets of town. As a result there were no tourists in that part. It also meant the food places in the area were all much more local. I wanted to go Taqueria el amigo Mario but it was always closed and had no sign to say when it would be open. On this first occasion it meant looking for lunch elsewhere and the smell from this asadero was impossible to ignore.

It is Sinaloan-style chicken. I don't know what that actually means, but I recognise the name from Narcos Mexico.

The chicken is butterflied and stacked up at the counter. A continuous stream of locals come in, order their chicken, and the take it away home for family dinner (I assume). We were the only to stay in the tiny place and eat there.

For 120pesos, it's a full chicken with rice, purple slightly picked onions, nice salsa and tortillas. There's also an excellent hot sauce too. The grilled chicken is really excellent, mostly tender and full of flavour. The rice is also cooked with chicken stock or fat and is delicious. A load of tortillas were served. After needing to takeaway half remaining, they gave us extra tortillas and sauces to go with it.

Excellent and one of the best grilled chicken meals I've ever had.

Brunch on Cozumel meant a short walk to the local market. We arrived later in the day and so a lot of the stalls had closed already. We didn't realise there were more counter-type dining places inside the market and instead opted for the outdoor (undercover luckily from the sun) area. I had read Cuzamil was a decent place to try. Strangely their menu is Filipino also. Odd.

- Huevos Motuleños (fried eggs served on a tortilla with red sauce, ham & cheese on top) 70pesos - soft tortilla on top and a really good fried/crisp one on bottom, with some beans, sauce and a few token plantain pieces;
- Quesadillas Vegetarianas (flour tortilla filled with vegetables) 60pesos - as described. A little plain although the shredded crisp green vegetable slices (a kind of cactus I think?) was very good.

Had my first horchata of the trip and it was huge! And delicious. Hot sauce is as they described - hot.

A few other places in the square seemed to have decent looking Mexican only menus. Nonetheless I'm sure the food at all of them is alright. I'd probably try a different place next time for some more traditional local dishes.

During the (now quite long ago) trip to India, the best Indian restaurant in New Delhi was noted to be likely either Indian Accent or Varq (for modern), Dum Pukht or Bukhara (for traditional). All sounded great and in the end I chose Varq (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/varq-delhi-01-2015) and Bukhara (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/bukhara-delhi-01-2015). Indian Accent is actually #60 in The World's Top 50 restaurants for 2019 and #17 in the Asia list.

Fate would have it that several years later Indian Accent would open a London branch in the expensive curry area of Mayfair alongside Gymkhana and others I haven't been able afford yet.

Indian Accent is certainly no cheap one either, but a special occasion meant that the price would have to come second to me getting one long term place off my eating list. Interestingly enough the clientele was unexpectedly Indian for the most part. However there were also some rich obnoxious loud Greek men with their much younger females. The waiter apologised but it's not his fault some people have too much money.

The cocktail Green chilli sour (hari mirch infused tequila, lemon oleo saccharum, mezcal) £13 was perfect. A drink with decent alcohol, smoke, chilli and a bit of tart/tang for balance. Really excellent.

Amuse bouche of a cheese stuffed naan and a delicious shot of spiced pumpkin soup started proceedings.

- Tofu masala, shishito pepper, quinoa puffs £9 - for a first choice I expected a few small expensive bites, but this was a a decent size starter of tofu fried with crisp puff texture for contrast;
- Tadka hamachi, avocado, calcutta chutney £17 - hamachi (he said it was a type of tuna, but it isn't quite) served raw with pieces of pomegranate, avocado (that was too hard and underripe) and some roe. It was actually very delicious;
- Baked sea bass, amritsari masala butter, sweet corn kadhi £25 - a nicely cooked fillet spiced with masala and served on top of kind of textured mash;
- Ghee roast lamb, roomali roti pancakes, chutneys £28 - I expected a roasted joint and ended up with a DIY set of condiments for wraps. There was coriander sauce, a spicy tamarind sauce (that actually tasted more sweet like hoisin), a strong garlic one and a moderately hot green chilli. It was fun compiling it all together and the flavours were good. A hot green chilli was available for the daring;
- Black dairy dal £7.5 - unusually sweet version for what I'm used to and less creamy. Still nice;
- Wild mushroom kulcha, truffle oil drizzle £6.5 - a bread stuffed with mushrooms and with some truffle flavour. Nice but I don't think it went well with the other dishes we ordered;
- 'Aamras', mangoes, cardamom cheese cake, summer berries £11.5 - a beautiful dessert. The cheesecake wasn't as strong in cardamom as I hoped (others could taste it more) and the mango sauce was very nice;
- complimentary Doda barfi treacle tart, vanilla bean ice-cream - a moist sweet warm cake with dotted icecream on top. For our special occasion.

The food is definitely nice, well executed and presented. For the price I do think I would prefer Farzi. Nonetheless I'm happy to have been here.

Wandering around Antwerp at 3pm looking for lunch proved to be a mistake. Croquettenbar was closed on a Monday and Nelly coffee was also having a hiatus, so then went for De Zeven Schaken for some Belgian food. Unfortunately as was the case with many bar/cafes around, they were serving drinks/beer but not food. Between 3-6pm most of the kitchens close all over Belgium the waitress told us. Hmm. That's no good.

After wandering around for 30mins more, we eventually found de Bomma which happened to have tourists and a few Belgian's sitting outside enjoying food. Wonderful.

I haven't previously been much of a fan of Belgian food. Generally it seemed like not as tasty French but with high price tags. Certainly at Grandma's the prices aren't cheap either - mussels vary from €22-24 for example. The stews are a little more reasonable although not cheap. However I am pleased to say they are remarkably good. I haven't had Belgian food this good.

- Grandma's rabbit stew with Steenbrugge beer €17.9 - a thick stew with two rabbit legs cooked beautifully such that the usually prone rabbit wasn't dry. The added mushrooms and onions brought some contrast. The flavours were hearty and deep;
- Beef stew with LeFort beer €17.9 - even deeper was the hops caramelised beef (shin I think) which was remarkably tender also and had a rich slightly burnt (in a good way) flavour. There was lot of meat in there;
- Potato croquettes €3.5 - fried to a perfect crisp thin coating. Really excellent.

I was sad none of the stews came with any vegetables in there, just loads of meat. It was delicious and one could easily feed 2 people with some vegetables or salad on the side. Luckily they do takeaway and the meats served as tomorrow's lunch.

This is the best Belgian food I've had. I doubt I'll ever be back in Antwerp but would happily eat here again armed with knowledge.