Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Puerto Rico For The Foodie

Traveling is never complete without satisfying the foodie in me. Although I feast my eyes with the sights and scenery when I travel, majority of the time I also make sure the foodie in me gets its rightful share to experience the host country's food specialties. Puerto Rico did not disappoint. Anywhere I looked at the Old San Juan port, there's a stall, a tent, and colorful street food signs beckoning to be tasted, to be tried and to be enjoyed.
The Puerto Rican version of "ice cone" or what we call "shave ice" in Hawaii.
Pinchos or kabobs are made of either pork or chicken served with a slice of bread. Our dinner on our first night in Old San Juan. It was a warm, balmy night and we ate our dinner at a park.
Puerto Rican native sweets made of coconut, milk and nuts. I'd say very similar to our Peanut Brittle.
Street food sign - pick your favorite. I like the Bacalaitos and the Empanadillas, which are similar to our Empanadas in the Philippines.

La Muralla is a great place for snack after exploring El Yunque Rainforest. We enjoyed our snacks while that cute dog watched. I kept coaxing the dog to jump but the cutie just looked at me.
A closer look. She or he melts my heart.
Great menu for an inexpensive meal.
The hotdog looking one is called Sorullito made of corn bread with a cheese filling. Next to it is the the Empanadilla de Pizza, sort of a pizza turned over.
These are the famous Pan de Mallorca, Puerto Rico's version of the Danish.
I went for the simple Pan de Mallorca and found it similar to Enseymada without the margarine and the sugar. This one was warm, soft, buttery, sweet, simple in taste, but absolutely a mouth's delight. We bought this at the La Bombonera, a bakery featured on Rachel Ray's TV show.
Apple/Strawberry Danish pastries (left), Bread Pudding (middle), Pastelillos de Queso (right). The Pastelillos de Queso is my favorite and for the duration of my stay in Puerto Rico, I had to have them every single day.
La Lechonera and oh yes, there's a pig roasting in there.
My ever first real Lechon meal since moving to the US. The meat was succulent and that skin was so crispy I was in heaven.
I ordered my Lechon with Mofongo also called as Fufu. Mofongo is made with plantains or yucca, fried, mashed and seasoned with garlic and olive oil. I heard there are several versions of how to make a Mofongo. My order came with a Chimichurri Sauce, which you drizzle over the Mofongo. I like the Mofongo just plain without the Chimichurri Sauce. It was an adventure to actually finally taste this after reading about it on travel books. Verdict? I like it.


16 comments:

  1. Wow, may lechon din sila. Mas sosyal nga lang ang dish name. Hahaha. The hightlight of my travels is food trip. It tells much about me. Lol. =)

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  2. @ wits, Same here. My trip is not complete without the food =).

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  3. their lechon is cebu's rival, and on a philippine episode with travel channel's anthony bourdain (who had also tasted puerto rican lechon before), he chose cebu's as the "best pork in the world!"

    mofongo is puerto rico's mashed potatoes! only it's yucca.

    this begs the question...where's the rum with the famous fruit bat? :P

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  4. everything looks yummy! naku, sure ako mag-eenjoy ako sa puerto rico. food pa lang solve na ako! :)

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  5. do they call it lechon there too?

    this is what completes the travel right, food, food, glorious food.

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  6. Ah yes no trip is complete without a food binge, I totally agree! :)
    I guess both PR and RP share the Spanish influences even in our food. There are so many similarities. Rich and sinful but oh so delish! hehe

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  7. Oh my, I'm salivating! That lechon looks really, really good! Lalo akong nagutom. I wonder, do they also make lechon paksiw, or something similar, with leftover lechon?

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  8. yummy! thanks for taking us with you on your foodie trip :) i miss lechon and ensaymada :) that's why i love going to spain, it gives me a feeling of home due to the food -- one of the effects of being a spanish colony!

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  9. wow! i'm craving for lechon too....walang-wala yan dito hihi

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  10. @ faery, no rum on this trip aside from the mojito

    @ photo cache, yes, it's also called lechon there

    @ rico, i don't think they do lechon paksiw

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  11. huhu!

    i now miss philippine bread and pastries...

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  12. galing. para ka lang nasa 'pinas nito :). side trips punctuated by yummy dishes are my favorite!

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