Yes, this blog post will be about food. LOL
For my birthday trip this year, I decided that Wes & I should go to Florida... for three reasons: The Dalí Museum, Cuban food and seafood. We ate plenty of Cuban food and had a fantastic time at the museum, but we didn't get any seafood. 😔 Well, two out of three ain't bad. I had actually picked out a highly rated seafood place (Shells Seafood Restaurant) but we never made it. I think we ate too much at one of our many other stops and couldn't stomach another restaurant. LOL Since food is my main reason for travelling, this blog post will be a rundown of all the places we ate at.
This place was so good, we actually went there twice! The original bakery is in Ybor and it would have been neat to eat at that location, but we chose the Tampa location instead because it was within walking distance from the hotel. The first time, we went for breakfast. I got the avocado toast (with adorable itty bitty avocados🥑) with a shortbread cookie with guava filling center and Wes got a breakfast sandwich (with mild garlicy chorizo instead of the spicy kind) with a coconut cannoli. We both ordered cafe con leche. I asked for sugar in mine which turned out to be a sort-of-bad idea because it was too sweet. The coffee was really good though, darker than what cafes serve here in Oklahoma. The second time we went was for lunch. I got a Cubano (which was insanely meaty with "special sauce"- a creamy blend of mustard & mayonnaise that I liked better than regular mustard) with a guava turnover and Wes got oatmeal (I know, weirdo) with flan and cold brew. He said the cold brew was good because there wasn't very much milk or sugar in it, which means I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it. LOL I ordered a Jupiña soda. It was supposed to be pineapple flavored but I thought it tasted more like peach or guava. No complaints though. I loved my dessert but Wes wasn't a fan of his flan. He said the texture was off due to the settled "crust" part on the bottom.
Armature Works is a HUGE food court with local culinary pop-ups, shops and bars. There was a wide variety of food, from tacos to ice cream to burgers. I wish we could have spent an entire day here to eat but unfortunately, we weren't even hungry when we came here. We were walking along the Riverwalk in Tampa after breakfast and came upon it. It was really nice weather that day, sunny with a slight breeze. The place had a large outdoor area, with a patio and lawn games, and we witnessed an engagement (she said yes). We stopped in for coffee at Union. Wes got the nitro cold brew and I got the matcha latte, which wasn't sweetened but I surprisingly still liked it.
We had my birthday dinner here. It wasn't on the itinerary (yes, I research and scout out several restaurants before we travel because food is the most important part) but I'm glad we found it. It was within walking distance from the hotel and we saw it the previous morning when we were walking to La Segunda. We ordered the soft shelled crab for starters and then I got sushi for dinner and Wes got kimchi chigae (spicy soup with pork, tofu and kimchi). The sushi was super fresh. 🍣🦀😋I didn't finish it all so we took the remainder to the hotel. I ate it a day later for a snack and it was still good! In my experience, leftover sushi has never been a good idea. The soft shell crab was also delicious. We ate at 4pm because we skipped lunch that day. We were one of the only customers there so the service was amazing. I'm sure that the service is top notch even when its busy, too.
This was our last meal on our trip. La Teresita is a local staple in Tampa and literally everyone recommends it. Our Uber driver told us he'd give us a five-star rating because we chose a good restaurant for dinner. Hahaha! The portions are very generous and the prices are cheap. We were welcomed with Cuban bread; for dinner I had rice with squid & garbanzo soup (both of which I thoroughly enjoyed, minus the onions though... there were way too many onions!) and Wes had pork chunks with rice and fries. The pork was marinated in lime & spices and was very tender. This might have been my favorite meal. But the sushi was also really really good. And the guava turnover was amazing. Okay, I guess I liked it all! LOL
All this food is making me hungry, and rightly so. Its dinner time! I have to stop to cook dinner but next week, I'll post about all of the touristy stuff we did in Tampa. Until then...
No comments:
Post a Comment