On this blog we’ve covered most common international foods from Italian to Turkish and beyond, but never cuisine from Venezuela.
This is mostly because there is only one restaurant in London selling Venezuelan food and it is called “Mi cocina es tuya” which translated means “My kitchen is yours”, although presumably that isn’t meant to be taken literally.
The Crystal Palace based restaurant is run by husband and wife team Alexis and Mary and opened early in 2010. The couple have plenty of experience including cooking for guests at the Venezuelan Embassy so we can be sure they are pretty authentic.
One problem they discovered when starting out is when you’re the only Venezuelan restaurant in the city, finding ingredients can be a little tricky. For example they tried to find banana leaves which are used to wrap a Christmas dish called Hallaca, but as Alexis noted “you just can’t buy banana leaves in Asda”.
Luckily for them, being based in London means they have a vast array of suppliers from all parts of the world especially around the vast Camden market, so whatever you want is probably being supplied by someone, somewhere.
Examples of the dishes available include:
- Empanadas, a kind of patty.
- Asado Criollo: a grilled beef served with rice.
- Arepas which is corn bread with beef, chicken or cheese.
They also do something called Perico which is the Venezuelan version of the great British fryup. It consists of scrambled eggs with chopped tomatoes, coriander, onions, black beans, cheese and corn bread. The main advantage is this is a lot healthier than then Brits version.
For those who still prefer the British version, they do serve the British fryup as well. Plus according to their menu they also serve everything from Chorizos with cassava fingers to Ham & Cheese sandwiches.
Mi Cocina es Tuya can be found at:
61 Westow Street, Crystal Palace, London SE19 3RW
Mi Cocina es Tuya web site (English)
Mi Cocina es Tuya web site (Spanish I think)
Are you getting as hungry as me…?
More Links around Crystal Palace:
Crystal Palace hotels
Tourist attractions around Crystal Palace
Credit: VisitLondon Blog
