Date of publication 26/08/2019
Food around the world The breakfast club: What locals eat around the world
Wherever you wake up in the world, the first meal of the day is a window into local cultures and very diverse tastes.
Enticing smells, exciting new flavours, perhaps accompanied with a glass of fresh juice: breakfast when you’re abroad is the best moment of the day. With some planning, that first meal can also be the most authentic when you’re overseas with traditional delicacies served up as standard and less likely to be tempered to a tourist market. So whether you’re spending a leisurely hour in your hotel bistro or plaza café, or lounging on a poolside patio, break your regular routine and delve in to tastes anew.
Miami
If you can dream it you can eat in it Miami, where a fusion of glorious flavours creates a wide range of sweet and savoury goodies from which to choose. For basic good eats you can head to Green Street Cafe in Coconut Grove for enormous pancakes. The banana version of these glorious stacks is the award-winning choice but cinnamon roll or red velvet make no lesser options. Fluffy omelettes filled with goats’ cheese and spinach, and Nutella French toast are also up for grabs. As you might expect from a city famed for its Latino occupants, American-Cuban influence rides high, with croquetas and cafecito on offer everywhere.
The best place for the complete works is Puerto Sagua, favourite with South Beach locals since 1968. If you can get through the mountain of papa rellenas stuffed potato balls, medianoche ham, cheese and pickle sandwiches and café con leche here you won’t need to eat for the rest of the day. For a leisurely brunch head to Pinch Kitchen on Biscayne Blvd about 5 miles from Iberostar Berkeley Hotel for French toast stuffed with guava and whipped cream cheese or Miami favourite, eggs in a basket. Cocktails are as much a part of brunch as the food in this city with mimosas, bloody Marys and Bellinis all adding a touch of holiday insouciance to the start of your day.
New York City
New York and breakfast go together like maple and syrup, and this is the city to find lashings of both. There’s no better place on the globe to tuck into the classic American breakfast of pancakes brimming with the glistening brown stuff, bacon, sausages, fried eggs, hash browns and toast.
Yet the morning glory doesn’t end there. New Yorkers are all about taking tradition and adding their own innovative twist. For a new take on an old favourite, head to Little Park in Tribeca for coconut and spelt pancakes slathered with roasted apple and cider syrup or its complete Brunch, or Le CouCou near Broadway where delights include rib eye steak served with over easy eggs or other sweet treats like the Chiboust à la Vanille. Further afield, restaurants are taking innovation to even greater heights.
At Okonomi in Williamsburg, Japanese cuisine gets a makeover with their signature breakfast of miso soup, brown rice bowl and a softly heated onsen egg winning plaudits from many a food blogger. Finally, it wouldn’t be New York without a shout out for bagels. For breakfast on the go, there’s no better choice for New Yorkers in the know than the upper West Side’s Absolute Bagels with perfect bagels filled with everything from smoked fish, cold cuts, sun dried tomato and cream cheese.
Mexico
Breakfast in Mexico is an unhurried event taken at a plaza side fonda (small family-run café), restaurant or at a street stall, and you can expect hefty portions that will keep you going well into the early afternoon. Taste wise it’s all about spicy savoury dishes. The most famous of these is huevos rancheros. The classic dish of sunny side up eggs nestled in a spicy tomato sauce and folded into a soft tortilla is ubiquitous in Mexico with each region having their own twist on the classic. Lesser known outside of the country are huevos motuleños, this similar eggs and tomato recipe has the welcome addition of thick and creamy refried beans.
Chilaquiles also pack a breakfast punch. To make this heavyweight number fried strips of tortilla are covered with salsa verde (green tomatoes and peppers that are pulped, seasoned and fried) crema (a mix buttermilk and double cream) topped with pulled chicken. You may need an earlier siesta to sleep it off. Lighter options include cecina, air-dried meat often added to tortilla and mixed with onion and peppers. For the authentic Mexican touch, locals swear by the inclusion of nopales, the big Mickey Mouse ear-like cactus leaves that are stripped of their spikes and fried to create a unique dish with a fresh tart taste like a cross between green bell pepper and green beans.
Spain
Compared to many countries, breakfast in Spain is a small and neat meal. A traditional favourite still holds sway today and most locals kick start the day with a cup of café con leche and some sugary churros, lightly fried dough sticks similar to donuts sometimes served with a side of steaming hot dipping chocolate.
Fresh orange juice is a staple of all bars and cafes. Alternatives like fresh bread rolls served with jam and pastries, including the muffin-like magdalenas are often available too. Spaniards rarely eat eggs for breakfast, though a local savoury dish popular in the south or on the coast is pan con tomate, bread sprinkled with olive oil and spread with salted grated tomatoes – deceptively simple but delicious.
Morocco
Moroccans tend to breakfast lightly though what’s on offer is no less tasty for that. Street stalls, cafes and restaurants, dotted throughout Marrakesh and Agadir, make finding somewhere to eat easy - just follow the scent of baking. Bread is central to every meal in Morocco. Delicious varieties include harcha, pan-fried flat bread made from semolina and popular at street stalls and krachel rolls flowered with anise seeds and orange flower water. Those with a sweet tooth should check out the beghrir semolina pancakes, small spongy, like a flatter version of an English crumpet, these delicious little pancakes are often served with syrup made from melted butter and honey. Simple ingredients work hard in Morocco: a staple breakfast of fried eggs with a runny yoke, olives, soft cheese and bread make a dish that is more dramatic that its individual parts.
Quintessential must try dishes include khlea, dried beef jerky flavoured with local spices, served with over easy eggs and scooped up with flat bread. Perhaps the most unusual is bisara, a fava bean soup served with a swirl of olive oil and hot spices on top. For the final authentic Moroccan touch you should forgo your usual coffee fix and have a mint tea instead. Sweet, fresh and fragrant, it’s the perfect start to the day.
The Iberostar Waves Club Palmeraie Marrakech is an all-inclusive hotel in Marrakech that is perfect for enjoying with family or friends. The hotel’s rooms will make you feel like you’ve stepped into a story from One Thousand and One Nights. The hotel’s restaurants invite you to savour the essence of Marrakesh in every dish, and its 100,000 palm trees, its pools and its 10 tennis courts
Hungary
Those with an appetite will be pleased to find that a traditional Hungarian breakfast is a generous affair with several courses including freshly baked buns and pastries, cold meat cuts as well as a hot dish of eggs and meat with vegetable sides. Add in the fact that the restaurant scene in Budapest is enjoying a renaissance and you have the makings for a very happy breakfast time. Eggs scrambled with potato, bacon and traditional Hungarian sausage is one of the most traditional dishes on offer throughout the country. An open sandwich topped with cream cheese or chicken liver pate or tasty salami is also a popular choice with locals.
In Budapest, the choices range beyond Hungarian to include muesli and fruit compote as well as American -style breakfasts. Hungary is famous for its pastries and a strudel or flaky walnut kifli served with a cup of a coffee is a perfect choice for a sweeter start. In Budapest one of the best breakfast spots currently causing a stir is Stika on Dob Street, where eggs benedict and flat white top the list of brunch classics, also don’t miss the Gerloczy Café near Ferenciek Tere square for the classic Hungarian favourite of goose terrine.
FIONA McAUSLAN
Photography by Cordon Press and Balkányi László
