The real flavors of Mauritius
Mauritians have adapted African, Chinese, French, and Indian cuisine, resulting in a very unique culinary experience. The rich flavors of the island’s street food will tantalize your taste buds.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 From the jupantica to the fluffy dhol puri and the sweetest Chinese delicacies, join
00:08 us on a culinary journey on the most vibrant streets of Port Louis, the capital city of
00:15 Mauritius, where we will look for sought-after hidden gems to tantalise our tastebuds.
00:25 Now let's eat.
00:28 Over the years, Mauritians have adapted each other's cuisine, resulting in a very unique
00:34 culinary experience.
00:36 From aromatic curries to savoury meaty or veggie snacks, the flavours of Mauritius will
00:43 transport your tastebuds to a paradise of gastronomic delight.
00:51 So now I'm going to bring you to one of my favourite places here in Port Louis, probably
00:54 also the busiest one.
00:56 It's Tika Renaissance.
00:58 We will have jupantica and halim, dishes originating from India but with a twist.
01:04 We eat it with a French baguette.
01:21 So now what we're going to do is actually take our beautiful baguette, which is filled
01:26 with a tika.
01:27 So it's a piece of chicken breast which is coated with breadcrumbs and then dipped in
01:33 white eggs and fried just to get that crispy texture on the outside.
01:38 You will see also green red chillies with lemon.
01:41 And on the side, I've taken a bowl of halim, which is made out of wheat with lentils and
01:47 briyani spices.
01:48 So the correct way to do this is like this.
01:57 And then you take a big scoop and…
02:02 Marie Bontemps.
02:05 Mauritius' rich food culture is a blend of African, Chinese, French and Indian influences.
02:15 Inside this small alley is a hidden gem.
02:18 We are going to try the dolpuri, often known as the national dish of Mauritius.
02:23 Come with me.
02:27 The joy of food lies not only in its taste, but the stories it tells and the memories
02:33 it creates.
02:36 What Ahmed just told me is that he's the fifth generation of his family to be dolpuri
02:41 sellers and he himself has been doing it for more than 40 years.
02:46 Next generation, it's going to be his daughter who's going to take over.
02:49 The first lady to ever take over the family business.
02:56 From one delicious destination to the next, the Port Ritz market is especially known for
03:01 its variety of stalls and intoxicating aromas and unique culinary treasures of Mauritius.
03:09 And this is the alooda.
03:12 It's a milk-based drink with some chia seeds inside, which is very famous.
03:17 But today I'm going to show you one of my favorites, which is the watermelon juice.
03:24 And let the flavors of Mauritius ignite your culinary passion.
03:33 Our gastronomic adventure brings us here to Chinatown, where you can experience the ultimate
03:39 sweet street feast.
03:42 Mauritius is made up of a beautiful mix of cultures.
03:45 Now we're going to try some traditional Chinese delicacies at Mr. Chiu.
03:51 Brian, how are you?
03:54 Good.
03:55 I heard the Mid-Autumn Festival is coming at the end of this month.
03:59 What have you got for us?
04:00 And we've got some special cakes prepared for this and some kind of tea pairing to go
04:04 with the cakes.
04:05 Let me run you through it.
04:07 So here we have the gateau Zenzli.
04:10 With one we have red bean paste inside and the other one we have papaya and peanuts,
04:14 which is tailored to Mauritian taste.
04:16 And the next one we got the mooncake, which is the Hakka style first, which is from rice
04:23 flour and peanuts and sesame all kind of pushed together and put in a special mold.
04:31 It's a different texture.
04:32 You get a lot of the peanuts inside, which brings a very nice nutty flavor.
04:38 And it's a clean bite.
04:39 And I love it.
04:41 So Brian has recommended that we try a small tea just to clean our palates first before
04:47 we try the cakes.
04:49 So what we have here, we have a yellow tea.
04:51 And as you can see, you have a nutty flavor that pairs well with the cakes.
04:58 And the other, we have the typical mooncake that we're used to.
05:05 You can see it in China, you can see it in Hong Kong, which has a very interesting thing
05:10 inside.
05:11 I don't know if you can see the egg yolk, the duck egg yolk, which is salted.
05:16 Then you have a sweet paste here.
05:19 Look at this.
05:21 It's a piece of art.
05:22 Let's try it.
05:28 Salty, creamy, amazing.
05:35 Brian thank you so much, especially for this novelty experience of pairing tea and traditional
05:41 cakes.
05:42 And I wish you a happy Mid-Autumn Festival.
05:45 Thank you.
05:46 It was my pleasure.
05:47 Cheers.
05:48 So this is the end of our food journey.
05:49 I hope you've loved it because when it comes to food, Peau Tarte knows best.
05:55 See ya.
05:55 [MUSIC PLAYING]