Street food, Mauritius by Obelix

Whilst I like the convenience of resort dining, it’s not really the way to experience local culture. Which is why the most memorable food experiences in Mauritius were either eaten on the streets or ‘grab & bag’ to be enjoyed later hunkered down in the hotel room, trying to dish out the morsels into the cups and saucers the hotel supply for tea and coffee.

Coconut by the pool

Here is a food-log (a flog?) of the delectable street food of Mauritius. This is just a mere sampling. I intend to go back in future years to conquer some more. But it’s a start. And I have started with good ole favourites.

May I present first up, the category I refer to as deep fried loveliness aka cholesterol be damned. In this category, I sampled multiple times, gateau piment - deep fried chickpea fritters specked with fresh chilli. Crunchy even when cold, it has just the right amount of heat from the chilli to whet one’s appetite. And strangely, it tastes exponentially better when wedged into a crusty French baguette. This is a case when the whole is infinitely better than the sum of parts. For some reason, the bread brings out the savouriness of the gateau piment. I’m told a gateau piment bread roll is popular with the locals for breakfast.

On one occasion, we purchased our gateau piment from a vendor in Mahebourg market. He also sold us chana puri. It’s the first time I had this and I swear it’s a good jet lag curative. Stodgy (in a good way), it’s besam flour fried into balls and laced with a spicy tomato based chutney. Wolfed down by the side of the street - perfect.

Fried samosas, of course are always good. Especially with the aromatic spices within.

Still in the deep fried category is merveille. Merveille means 'wonder' in French. But this edible merveille is more of a crunchy wonder. A big circular disc of deep fried flour, it is topped with tamarind and a spicy sauce. It is simultaneously spicy, tangy, sweet and crunchy. It would make for a great nibble with an icy cold beer, say at the end of the day whilst watching a sunset. We got ours from a food truck next to the beach at 9am. What can I say? We hit it early.

There is of course, more substantial fare. Octopus is an abundant source of protein here. One of the more fragrant ways to serve it is in an octopus salmi. This is a slow cooked stew with hints of clove, cinnamon and an under current of sweetness. The salmi is served over noodles. They give you a little bag of soup to moisten the noodles should they get cold and dry.

Biryani is also popular. We got to try chicken and beef varieties.

Still in the vein of more substantial fare, the flaky pastry enveloping meat or cheese is known as a pate here. This is best eaten piping hot fresh from the oven. Who could resist the smell of flaky pastry?

Speaking of alluring baking smells, there are boulangerie abound. Ask any local and they would gladly point out which makes the best baguette/croissant. We struck up a conversation with a friendly local chap whilst swimming in Pereybere and he pointed us down the road to his favourite haunt. So over the next few days, these light yet buttery croissants made their way to our breakfast table. We woke for a swim at sunrise, strolled down to the boulangerie to bag our croissants and strolled back to have our breakfast by the bay. Bliss.

It would be remiss if I didn’t mention dhal puri. These are little flat breads filled with dhal. A mixture of rougaille (tomato based sauce) and broad bean curry are slopped over it, then rolled up to be consumed messily but deliciously.

Just so you know that fresh fruit and veg did past our lips, here are a few pics of these sweet wee pineapples. We bought these from different vendors on the street. Usually they are guys on bicycles with a collection of these for sale in a straw basket. They are the perfect size for one apiece and they are so juicy and tender. You don’t even need to core it.

So that wraps up street food edition #1!