Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela and is one of the centre of natural, cultural and commercial areas around South America. Caracas is well known for its valley and mountain tops with beautiful scenery. There are also a lot of foreigners and investor living in Caracas as well! I am fortunate that I am able to meet my friend which she grew up in Caracas and now residing in Toronto. After she introduce me to South American food, I got really in love with it and one day I hope I am able to visit.

Burritos, tacos, quesadilla are some common food that everyone might have heard of, but since she introduced me to a food called Arepa and I can’t stop loving it. Arepas is a famous dish from Venezuela and Colombia and is made of corn flour. After you make the dough, you will fry it and then stuff it at the end. People usually like to stuff their Arepa with cheese, meat and avocado. Arepas is very interesting as it can be an appetizer, snack, main or side dish. It can also be eaten in anytime of the day as well. I had the chance to make arepas with her, it was a very fun and easy recipe to make. The flavour is amazing and you can create your own flavour as well!

Other than trying to make Arepas, she also brought me to her favourite Venezuelan restaurants in Toronto. We ordered Empanadas and Tequenos to share and Asado negro with plantain and beans as main. Empanadas is similar to bread but usually fried or baked. The fillings are stuffed with cheese, beans and meat. It is quite tasty and filling.

Tequeno is bread stick with cheese, mainly mozzarella. If you are a bread stick and a cheese lover, you will be in love with this !

Meat dish is very common in Caracas and the dish I had was Asado negro with plantain and beans. It was rib eye with sweet black bean sauce, plantain, beans and rice. When I first saw it, it looks very similar to the Chinese style, but once I tried it, i realize it’s actually very different from the chinese style. This is a lot more sweet and saucy compare to the Chinese style.

Overall, I really like Venezuelan dish since its very different from where I grew up. I hope you guys will enjoy the food as well!