Venezuelan Food- Sabor Venezolano week one Brazilian food- Yuca week two (this will make sense later)

Here I am back again trying to work out how to begin one of these review snippet things without it following a tiresome (even for me) format. This week’s effort is in in two halves. I was walking back from my new/old job where I was doing paperwork and I happened upon this Venezuelan place. I wasn’t in the mood for writing up then, because I had souse to devour, and I only had one thing so I came back again this week.

At first, all I noticed was the menu rather than the honking great sign which said SABOR VENEZOLANO and a quick, discreet look on my phone told me that arepas are Colombian. The clue is in the name, but I wanted to appear windswept and interesting so after encountering the three ladies in the shop and asking if they were indeed Colombian, I found they were actually, Venezuelan, Paraguayan and Brazilian. A good start then, check me out- Mr. Culturally-Sensitive.

I went for the chicken and cheese arepas last week, cheap great and street foodie and easy to eat while walking the streets. I was intrigued by the mondongo on the menu, but didn’t look it up because I didn’t want to spoil whatever it was going to be. Because, c’mon man, the word is great. I wanted to try it for the same reason that “spatchcock” is an awesome word.

So I went in search of mondongo. It turned out it wasn’t available today, and the restaurant had confusingly become another one called Yuca. So it seems, depending on the day, you are either eating at Sabor Venezolano or Yuca. As this was a chance to also try Brazilian fare, and to be able to do a direct comparison with arepas I had chicken tapioca, which has the same portability factor as the arepas.  I was knackered from not sleeping/ medication issues so I sat outside on the chair and table that they have set aside. At the same time I was trying to appear anonymous after my faux pas one week earlier; however it is slightly difficult to be anonymous when you are a 6ft 4.5in shaven headed white boy from the UK, sporting 60’s mod/football hooligan chic. I do tend to stick in peoples’ memory.  

The chicken tapioca itself was nice. As you can see from the photo, the crepe was blue, which I’d say was pretty unusual. Of the two, I’d say I preferred this over the arepas, but both are tip top.

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The mondongo will have to wait until after work next week. The mystery lives on, though I suspect it is the stewed rice thing you can see in the photo. But, hey- I’m a romantic, and there are few true mysteries left in the world.

 I was also informed by the Sabor Venezolano   Facebook page they do events from time to time including barbecues with tastes from South America- I’m sure if I have chance, I’d go along to that because they are clearly not just playing restaurant.  So yeah, thumbs up once again. I haven’t had anything that disagreed with me yet, so don’t think I’m just saying everything is fine. There is still a lot of time to go yet, and I haven’t got to the one I fear the most.  I have to be fair and try everything you see.

Here is the menu:

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Address: no 1 Lane 137 Shida Road, Da’an District, Taipei

MRT: Taipower building MRT Exit 3