Instead of chips and salsa, your meal begins with a Honduran nacho dish. Crispy house made tortillas fried golden are topped with creamy beans, tomatoes, some peppers, and a salty and delicious cheese (chihuahua, likely but there was something that may have been lost in translation).
They are perfect with cold beer - in this case, Port Royal from Honduras. No Coronas on this menu, thank God. Port Royal, a German style pilsner, has a refreshing, crisp taste which is perfect for this type of food. Latin American food is generally a beer cuisine (see also, Vietnamese), and that is just fine by me.
Lindsay got the chicken with plantains, which was out-of-the-park good. Tender, juicy, well-seasoned chicken, fried to a crisp, sat atop some plantains and was ringed by a crunchy, cabbage based slaw. Getting a crunchy piece of chicken skin with some tart slaw and then the sweet plantain, all in one bite was like winning the Lotto.
The tongue in red sauce took our taste buds on an entirely different fantastic voyage. The tongue had been braised in a cousin of a tomato based Creole sauce. Chunks of red, yellow, orange, and green peppers, some onion, and tomato stewed with spices added an addictive flavor to the tongue stew. The rice, slaw and big hunk of cheese did not hurt either.
What we loved about this food was how flavorful and soulful each dish was. The preparations showcased what is best about different home cooking techniques from various cultures. The dishes that take a lot of time to make (i.e., tongue) or are just really simple (fried chicken with plantains) are always the best representations of a nation's cuisine. And Telemar is representing. Now, if I could just wash it down with a Jungle Juice.Restaurante Telemar - Birdie.
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