Rotterdam, according to some sources, is one of the best places in the world for Surinamese food. Outside of Suriname I suppose. Surinamese food reflects a mix of North African, Indonesian, Indian, Chinese, and a hint of Dutch (Suriname was a Dutch colony at one time). Grubb had a yen to try. We tracked down a place not far from our hotel.
I asked Claude for a primer on Surinamese food so I’d have a clue what was what when I looked at a menu. The small cafe, Warung Mini, had QR codes on the tables to download the menu and place your order. It was a painful app but I plowed thru and put an order together. At the end, only one form of payment was accepted, something called Ideal. Which was not ideal because what the heck is that? We went up to the counter and the sweet young person said “oh, no problem, I’ll take your order and you pay here. But no cash” she added. We haven’t had to use cash once on this trip. We use Apple Pay on our phone everywhere. So no problem.
I ordered Pom Vega. Pom is a root vegetable and tastes like it’s in the squash family. The Pom is a signature item in Surinamese cuisine. It is baked mashed with some vegetables. You can also get it with meat added. I didn’t. You then specify noodles or rice. I didn’t realize it was a whole plate of noodles. I was expecting a little mound.
Grubb got the lamb curry, with noodles. He also ordered the Saoto soup — a Javanese influenced chicken soup with bean sprouts, boiled egg and rice.
Our overall impression…meh. To be fair, this seemed like a fast food version so maybe not a reliable data point.