BUSCH / TUCKER
BRUSSELS sprouts salad. Yes, you read that right. Welcome to a USA foodie odyssey.
My dining destination was Tampa, Florida, and my trip was to prove there is more to this city’s tourist appeal than just the famous Busch Gardens theme park.
First up was the Elevage restaurant in the Epicurean Hotel. It was where I had my first taste of oysters, baked and topped with BBQ and nduja sauce ($18) – delicately textured and with just enough spice.
This was accompanied by that sprouts salad ($14). For my main, I opted for the grass-fed smoked short rib with mascarpone grits and bacon collard greens ($36). Grits, a form of porridge, was not to my taste, but the meat was deliciously tender.
The next evening, I took a trip to ‘speakeasy’ Ciros, which required a password to get through the door. Inside we were greeted with oldhollywood style glamour in a darkened booth. Here, I enjoyed a cocktail called Just A Thot ($17) topped off with orange air (yes, really). But the highlight was the duck-fat fries ($12). Light, crisp and ideal for soaking up a cocktail or five.
Breakfast at Goody Goody the following morning saw me tucking into Delicious Cuban bread French toast smothered in thick maple syrup ($10.95). No good for the waistline, but great for your tastebuds.
After a wander around some boutique shops in nearby Hyde Park Village, it was off to Busch Gardens. We enjoyed the fabled Iron Gwazi – a 76mph monster voted the world’s best coaster in 2022.
Sampling the food on offer at their Christmas Town, I opted for yet more Brussels sprouts, washed down with cocoa. Not advised after being spun around upside down.
Pumpkin spice pound cake ($12) and, drumroll, sprouts ($16) kicked off breakfast the next day at bookshop and cafe The Oxford Exchange. I chowed down on the OE classic ($17): eggs, bacon, crispy potatoes and toast, then added a side of fruit ($8) for, you know, health reasons.
We enjoyed dinner at The Pearl where we sampled homemade tater tots ($9) and devils on horseback ($10) – dates stuffed with cheese and wrapped in bacon that blew their meaty cousins out of the water.
Which was apt, as earlier in the day, I’d visited The Florida Aquarium, where I got to touch a stingray.
A Greek breakfast was enjoyed the next morning at Psomi in the form of a baklava-spiced coffee ($7.75) and the Americani ($18.50), housecured thick cut bacon and scrambled egg on a croissant. The thick bacon was the best I’d ever tasted.
A walk around historic Ybor City was a good way to burn off some of the calories consumed, especially when I visited the Cuban Club – dubbed the fourth most haunted site in America. Almost as spine-tingling was the chocolate bread and butter pudding ($12) at Columbia restaurant.
Needless to say that after a few days in fabulous Tampa, I was sad to be rolled back on to the plane feeling full, not only of delicious food, but also of great memories.