Hey everyone hope you're having an amazing day! It's Mark Wiens I'm in Fiji archipelago in the South Pacific and here people love to eat. Yes! Oh wow! sweet Today I am taking you on an ultimate Fijian food tour. We're beginning at the local market. We'll be sampling some local dishes.

Oh wow, this is the Fijian workout here! Yeah I think it's the biggest seller stop I've seen. We're gonna go to some hole in the wall, some canteen restaurants. We'll be eating some seafood and then we've been invited over to some local villages to sample some really special local authentic Fijian food. It's going to be an incredible time learning about Fiji and its amazing Fijian or as they say ital que food and I'm gonna share it all with you coming up right now in this video thank you! I'm meeting up with my friend Andy Blake a Fijian TV producer and host who's passionate about local food and just an all-around great guy to hang out with.

Andy Welcome to the Best Market in Fiji This is the story market and it's located uh just about five minute walk from the nursery town. and of course in the Best Province Thai level. Okay and so this is where we are beginning. This is where we're beginning our food tour and this Market is famous for having some of the best cooked seafood stalls.

We're gonna meet a very special lady called Sarah and she does a signature clam dish in Fiji we call it Oh man! just step into the market hello and you're just immediately greeted by an abundance of all things Fiji and all the ingredients of the land. It's so colorful, people are so friendly, and I'm already loving this. Market It's actually huge all Under One Roof Hey Andy Did you say this was one of the biggest markets in the South Pacific This is arguably one of the biggest markets. Yes, Correct.

Cool. Wow. What type of juice is it? This is all the foods I have to blend out the fruits. Oh okay.

a mix of fruit juice? Wow. Okay here we go. Fresh fruit juice. Mmm oh that's refreshing.

That's sweet. Really good. Thank you very much thank you thank you. You're welcome.

Look at the size of this soursop. I think it's the biggest seller stop I've seen that's that's beautiful. Oh man, the produce here. the fruits and vegetables are just vibrant.

This gentleman is just saying that this tarot comes from the province of Loma Vita It's like where the old capital is, the old island of Oberlin Taro is one of the essential ingredients in Fiji Yeah, it's pretty much like a staple staple. It's a staple so most Fijian hostels will have. Taro Oh okay I gotta we gotta picked up this tarot. Yeah, that's heavy.

Oh this is this is the Fijian workout here. Yeah Panaka then I'm just fascinated at this. Market The ingredients are beautiful and vibrant and colorful and there's such a diversity and variety. and I mean you immediately get to see what goes into the local Fijian Cuisine which these are ingredients that are so unique to the Pacific Islands Oh man, this is exciting.

Wow yeah look at this. Look at this type of banana. Oh man, it's a sphere. Wow, that's so cool.

But one of the ingredients that you will come to know and Fiji is called Cava It is a root and it's very important ceremonially culturally in Fijian culture. And definitely in some upcoming videos. We're gonna have a chance to have some Cava ceremonies and enjoy the kava. And so we've come to the back section of the market here where they have some stalls kind of a cafeteria canteen where they're serving some snacks serving some tea.

Andy Said there's a really famous place back here that's famous known for their buns and their tea which we're going to try next. So these are your the T-buns Yeah yeah okay okay. foreign. so everyone that comes to the nursery Market they always know to come to Tip Top token.

So this is the place you get the famous tea buns key buns. Yeah okay. Andy Starting off with a tea fresh tea and what is the significance of the tea bun in Fiji So like um in most households especially if we go to like the villages. So because we buy in bulk and so we buy flowers and so the housewives or the moms and grandmoms, they're very skilled when it comes to making buns in The Villages there's two versions.

One is just the traditional type which is the tea bun which is what we're having here today and then the other type is the coconut buns or Lola buns as we call them. So this one has really sort of like a signature bun at this particular place in the nursery market. and they serve it with egg. Oh it's almost.

Oh, it's really soft and fluffy. Almost and almost biscuity at the same time. Nice and soft. The bun.

It's so soft. Yeah, they're so soft and fluffy. and it's just simple. You know what you're gonna get goes well with key.

Oh nice. Is it heavy? Yeah. On the inside of the market was mainly the fruits and the vegetables and the tea stalls. But if you come to the other side of the market, we haven't even seen the seafood.

so we're getting ready to take a look at the seafood, the land crabs and the seafood inside. When you ask them where the the kai comes from and they say nakini you know and this is Kai it's it's like a freshwater mussels. Oh freshwater mussels. Okay, this is a very important part of Fijian food culture.

Kai with the freshwater mussels from the river. Oh Sarah Nice to meet you, nice to meet you. What are we gonna eat? Andy here So this is Sarah Sarah one of the most popular seafood stalls cooked seafood stones in the nursery market. So today she's gonna do Hakokonda or Ceviche she does the octopus with coconut milk and then she does the signature which is the C clams in and it's baked in coconut milk.

This is the the signature dish. everyone comes here to try this. uh Seafood dish. Foreign fresh coconut milk is going in.

Now to the octopus. oh yes the baked sea mussels. Wow thank you Sarah this is really special. What an atmosphere right in the middle of the market surrounded by all of the ingredients and these are Sarah's Specialties here.

Oh man it's the vibrancy again the seafood. Everything marinated in fresh coconut milk and then some of the the sides there some of the sea grapes. wow thank you very much I Want to start with your signature dish though, which is the these are these are these same clams right? So it almost looks like a cockle. I'm gonna try some of these.

um oh it's so rich. Oh wow oh Sarah it's incredible thank you. It's so creamy. it's so rich the sweetness of the cockles and they have a nice texture too.

a little bit chewy and the more you chew them the more flavor comes out. But typically would you eat this along with some of the sweet potato or some of the the root? Okay, this is tarot so maybe I'll try some of that some of the tarot. Oh and that you can use that to scoop up with the coconut milk. Um oh, this is the yellow tarot.

Oh okay yeah. I don't think I've ever seen yellow tarot. Normally what you see is the purple tarot. This is yellow.

It has the same texture and flavor as Taro but it's yellow so let's do a little bit of seasoning the the lemon. Some of the sea grapes I love that texture. Bongo Chili These these little chilies which are similar to habanero or a scotch bonnet. We gotta chase with that as well.

Um oh wow, hold that combination. Oh the sea grips are incredible. They provide this burst of salty, salty Briny sea water flavor. The freshness of that chili.

oh that's delicious. Okay, I'm gonna try the octopus. This is the kokonda. This is octopus.

It's cooked and then again, coconut milk, some carrots, some cucumbers, some herbs in there. um oh, it's so creamy. and then the octopus. so meaty.

Even octopus is creamy, salt and pepper refreshing and Rich at the same time. And then the next dish is the kokonda. This is like the raw marinated fish. Oh I'm gonna eat this with the with the chili.

I'm uh I'm obsessed with chili. Oh oh that's incredible. Oh man, all that chili. The fish just melts in your mouth.

It's just been cooked by the acid of the lemon juice and then you've got the richness of the coconut cream coming in there. the crunch of the Cucumber man they're all just so good. You can chase everybody with some of the sea grapes. Oh it's just everything is good.

Everything is local fresh. This is outstanding! Fijian Food thank you very much thank you! Fantastic! Market I Absolutely loved it! The people are so friendly, so many such a diversity of ingredients and meeting up with Sarah for her food was fantastic. We're actually walking right across the street to go eat the next food. So Andy tell me about the town of now sorry So this is my hometown as we say in the township of Nursery in the province of Thailand So this is a famous town.

It's the best little town in Fiji because we have some of the most delicious Delicacies you'll find in Fiji They come from this province and this is the hometown that has them in the in our Market which we've just come from. Okay okay cool and where are we off to next? So we are going to Elviscana place. This restaurant is really famous for the in future we call it roro and Matson which is local spinach. they cook it with mutton and in coconut cream.

Oh so it's a real delicious treat. The center is bustling with businesses, so friendly and what a what a really cool little town! So what do we have here? This is in Fiji we call this Evie but it's a Tahitian Chestnut So again, this is in season so every roadside stall they'll be selling one of these. Okay, let's try when you come to Fiji Especially not sorry. All right, let's try it.

Whoa. they're huge. Yeah, they're the biggest Chestnut I've ever seen in my life. Good.

Oh wow. it's so dense, so hearty, so nutritious. Wow. So packed full of nutrients.

but that's like incredibly dense and filling. Oh, it's really good. don't you think? anything? Yeah, really good. So you can get this.

Um, you can eat it this way. There's another way you can just grate it. Oh, and they mix it with coconut and they sort of like steam it and it's sort of like a pudding. Amazing.

Yeah, and the taste is quite neutral. slightly sweet and really starchy. Really dense. People are just so incredibly friendly.

Oh I'm loving Fiji So you come off the main street into this kind of Courtyard hallway. the restaurant is called Elvis Kana and we're here to eat roro and we're gonna see the entire process before we eat it. This is the garlic and the ginger and this is a Chinese salsa. Let's see.

Okay, and the salt. or just a little bit salt. Soy sauce, a little bit sugar? Yeah again, this is, uh. mutton.

Is it lamb meat? lamb meat? or goat meat? lamb meat? Okay. I'm going to put the oil salt. You're adding salt. Okay, that's a really unique technique.

They're adding salt to the oil to temper down the onions and garlic. That really makes them uh just Brown and crispy and brings out the fragrance. Okay, all of the lamb meat goes in. That technique really brings out the Smoky toasty fragrance from the pot and from that oil just sauteing down with salt the thin prey.

Then we're gonna put a little bit water to make. it goes that. I Think you can cook? Then we're gonna cook on a side, then after that we're gonna pull. Okay, yeah, all right.

Oh and you're peeling the cassava. Yeah yeah. okay. so if you look at it, it's got the little purple Ah that's a more sweetness to it.

Okay, that's the the row row. That's what we're gonna be using. Okay, that would be going in. Okay I Think the ladies have already washed the ones that will be cooked in today.

So the roro is actually made from a type of Fijian Terra Leaf which is called Dalo And so those are the leaves that are going to be made. So as that lamb simmers, we're going to get started on the Dalo The Roro I Just put the onion together here. Garlic and ginger. It even taste salted because salt already there.

Okay Chinese Sauce Okay, okay I'm Not Gonna Keep On Chilling. Oh so it really boils down. Yes, those dallow leaves go into the pot. It's amazing how much they they boil downish.

That's like a whole entire bag full and it just boils down into this this pot here. that's how much they boil down. Simmer down when you cook them and you can smell the aroma of the ginger and onions so they're just going to infuse into it. That's good.

Okay sure. one of the things about Dalo leaves or roro is if you don't cook it properly. if you don't cook it long enough you'll get itchy. It has like you get a reaction to it so it needs to boil down for about 30 minutes now before it's ready to be consumed.

So you don't get itchy when you eat it. So those tarot leaves. once they've been cooking for 30 minutes, they just like completely disintegrate into a sauce. that's not Blended that's not, uh, chopped up at all those she put in the whole leaves.

but they just boiled down and kind of disintegrate into a gravy. It looks incredible and tastes incredible. Men: I Bet I bet the Aromas the freshness cooked hot and fresh. Andy Can you show us how to eat this? Sure! So when in Fiji two is the Fijians do for sure For sure we have chilies in your bowl.

Okay, so we're gonna season our Bowl First these are the bird's eye chilies so you're gonna smash these into your bowl. Okay then after that, okay maybe I'll start with these chilies and we can add more chilies as we go. Yeah, put a little bit salt. okay.

I'll add a little bit of a little bit of salt to my mixture. Yeah, get that big piece of my big chunk of mutton and some more of those. The Roro: You take a piece of that boiled cassava and then just get into that. oh man, before even going into that mutton.

I Just want those tarot leaves that oh I love the Tara leaves and just look how soft and tender those Terra leaves in. Literally, they just disintegrate. Here we go. Cheers! Andy Good.

Oh wow, Yes Oh man. It's so simple. but it's so much flavor. so much flavor, so much flavor.

I Mean it's the the ingredient is those leaves. The Tara leaves. They're nutty. They're almost a little bit fruity.

The texture of them is so silky, soft and tender. and again, just like when they're cooked down, they disintegrate. They just totally dissolve on your tongue as you take that bite. And then you've got that flavor of the Lamb which is infused in it.

The onions, the garlic, the ginger. yeah the Ginza And then you have the lemonade chili right at the end and that just kind of like contrasts. just kind of like brings out the acidity. Yeah, absolutely man.

I'm Blown Away by the flavor and let's move into that lamb. The lamb should be tender boiled. Oh yeah, grab some of that lamb, mix it with the cassava with the roots with the the row row. it's amazing good.

I Love the hotel I Need so much flavor. It's got a little bit of the coriander as well. Oh yeah yeah, tender lamb. This is a landmark.

This is an institution for Fujian food in Nasari. Yes yes Oh man. that was an incredible lunch time at the Market Seafood and then lunch. The real row is outstanding.

We are now continuing and where are we off to next? Andy We are off to the Village of Namuka in the Nakila district and this Village is very famous for the angalo which is a traditional Fijian desserts and we're going to learn all about it when we get there but it's very very special. Okay, welcome to Namuka Village and that was just about a 15 minute drive from now. Sorry, it is so green so Lush So peaceful here. Nice to meet you.

what's your name Micah your name Micah his name is Micah also yes Mr Micah Very nice to meet you. Nice to meet you too bro. Could you tell us a little bit about what we're going to be preparing here and the history of it? Yeah, what we're praying today is uh, we call it avocaloro. It's sort of like a delicacy for this region.

and also it's like a dessert made from Taro cassava and coconut all together. You know it's like a caramel taste and this region is well known for for this. and uh, we have uh, certain relationships that are sealed by this. Like for us in this: Village When we have India In the olden days when we have a warrior cleanse it always fight for our region.

We are certain villages in this region that will fight our battles and in a way to thank them, we do this for them. Cassava. Okay, we created on this crater. Okay, so we're trying to get it to the small piece.

You don't create the whole thing, you just leave the middle part out. Okay, it's really an honor to be able to have this chance to see the process of this delicacy and to watch How It's Made how it's been passed down from generation and then finally to be able to taste it. It's so juicy. Yes.

creamy, Almost like it's almost milky. Yes yeah. Is it more of a dessert? or is it eaten like a main dish? It's more or less like, uh, dessert at the same time. It's also like like when they when people come in here, this is the first thing we presented them.

Okay, so the tarot purpose for the terrorists to hold everything together. Okay because it has that yeah that that gluten or yes, stickiness yes material is kind of starchy. It takes a lot of time just to get this. Okay, yeah.

to prepare all the ingredients can be cooked overnight. Oh it has to be cooked overnight. Wow. Get the coloring done.

Okay, You use the sugar as well. Okay, to get the coloring for the this paste. Like just leave itself scraping the Coconuts So that's we just want to melt it down. It's kind of like a brown sugar that goes in.

Yes, okay, only brown sugar that you're going to use just to melt down into a syrup. Yes, okay. melt it down enough then then to get 14.. All right.

Oh, it's like lava. Yeah, Wow. She wants the water. I Just added all you did.

Just want to melt that down. Okay, we want to mix it while it's still hot. Okay, so it can be mixed with. um, cassava and um, developers.

mix it all together so the coloring you just checked. If you need more coloring, then you pour some more. then. All right.

what type of a leaf is that? Is it? A Tarot leaf? A type of a safe family, but it's a bit like a strong, bigger one. Okay, okay, and it's like waxy leaves. and it's quite waxy too, right? Yes, with the waxy, you're tight so nothing comes up. Yeah.

Okay, we should put. so. these leaves are really strong. Yeah, they won't.

Yes, they won't. They won't break. Okay, even when you boil them in water, they're very durable, so that boils for four or five hours depending on the volume. Wow, so that's gonna boil for a long time.

In the meantime, now, we're gonna get started squeezing the coconut milk. Fresh coconut milk. Foreign. That's the workout Yes, and that takes so much muscle to squeeze it out.

But you could just see how rich how creamy how buttery that coconut is. Oh no, of course I mean when you are when I'm talking too much is like telling me like I mean it's a unique food experience and I was like thank you. It gives a home. Max Gonna take that um so hard pigeon chocolate.

So that's just straight sugar melted with coconut cream. Yes, because that takes four to five hours to boil. Luckily they have pre-boiled a couple. uh, so we're gonna be able to see it immediately.

It's the outcome. So this has been four hours boiled. Look at the Green Leaf Yeah, okay, okay. give it to Mom Okay and we've got the volatility ready.

All right. Okay and so another another fact of making this is that the syrup with is just the the sugar boiled down. Uh, with coconut milk. That takes another two hours to slowly simmer because you want it to evaporate to thicken.

So two more hours stirring. So again, they have already some prepared thank you. So much. So actually it's almost ready to eat.

Yes. Excellent. You can see how sticky and Rich it is. Oh and naturally oily.

The food coloring that we did before? Yeah, okay. and that's from the roasted coconut. Yeah, the roasted sugar I mean yeah you're gonna cut it like into small ice cubes. Okay, it's thick.

yeah the juice is flowing and all the corners of those small cubes. Okay okay. Juicy. Enjoy! Thank you very much.

let's try it. Okay oh oh so juicy. So much syrup. Thank you guys.

Um oh wow oh it's so good. Lick the fingers fingers looking good. oh that's so good because the texture is kind of a little bit jelly, a little bit starchy and then you really taste the smokiness of that brown sugar that was melted down. The coconut milk has been caramelized and boiled so it has that molassesy richness to it.

Smokiness. Oh man and it's like not too sweet actually yeah but like a perfect balance of sweetness and a little bit of a like sourness acidity. maybe coming from the the cassava or the or just the the process and the tarot gives it a little bit of that that that sourness that contrasts the sweetness. Oh it's awesome.

we need to go in again. Oh so normally you can eat like a a lot of this because you you eat it like as part of the meal even Yes oh this a new Infinity no you've stepped in the Kelo thank you thank you very much. So you want a caliber oh awesome This is awesome foreign that goes so fast but it like it amazingly goes down so fast and because it's it's kind of light I mean it feels you think it's going to be dense but it's really fluffy and just so easily goes down. Oh that was spectacular.

Oh that was a an incredibly special time learning the process and the significance of Vaca Lolo and thank you to Micah and his family for showing us that tradition here in this. Village in Fiji that was incredible. From here we're continuing on with this Fijian Food tour. We're on our way to eat more and we're on our way to the next.

Village Andy What's next? This is Mokani Village again in the Televo province. Now there's a lady here her name is Anna and she is known for making the tastiest fermented bread which we call Villa It's a delicacy in the Televo province so today you're gonna try the one of our Delicacies of the televo province which is hmm Anna Yeah this weather here is just so peaceful, so relaxing Fiji time we're on Fuji time here and we're having some lemongrass tea. Oh that's soothing that's gonna help in the digestion. Anna's gonna get started making it immediately and this is something that makes use of fermented cassava into a type of bread and we're gonna.

We're gonna watch her as you mix the process. Now this is the cassava. Oh yeah, there's a very sour Aroma to it. Very.

When people buy they need that smell, you can immediately smell that and you know how long has it been fermenting? Uh, four nights, four nights, four nights fermenting. Okay I have to squeeze the water out. Okay, oh nice. I'll find the teeth here.

okay sugar. then mix it in coconut. Oh that's grated coconut. Yeah.

Oh and what did you say? The name of this type of leaf is what's silly was silly Leaf Yeah, Foreign? yeah and that's wrapped and ready. Yeah, You can tell how much experience Anna has on how long. how many years have you been making this. 20 years now, 20 years of experience.

You're so fast I know exactly how to roll it and I mean it's just it's that fermented cassava. It's sugar. It's grated coconut, but then just the way she needs it into this perfect dough kind of like a dough or a batter and then into the leaves, wraps it in Long cylinder shapes and then after that it will boil. It will boil okay minutes.

Okay so if they've been boiled you can see the leaf has um wilted down and then on the inside. Oh wow it's like a it's a like a string like thank you thank you very much. Now typically would this be eaten on its own or as a dessert or as a main dish or as a tea? You can have it on its own if you wanted to. It's a snack when I have it.

I Like to have it with a nice cup of sweet. Uh I Cannot wait to try it. Okay, hmm oh yes. oh it's so good.

It's because of that fermentation. It has just a little bit of a sourness, but that's a a really good thing. The texture is really gummy and sticky. Yeah, just a little bit sweet, but not overly sweet.

and then you'd oh, you've got the the crunch of the coconut in there as well. That's what's giving it that extra detection texture from the gumminess and the starchiness of the cassava. Oh, it's really good. and it kind of like when it boils it kind of gets quite quite dense.

Yes, quite quite dense and hard. so it's kind of filling. Really good. Really good.

Yeah, it's like amazingly dense and filling. it goes down quite easily. It's predictive. A Fijian delicacy made by Anna Oh, it's amazing.

Yeah, with a cup of coffee it would be really good. Windy Buck special which is a dessert. a ripe Bundy with a syrup. Oh wow, these are the the plantain bananas.

There's big bananas. Yeah. Oh and so this was totally unexpected, but Anna has made what is it called This is these are big bananas? Uh, kind of candied. Is that like a syrup in there? Okay, a syrup.

Okay, what a cool name dude. I Love it. Okay, Wow. Good.

Oh wow. that's amazing. Yeah because you got the sourness of the banana. Oh that's delicious.

It's refreshing. Yeah. refreshing, sour, cool, sweet. Um I Love that sourness.

Oh what a what a fantastic place! Um thank you to continue with this. Fijian Food tour Andy Where are we at? Next we are going to dine at Barbell. This is a hole in the wall, a sort of food establishment which is located on Lavalla base right next to a gym and they are famous for their Seafood And so to get to this restaurant it's quite a. Hidden Gem You walk your way around the stadium, around the sports complex and gym and you get National Fitness Center and this is the restaurant.

Thank you! This is the famous Barbell restaurant so you got to know about this place. You have to know about this if you come to. Suba This is the place to come and get fresh and delicious foreign or in the kitchen. Now here at Barbell and they're going to prepare a couple of signature dishes, but already you can see the freshness of the ingredients.

Fresh seafood. I Love how everything is fresh. Coconut milk? No compromise. Freshly squeezed foreign.

Thank you? Yes! Oh extra chilies. We're sitting down for our next Seafood meal. A vibrant, colorful, and a lot of coconut milk is used in the recipes. What should we begin with? Actually, you want to start with the mud grape? Yeah, let's start with the mud crab.

Yes, this is a kind of mud crab. Okay, so it's already been. yeah, this shelled and then it's cooked in coconut cream. Okay, um is a delicacy that comes out of the province of Rewa.

So right? I'd like you to do the first serve. Do the onions. See big chunks of crab all with the row as well, the ferns underneath and just saturated in coconut cream. Oh yeah, Is it best to eat a little bit of everything together in one? Yep.

All right. Um good. Oh yes. So creamy and milky from the fresh coconut milk? Yeah.

Fresh coconut milk. We're just gonna say The Taste is very different with the coconut milk. And then you got the sweetness of the coconut as well. You've got that fresh crunch of the fern which is really like Snappy and really bright and fresh.

And then the crab is nice and stringy and sweet. Stringy and sweet. Yes. but that fresh coconut milk is what.

No compromise here. I mean Fiji coconuts are so as we've already seen are so important in the cuisine. and they don't joke around when it comes to the coconut milk. It's all fresh hand squeezed.

So this is what we call Nama in Fiji But this is sea grapes. All right. This is a superfood. Oh so you think it's already seasoned with lemonade? Yeah, good to go.

It's good to go. Oh I'm gonna and I'm gonna go in for that crunch as well. When you, uh start when you start eating crunchy, fresh and what's amazing about that is you've got that salty brininess of the sea grapes and that's contrasted by the rich butteriness sweetness of the coconut milk. A fish that's marinated overnight in lemon juice and then it's seasoned and dressed with coconut milk.

We've got onions, carrots, coriander, all right, vinegar, lemon and chili. Oh yeah, and I gotta top it with one of these one of these children. all these chilies are bump it up. Bongo Chilies.

Oh wow good. Yep, that fish is so soft and tender it just melts in your mouth. And then again the sweet coconut cream. oh man.

coconut after coconut. so rich and flavorful. oh that's that is amazing and we've got the next the next dish here which is also a similar preparation it looks like yeah this is this is what we call a CV I think it belongs in the Clam family. Uh, it's cooked in cooked milk and again this is a delicacy.

This clam comes all the way from the province of Boa. Okay um wow oh that one is amazing. Wow yeah that's really good that when you taste the flavor of the onions in there as well and the chewiness of the C-clem yeah, wonderful texture Again, rich coconut milk? Andy What's next? So this is the freshwater mussel. so what we call Kai Volatnam.

It's like the the clams that's chopped up mixed with onions and tomatoes and coconut cream and then it's baked on a Shelf mmm good wow. coconut cream but more thickened Rich that's salty like peppery flavor. dear Mike is what we call Lumi it's seaweed cake. so it's seaweed that we get out of the ocean.

we clean it and then we mix it with coconut milk and then we uh sort of like steam it on the stove and that's so it turns into kind of a jelly. or yeah yeah with seaweed. coconut milk. oh yeah mmm and it's seasoned with onions as well.

lots of onions in there giving it a crunch. Oh man it's just coconut milk in all forms and shapes and textures which is so good and the freshness of the seafood and we're going to move on Now to another main dish here which is a stack of Snapper which they've seared off all the ingredients I think there's some cassava under there there's some carrots. the fish was marinated and then seared and then she finished it off with a like a lot of decoration with ferns with more of the sea grapes grapes. Bongo Chilies try that fish.

oh man these Bongo chilies are are just outstanding. Get a little bit of everything with some of the the sea grapes. um yep fresh. Snapper Again this is caught in the northern part of Fiji where they say the best fish and seafood come out of squeeze of lemon.

Delicious! Very spicy. yes they are so good. Awesome Really gourmet seafood but in a laid back really friendly open-air just fantastic environment. Okay and then we've already had this dish but this is without meat, this is without and this is the the Barbells version.

So this is roro which are the the tarot leaves Yes Tara leaves and this version is prepared with coconut milk. Okay good, yeah oh wow yeah that is so good. Oh man you taste the onions in there and then the creaminess of the coconut milk along with that nutty flavor of the the row row of the leaves. The tarot leaves different starches that are mainly commonly used on the plates here today cassava and plinton with the coconut milk with a shoe grapes and The Bongo chili.

The first one is what we call vundi vacasoso. So these are the plantains that is uh cooked with coconut milk and it's uh because it was the wound is already Sweet It already adds that sweetness to the dessert and then it's a cool down after it's cooked and then we have it. we serve it cold and then we also have velote. Again this is plantain which is a vundi and it is cooked with cassava to thicken it to give it as you know that thick consistency.

and then we have the coconut pie which is the signature pie of barbell. Now this is a family secret recipe so they will never tell us what's in this pie but it tastes really good. Oh Coconut milk. Oh wow.

Hot caramelly taste with that coconut. Also a bit of sourness from the banana as well. Yes this is the latte. Oh creamy.

Again, very creamy and the real banana flavor to that. Finally, the legend found only in Barbell. only in Barbell. The legendary family recipe.

Coconut Pie. Oh you can see how jiggly it is. Okay, good. Oh yeah, the coconut pie is amazing.

Oh creamy like coconut pudding on the top and there's crumbly beige. Great way to end an amazing meal and just the freshness, the vibrancy, the coconut overdose. but really a cool place, laid back and Gourmet Fijian Seafood All right. Andy Next up on this Fijian food tour So you're going to try the Fiji style barbecue.

So we're in the village of Mandali. This is the tasty barbecue. It's all very popular and I'm sorry. the barbecue is uh in my opinion the best in Nursery So you gotta try the barbecue here.

Okay, you can already smell the girls going, the smoke pouring out of the stall. We're right along the main road here but surrounded by the Lush Greenery Yes and it's time to eat Fijian barbecue. It's a really cool setup here. The fire is burning and then they have a hot griddle drilling up the sausages, lamb, sausage and lamb chops and all of the fat just melting so it starts to cook and starts to sizzle in its own fat.

Oh it smells so good over the hot fire and a sauce. I Can't wait to try the sauce. What is the the popular barbecue that you make guys? Just because of the sauce that people come? Oh really? okay it's the size but then what type of what types of meats do you have? We just have lamb oh okay and chops and lamb sausage because it's a salad. Oh okay.

so the way they make it is they pre-grill everything but then when you order it then they put it back on the hot plate. Then they brush on the sauce before then it's ready to be eaten and served. This is the marinade. Yeah, what is the marinade? Soy sauce? is it? Yeah.

Soy sauce Ginger down and again it's like the juice powdered juice. Okay okay so that's actually not the sauce that's called the marinade. You smell that soy sauce caramelizing the ginger garlic in there and then that's gonna go on to the root crops and then the sauce will come next. Oh yes okay Famous sauce a little bit here.

so again taste it and thank you. Okay okay so we're stepping outside of the Smoke House We've got a beautiful Lush backyard but we can't wait to dig into these lamb chops. that sizzling move and then she she just sprays on that sauce which is the their signature sauce which they said that's the secret to their barbecue here. Oh seared on the hot plate with the fire.

Mmm the aroma of the soy sauce and that sauce which we gotta find out and taste tastes what it is Fiji Barbecue Fiji Barbecue Um wow Oh wow. Oh it's really tasty. Oh the sauce kind of has a fruity flavor to it. maybe like pineapple? I was just going.

It's like a pineapple flavor. It's got pineapple in it, pineapple. Then you taste the marination which is soy sauce and ginger garlic just kind of caramelized onto the lamb and the flavor of the Lamb comes through. Good.

So tasty. I'll take a piece of the Lamb let's move and do that, but maybe that's the sauce at the bottom. Oh and below here there's pineapple, There's an egg, and there's cassava as well. Yes, and all that sauce.

That's normally what you get in a traditional Fijian barbecue. The whole family. Yeah! Roadside Barbecue Okay yeah. the fruity pineapple flavor with the lamb.

Oh and then there's we got fresh bird's eye chilies which they went and picked back at the house. right off the bush. As fresh as possible. Oh yeah, oh with those chilies to bump up, that's just a little burst of heat and a little poof of chili.

Let's try the sausage. Andy It's the lamb. sausages. Break it in half.

Snap it. Boom! Oh Lamb sausage. Make sure you reduce and re-dip all right. Oh wow.

Oh yeah. they're salty smooth, you really can taste the marinade. Yeah yeah, the barbecue. The meat definitely and it goes well with that fruity flavor.

Definitely changed it with some of the bird's eye chilies. every bite. I'm not as Brave as you to have chilies don't go so that's the winning combination. The lamb chops with the the lamb sausage drenched in the sauce sausage is good.

the Lamb Chop is where it's at and we got cassava as well to eat it with. Everything must be dumped and drenched in the sauce. Oh that's good. that sauce.

They were not joking about that sauce that is the signature shot. It's called tasty barbecue for a reason. It really is tasty but a lot of time here in Fiji People are extremely friendly and I've just thoroughly enjoyed learning about the unique ingredients that go into local authentic Fijian food and oh man! I'll have all the places that we went in the description box below I Want to say a huge thank you to my friend Andy Blake he again he does uh TV here. he's a local host and he loves Fiji and loves the culture of Fiji So go check out Andy Thank you Andy and that's going to be it for this video I Want to say a huge thank you for watching this video? Please remember to give it a thumbs up if you enjoyed it.

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