Cafe Carolina and Bakery, Chapel Hill

Variety
Quality

We visited Cafe Carolina & Bakery in Chapel Hill after receiving discount coupons for the restaurant in my mail. For one thing, I don't look down upon coupon sending restaurants anymore. CC&B turned out to be quite good and is our destination of choice for great sandwiches and weekend brunches after a long run.

A look at CC&B's menu at first glance will reveal very few vegetarian options. Besides the garden veggie wrap, there really isn't much to pick right off the menu. However, we found the cafe employees to be quite helpful and accommodating when we asked for specific sandwiches with meat substitutions and omissions. They even made the portobello panini for Aparna though it wasn't listed on the menu. Both the Turkey Berry panini and Chipotle chicken panini can be had with veggie substitutions. Be sure to also taste their delicious breads - the sun-dried tomato baguette was a standout

CC&B's brunch menu (available upto 2pm) is another worthy attraction. I tried the mexican flatbread sans sausage and it was delicious. It's quite filling though so make sure you come with an appetite to match. While I shy away from salads most of the time, I must mention their signature salad. It's heavy on fruits (mandarin oranges, strawberries, dried cranberries, raisins, pineapple) and some nuts and gorgonzola cheese. For me it almost works as a dessert.

If at all possible, do save some room for their fresh-baked brownies and cupcakes. Aparna enjoys their curiously blue-cream topped chocolate cupcakes. There are other varieties to choose from. I highly recommend their brownie - drenched in gooey chocolate and butter. Don't forget to get it warmed up a little bit before digging in.

Pandebono - Cartagena, Colombia

Variety
Quality

I was told Pandebono is an institution in Cartagena. Ernesto took me here for breakfast back in Dec 2008 during our 1-day trip to Cartagena. It apparently used to be an enormously popular run-down hole-in-the-wall outlet. It was recently upgraded to its swanky-looking current self.

The term "pandebono" is pretty common and refers to a type of cheese bread pictured here .. along with buñuelos. It's quite delicious when fresh if the idea of stretchy cheesy fibers in soft baked bread sounds appealing. I found the buñuelos - a variant of pandebono - to be a bit too salty for my taste but they were still worth trying. There are several other stuffed breads - mostly cheese and meats. It was a bit hard to find a veggie stuffed bread. If you are lucky, you can get pandeyuca - stuffed with starchy yucca. Due to the volume of guests at any hour, the staff is too busy to help a non-native spanish speaker vegetarian like myself.

Pandebono is also serves big yummy milk-shakes and fruit juices. The Jugo de Nispero in Leche made Pandebono a daily breakfast stop for me before heading out for the day. Other drinks include Mandarina, Jugo de Zapote en leche and Jugo de Borojo.

La Frutera - Barranquilla, Colombia

Veg Options
Taste

La Frutera near the Catedral de la Inmaculata Concepción is in short, just a regular fruit stall near a famous cathedral in Barranquilla. It was my first stop after having landed in Barranquilla. Ernesto drove me down there for breakfast. Pretty much everything down there is vegetarian (mostly fruits and fruit juices), cheap and yummy as can be. It is the kinds of place that can be hard to find in a travel guide but is worshiped by the locals all the same.

Here was where I discovered that Nispero is the same as one of my favorite fruits - what we call 'Sapota' in India. It was a moment of ineffable joy. The sapota milkshake is the King of all milkshakes - period. The Nisperos in Colombia are much bigger than the Sapotas of India but taste identical.

In addition to various milkshakes (Mango, Zapote, Guava, etc.), they also sell little snacks like cheese and spinach empanadas and matrimonios - a little sandwich or rather a 'marriage' between two different things like cheese and yucca, cheese and guava jelly, etc. It can be found all over Colombia and is quite delicious. If one is lucky, s/he may find a street vendor close to the fruit shop that sells amazing coconut based desserts. They are seriously sweet - so limit the amount you eat. Pictured above is Dulce de Coco con Arequipe.