My first time trying snails from Courtyard by Marriott

 Story Time: My first time trying snails in Med by Flavors restaurant in Courtyard by Marriott Paramaribo

Hello, my dearest Story Time friends from around the world.🌏 How are you?😉 I know it's been a while since you heard from me. But what can I say? I have been busy expanding the Story Time brand behind the scenes and living in the adventures. 😅The Transcultura grant writing course for Caribbean creatives also took much of my time. But now that's behind me. I've officially finished the course, and I have to say that participating as a Surinamese content creator gave me a lot of appreciation for my audience. You guys make the work that I put into creating my digital content and products worth it! Without my readers, I wouldn't be able to monetize. I am grateful for all the support on my Story Time creation journey. 💓💖💕

Before we dive into this Story  Time food episode I want to share some news with you. A month before I visited the new concept restaurant by Flavors in Courtyard Marriott Paramaribo I partnered up with Questo as a game writer. "Questo is a platform for real-world city exploration games written and designed by professional content creators, companies, and amateur storytellers around the world. With these role-playing games🎮, you will walk around the city solving puzzles 🧩in your surroundings in order to discover new places and their fun history" as written on their website. After a few meetings with the Questo team, I was clueless as to what my first location in Suriname to write about would be. That was until after my visit to the Flavors restaurant in Courtyard by Marriott Paramaribo. We were invited by Marriott to try out the amazing dishes that their culinary team brings to life. The way their culinary team got creative with plating and setting their food inspired me so much. As a writer, I depend on my creative juices to keep developing my products. Especially when it comes to my books. Experimenting with video content on my blog is a way to bring my stories alive with that extra effect! Now I am using video games to bring the action and adventure in my stories to life. Of course, I am grateful for my loyal book-reading audience. That will always be my main form of content ( a writer got to eat.😀😎👀😅). Those of you who purchase my upcoming Suriname travel book will find a sheet in it with the QR codes of all the Questo exploration games that I'll create in Suriname.) My game Hunting for Crumbs will be available for purchase soon. But you can click here to preview and sign up to be the first to receive my Questo game in Courtyard by Marriott Paramaribo when it officially launches. For those of you who want a free version of Hunting for Crumbs, I've worked on coding this episode game for you guys. 😍😛That Parmesan cheesecake really motivated me! My Episode Game starts in Courtyard by Marriott Paramaribo and takes you on a magical quest through the heart of the Amazon rainforest in Suriname.

I know travel books are new for me😃, but since I've grown my reading audience in multiple countries I might as well promote my beautiful country to my book readers. Have fun playing my game! The only sad thing is that despite being a Surinamese creator, my Episode game isn't available for Suriname.😪😫 That's not by my choice, pulls up shoulders. I really don't know why Surinamese people are excluded from a lot of things. But since most of my readers and watchers aren't from Suriname, I hope you enjoy the Episode Game! Hunting For Crumbs is already live on Episode. I put a lot of work into it, and it's a creative Story where you get to experience a bit of the Surinamese ambiance on your magical quest through the game. Don't worry I won't give you any spoilers! If you are new to the Story Time tribe, make sure you subscribe when you see that Story Time U.F.O. pop up on your screen.👽👾🛸

Now back to the Story Time Food adventure in Med by Flavors restaurant at Courtyard by Marriott Paramaribo.

If you're traveling through Suriname, and you find yourself craving Medeterinannean food look no further than in the dining room of Courtyard by Marriott in Suriname. This restaurant in Suriname has a range of international and local chefs that bring the flavors of the Medeterinannean to your table!😋🍲🥘Growing up watching my father run his catering company I know that there goes a lot of work and training into the service and presentation that they offer at Courtyard by Marriott Paramaribo. My trip to Med by Flavors turned out to be quite the Food adventure indeed! That's why I couldn't resist sharing that adventure with you in my Video Games.🎮

After 8 years the Fish Market buffet was discontinued. But that's because Flavors wanted to introduce new concepts. Thus two new restaurants were created. Med by Flavors and Sakura Nikkei cuisine restaurant. In this Story Time episode, we'll be reviewing and dining at Med by flavors.

As always the staff was friendly and attentive to our needs. On my visit to the Med by Flavors restaurant I got to try a lot of new things that I never had before. And let me tell you, it's worth opening yourself up to the experience just in case you aren't familiar with Mediterranean food.

On our food adventure in warm tropical Paramaribo, we got to try snails🐌🐌 for the first time! Growing up as a Surinamese kid I thought it was gross to eat snails. But now I'm 30, I think I'd freak 5-year-old me out if I told her I kind of loved the escargot experience at Courtyard by Marriott in Suriname.😂😂😁

The snails 🐌had an earthy taste but the flavor of Parsley butter and garlic combined well with it.  It was a great balance and the snail meat is chewy. it felt like chewing on a flavorful chicken gizzard. The Egyptian bread that was served to us, in the beginning, had a good seasoning. The bread was served fresh out of the oven and I loved the long crunchy breadsticks. 🥖🍞You could dip the bread in olive oil and a mix of herbs and nuts.😋 But on its own the bread already tasted great. Stew couldn't help but combine the bread with almost everything we ate.😏He loved it with the snails and mushrooms.

When they brought out the Spanish Octopus I could immediately tell that a lot of time and work went into it then it turns out that the Octopus 🐙takes hours to prepare. The Pulpo A La Plancha looked like a work of art that was taken straight out of an anime cartoon.

The presentation was so pretty that I almost didn't want to eat it, but I am glad I did anyway.😋😂The flavors of the Octopus were enhanced by the grill. When I posted the video on my WhatsApp status a friend asked me what the foam was that looks like soap. 😂😂😋Well my Story Time friends, just in case you are wondering the same thing, that foam turned out to be a delicious sauce. Even the vegetables and potatoes that came along with the Spanish Octopus 🐙were well seasoned. Good enough to make 👅you lick your fingers and say "Delicioso!".

The Queen scallops were a delightful surprise! Truly a meal fit for a Queen👑. 😤There I go ranting about my invisible crown again.😂But I am serious, the scallops and that sauce it was in were yummy 😍. It was a thick sauce and it wasn't runny. The sauce complimented the scallops and wasn't too salty. They added sprouting greens as the garnish and that cracker on top of it was crunchy like a fish cracker.

The first cocktail that I got to try was the wild berries drink🍹 that the bartender prepared for us. This cocktail had fresh fruit in it that wasn't frozen. It tasted like a fruity soda and it wasn't too sweet. When it was time to serve the Whole Sole🐟 that the Executive chef recommended to us, that was an entire show on its own! The pan-seared whole Dover sole is filleted right in front of your table. We were told that this is a skill that takes months of training to perfect. The way those fish bones were moved with precision, I believe it. On the Med by Flavors restaurant menu, it says that this item is designed to share. When we saw the size of that fish we immediately agreed. The whole Dover sole was served with mushrooms, vegetables, and the Lemon Caper sauce 🍋was fresh and just what the fish was missing. This sauce elevated the fish.

If you decide to explore the flavors of the Mediterranean for yourself I do recommend that you try the Cucumber cooler! This cocktail is minty fresh and you can taste the freshly made cucumber juice in it. The alcohol in it wasn't too strong, it paired well with the fish in our opinion. We also had a salad with feta cheese. I didn't know Feta cheese was so salty. So I made the rookie mistake of taking one big bite. 😂😂But that's what adventures are for. To explore and discover new flavors. If you order the salad 🥗it will be prepared in front of you. During my visit to the last fish market, we tried the Parmesan cheesecake and I instantly fell in love with it. We thought that it was made with tuna or salmon. But we were so wrong! It turns out that the Parmesan cheesecake is made with Bang Bang fish.

This time I got to enjoy the improved version of the Parmesan cheesecake. Somehow it just tasted better, and the palm sugar used to decorate that plate created a sweet balance for the cheesy parmesan cake. I give the chef a 10 out of 10 for the presentation on this one. My tongue pupils were in heaven when I had a bite. I made a video for you guys about my Story Time Food adventure in Med by Flavors restaurant for you to enjoy. Don't drool too much while watching the video📹📷📸😜. Until next time, right here on Story Time.