Caffe Fresco

Food makes me happy, there’s no doubt about that, but writing about it can be tedious at times. When you eat out as much as I do – and have to pay for it too – even moderately good food can be personally disappointing at times.

However, writing two types of reviews is extremely pleasing; the almost sadistic pleasure one gets from completely dissing a restaurant allows the writer – me – to showcase my thick grasp over sarcasm, but it’s the joy one gets from writing about that often casually used, but rarely experienced “orgasmic” food that makes my blogging fingers tingle, as it’s the perfect opportunity to introduce the reader – you – to something so good that you’ll be thinking and thanking the person who told you about the place – me again – while eventually having that heavenly food.

Friska gives you just that – beautiful, filling, freshly made, orgasmic-ally good food that will leave you wanting more than your body can take.

But first, a few facts about the restaurant;

Friska is situated in BrindleyPlace, Birmingham among the tall office buildings just off Broad Street.

 

It opens only on weekdays and that too for breakfast and lunch, thus catering primarily to the office crowd, but don’t let that deter you from visiting the place.

 

A self service restaurant, it has an airy open both community-like and chair/table seating and standing places, with a staff that is young, vibrant, and genuinely interested in serving.

 

Friska makes in-house fresh coffee/tea/naturally flavoured drinks every day at the store. That means everything is really THAT fresh!

 

At first glance their food might seem a tad expensive, but the quantities are so good that the burrito I had kept me full for the entire day.

 

Finally, aesthetically, Friska exudes a lot of positive energy, and there’s just a casual good vibe which is omnipresent, something I’ve only ever felt in a few places.

Coming back to what really matters, and the drinks lined up in the refrigerator are what stand out at first glance. Cute, rounded, bulb like bottles filled with colourful liquid that comprise of beautiful ingredients like red berry, mango, melon, strawberries and of course variations of tea and coffee – Coconut Iced Mocha anyone?– makes for deciding on just any one drink quite the task.

It’s tough selecting a flavour, and the fact that one bottle can fill up close to three of their tall glasses – with ice – means either you plan on making numerous trips to the loo or make do with just having the one flavour that attracts you the most. Weirdly enough even now when I write about the Red Berry and Hibiscus Iced Tea that I had, I can almost taste its freshness, the strong smell of hibiscus tingling my nostrils and the taste lingering in my mouth long enough to make the drink memorable.

Here’s the kicker though, if the drink wasn’t already something different and special, the Korean Pulled Pork Burrito that came recommended off the staff was what sent that good kind of sensation – wink wink nudge nudge – down my body.

The beauty of the Korean Pulled Pork Burrito was that there is so much taste packed into its lean and long body that each bite was a little explosion of flavours in my mouth. Sweet, sour, tangy, cheesy, chewy, stretchy, spicy, salty, crunchy, soft (keep inserting food terms here), imagine each bite being so amazing that were I not aware of my surroundings, Meg Ryan from When Harry Met Sally probably would have had some serious competition (who am I kidding, she was oh-so-awesome in the scene) – I hope I didn’t put the image of a middle aged balding guy doing THAT, in-place of Meg Ryan, in your head now.

The refried beans, spicy rice, stretchy cheese, sour crème and a tangy sauce along with that succulent pulled pork, all the textures and distinctive tastes knocked this Korean Pulled Pork Burrito straight into my all time favourite food list.

The only unfortunate aspect of this whole “trip” is that Friska is in another country and I didn’t get a chance to try some of the other mouthwatering sounding foods they serve – Chicken and Chorizo Wrap, Pho Noodles, Crayfish and Mango Rice Pot, and their Breakfast menu.

Until then I suppose, I shall simply have to continue living with this one cherished memory of the best burrito and iced tea I have ever had.

Love Food? Check out my Instagram - @RaghavModi

We stopped here for a coffee and a tray bake and we seen other people getting hot food which looked amazing . And to be honest our Latte and tray bakes were beautiful and tray bakes were home made.

Tasty food and lovely staff. Anne Marie was so helpful when I was in with my elderly parents.

Stopped in to this café for breakfast on our way into ROI. Its a stone's throw from the border. Food was good, price was good, coffee was good.