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[WERBUNG/AD – Gifted Experience] Welcome to Foodie Friday! Today’s Coucou Food Market review is part of a special weekly feature from @whatandieeats, featuring a new restaurant recommendation every week. For more tasty food photos, be sure to follow her on Instagram.
Welcome to another Food Friday, After a small break we’re back with an awesome place to share with you. Coucou Food Market conveniently located right near the Mailingerstrasse U-Bahn station is a Grab-n-Go style concept, featuring a new food pop-up in their restaurant every few months.
We had the great pleasure of meeting the owner Denis who runs the shop along with his girlfriend and his amazing staff. This place is definitely the perfect neighborhood spot for lunch, a midday treat, or your early morning coffee.
What is so special about this place is that they collaborate with other local businesses, such as a local clothing designer who creates their uniforms and a local coffee producer who serves and sells their products in the shop.
They even collaborate with the boxing club next to their Theresienstr. market (they have two of these) who have been doing anti-racism campaigns for a long time!
First Impressions
Upon arriving we were pretty surprised that it is just right outside the U-Bahn stop which makes it the perfect location to grab something while you’re on the go.
The inside is very light and welcoming and the whole place smells of sweets and fresh bread. There are a few tables at which you can enjoy your food, but the main concept is grab-n-go according to the owner Denis.
The place can be broken up into 4.5 sections. I say .5 because they serve freshly prepared Pinsa Romana from the bakery which I think is a little something extra for the customers.
Aside from the bakery and Pinsa, they also have a salad bar with seven different salad options to choose from and a soup section in the winter. The third area is their pop-up food bar which changes every few months.
We were lucky enough to enjoy one of the last days for their taco pop-up by @CarlitoTequito which is run by a husband and wife every Saturday from 11am-3pm.
The fourth area is their mini shop where they sell a variety of things (mostly from France as the owner has a French background) and other items from local businesses here in Munich.
What we ate
To begin our meal journey, we started with a variety of Pinsa slices and a salad from the salad bar. The salad was SO good!
It was a hearty mix of fresh greens, goats cheese, walnuts, chopped red beets and pears, all topped with a delicious balsamic dressing made in house.
That salad had all the best textures and flavors – the crunch from the nuts and sweetness of the beets and pears against the tanginess of the balsamic dressing. All served cold in a tin bowl.
One thing I do appreciate about a salad is when it is served cold. I think for me it adds more of a fresh crispness to it that really ties the overall experience together. We had so much food to try but the salad was the one thing that I had them leave at the table, because I just wanted to keep going back for more.
The Pinsa Romana was different. I had never tried this specific dough before, even when I was galavanting around Rome a few months ago, not a single place could tell me where to get this style of pizza. We really tried!
I would say I quite like this dough, it was a lot crispier and light than normal pizza dough making it easier to eat more, although I will admit we don’t struggle that much with eating pizza.
We tried four different flavors: Vedura Vegan, Avocado and Burrata, Mozza Bomb with ‘Nduja and Ham with Tomato Mozarella.
The Avocado and Burrata Pinsa was definitely a favorite! These two creamy yet completely different tasting elements really harmonized well together. I’m such a sucker for burrata though that it was hard to not immediately love this pizza.
We also tried this amazing slice called the Mozza Bomb with ‘Nduja. ‘Nduja is a spreadable salami with its own oil that has the most incredible flavor I’ve ever tried on a pizza, combined with the creaminess of the mozzarella.
The ‘Nduja tasted very much like a chili pepper but not, I don’t even know exactly how to describe it, it was just so good. This is the Pinsa I highly recommend you to try when you visit!
We also tried the ham and tomato mozzarella. A very simple classic take on a pizza with Pinsa. The perfect amount of flavor balance and the crispiness from the Pinsa dough makes this a very friendly to-go pizza if you’re not feeling too adventurous to try the others.
The last Pinsa we tried was the Vedura Vegan which was a bit too dry for us. I think this can happen when there isn’t a substitute for the cheese and it’s just the toppings on top of the sauce. I think maybe for a vegan this might have been ok as they are used to not really needing that cheesiness (correct me if I’m wrong). But overall the flavor was still nice and it was topped with a mix of veggies. Denis agreed that an extra drizzle of olive oil would go a long way.
After moving on from the salad and pizza we were fortunate to be able to try the tacos for their pop-up taco bar.
Sadly they will have their last day on October 24th and then if all goes well the owner will bring in an Oyster bar to replace it. However, if you’re spontaneous enough to try the tacos tomorrow for the last time I suggest you go! I will definitely go again!
Napales (bottom), Pork Belly (right), Rajas (top), Barbacoa de Borrego (top left), Chorizo (bottom left)
Not to be dramatic or anything but these tacos nearly brought me to tears. I love tacos! I’m what you could call a taco enthusiast. I have been on the search for the best tacos in Munich since I got here 4.5 years ago and I finally found some only to find out they will be leaving soon.
They have 5 signature tacos: Carnitas which is pork belly, Rajas (poblano peppers) with cream, Barbacoa de Borrego which is slow-cooked lamb, Napales which is cactus and Mexican Chorizo which is spiced sausage. All served on small corn tortillas and topped with some simple and impactful toppings such as guacamole, pickled red onions, cilantro and radishes. Each taco was unique in flavor, which is very rare here in Munich.
I absolutely fell in love with these tacos! When I finished them I stared at the plate and thought to myself, “If I think hard enough about it, they will reappear and I can eat them again.”
I was genuinely sad that they were gone.
As I’ve mentioned before, TOMORROW (Oct. 24th 2020) is the last time you can enjoy these delicious tacos! So if you don’t want to miss out you need to get your butt over there between 11 am and 3 pm.
Dessert
After pulling ourselves together and trying to figure out how we are going to make room for dessert, we took one for the team (you guys) and tried some of their homemade sweets from the bakery. Join the team.
We tried macrons, carrot cake, chocolate cake and Pèpite au Chocolat. The carrot cake was intense! I’m not a cake person, I tend to find them very dry and not to my liking but I was blown away by this carrot cake. It tasted like Fall with every bite and the cream topping was just so perfect I can’t stop eating it. The home recipes here are on point, I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed a cake as much I did this one.
If chocolate is your thing then their chocolate cake is a must-try!!! It is made only with the good stuff; eggs, butter and chocolate.
This made the cake more like fudge and allowed it to melt in my mouth so perfectly that it basically turned to cream. It did not feel grainy which I sometimes feel happens to fudge-like desserts. The great thing about this dessert was that it wasn’t overly sweet – they definitely used bittersweet chocolate to make it which really tames the flavor from being too overly sugary.
The last and final thing that we tried was the Pèpite au Chocolat which is a croissant pastry with vanilla cream and chocolate chip filling in a twist. It was flakey like a croissant, yet soft with all the deliciousness of an eclair, that’s how I can best describe it to you guys.
If you go, please send me a message on @WhatAndieEats and tell me how your experience was.
Lasting Impressions
Our overall experience at Coucou Food Market was incredible, to say the least.
We felt so welcome by the owner and we really felt his passion for his food and in his restaurant. It was such a treat to not only get to talk to him, but to also have him invite us to try his food.
We will be back for the last day of tacos and we are very excited about the new oyster pop-up concept that will be coming soon.
I also have to say that my mother would LOVE this place and when she can finally visit, I will be bringing her here for a coffee and dessert.
One last note; their Pinsa toppings can vary slightly as they design their own pizzas, with the main ingredients staying the same.
Thank you Coucou Food Market and Carlito Tequito for serving us some amazing and memorable dishes. Remember guys if you visit this place please let them know Bored In Munich sent you!
Hopefully, we see some of our Bored In Munich fans out there tomorrow enjoying the last of the tacos! If you happen to see us don’t be afraid to come say HI!
