Home of Latin American food

A variety of empanadas at Casa Latina: (clockwise from bottom) saltena, coxinha, plantain and carimanola.

COCOA’s prominence in South America is clearly important to Venezuelan chef Tamara Rodriguez as there is a space dedicated for making chocolate in her Ampang restaurant.

The glass room is where chocolatier Juan Sara spends hours dehusking cocoa beans and chopping them into smaller pieces before grinding them to a paste, then going through the mill of tampering chocolate to make silky mouthwatering pralines and truffles.

This is Casa Latina Cafe and Cacao Lab, the home of South American cuisine specific to countries like Venezuela, Ecuador, Panama, Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil.

Rodriguez said the restaurant also featured dishes from Central America and the Caribbean including Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Mexico.

Rodriguez (left) explaining how chocolate is made at the cacao lab in Casa Latina. — Photos: FAIHAN GHANI/The Star

While chocolates are enticing, the chance to savour food from a continent 17,464km away was the reason I made my way for an experience at Casa Latina one evening.

The first thing that caught my eye were the empanadas, which along with ceviche, are South American savouries that Malaysians can associate with.

Beef and chicken empanadas are shaped like the local curry puff while ceviche is reminiscent of fish kerabu.

The Reina Pepiada is a charcoal arepa with a chicken and avocado filling.

While curry puffs are wheat-based dough with savoury fillings of potato and some form of meat, the Latin American version can be made from various doughs including wheat flour, tapioca, corn meal and green plantain.

The type of empanadas available for the day depends largely on what Rodriguez finds at the local market.

For our starters, there were plantain empanadas from Ecuador, carimanola (cassava and cheese empanadas) from Colombia and Panama, saltena (chicken empanada) from Bolivia and coxinha (chicken empanadas) from Brazil.

Cordero En Adobo Rojo - tender and savoury lamb pieces cooked in red adobo is a dish that can be found in Mexico and Guatemala.

Pac-man looking arepas, typical of South America, is another thing first-timers here should try.

These round cornmeal pockets, either fried or baked, are stuffed with a selection of fillings.

The Reina Pepiada with chicken, mayo, avocado and green pea sprouts is named for Miss Venezuela 1955 Carmen Susana Duijm Zubillaga who was also a Venezuelan actress and television host.

“The Venezuelans loved Susana for her simplicity and beauty, so we created an arepa in her honour,” said Rodriguez, a former Venezuelan TV personality and journalist for 20 years who also had a stint as an international correspondent.

Prawn with chocolate featuring 70 dark chocolate from Venezuela.

The other arepas here have fillings of cheese, dried tomatoes and basil oil; pulled beef; and one with beef or chicken rendang that Malaysians will certainly enjoy; as well as a flavour for vegans.

Rodriguez said rice, pulled beef and beans were common ingredients savoured by South Americans.

The empanadas and arepas proved to be quite filling, but we still moved on to our main course soon after.

Casa Latina’s signature tender and succulent ribeye served on a hot plate is a Venezuelan treat.

Sara created the Venezuelan chocolate used for the dish.

The chocolate sauce’s sweet and savoury combination with the meat was a flavour I was unaccustomed to and I looked for some heat of black pepper which was missing among the ingredients.

The Cordero En Adobo Rojo (boneless lamb in red adobo), a dish typical of Mexico and Guatemala with flavourful lamb pieces, was rather addictive with a hint of spiciness in each bite.

Rodriguez’s use of chocolate sauce to coat some stir-fried prawns was clever as we relished the juicy seafood from head to tail.

Sara dehusking cocoa beans.

The silky and aromatic sauce is made of 70% dark chocolate.

“We use what we have. The cocoa may be from South America or Vietnam (where they have lovely chocolates) or even Malaysia,” said Rodriguez, who has been working with local growers and those within the region for her supply of cocoa beans.

Rodriguez’s passion for food can be traced to her life in Rio Carebe, Venezuela, where she ran a restaurant and radio station while raising two sons.

Cocoa, she said, was an important asset to South Americans for its history and demand worldwide.

One of the reasons Rodriguez chose Malaysia was because of its similar climate to her home country.

“I grew up eating cocoa so I know how special it is to cook with this ingredient, and I would like to show people how to appreciate chocolate and use it in their cooking,” said Rodriguez whose personal interest in promoting dishes infused with chocolate explains the setting up of a cocoa lab in Casa Latina.

“In Venezuela, cocoa is something everyone is proud of and we find ways to improve cocoa production.

Having participated as a Venezuelan food ambassador in food festivals worldwide, Rodriguez also devotes her time learning about Malaysian food, the culture and its people.

For dessert, we tasted Sara’s chocolates and a flavour by Ong Ning Geng of Chocolate Concierge, whom Rodriguez works closely with.

Sara’s glossy chocolate pralines and truffles are also sold here.

CASA LATINA SDN BHD, Cafe and Cacao Lab, 20, Persiaran Ampang, Kuala Lumpur. (Tel: [phone]) Business hours: 10.30am to 9pm (Sunday to Thursday), 10.30am to 10.30pm (Friday and Saturday). Pork-free.

This is the writer’s personal observation and not an endorsement of StarMetro.