Category: Food

Game of Thrones-inspired cafe now open in Amherst

A new cafe in Amherst is inviting you to transport to the lands of Westeros while enjoying locally roasted coffees, teas, breakfast burritos, baked goods and more. The 7Kingdoms Cafe, which arrived last month in the town’s Salzburg Square shopping center, is inspired by Game of Thrones, a favorite show of co-owners and sisters Kareya and Karina Flores. The casual spot features medieval cloth shields, gargoyle light fixtures, chess boards, books and other themed decor and some drinks with names that call to mind the popular HBO series.

Kareya Flores, whose family also owns El Arroyo Mexican Restaurant just a few doors down in the same plaza, said she and her sister became inclined to take over the space following the closure of its preceding business, Hodlbyte Coffee.

“We’ve been [at El Arroyo] since 2018 … and we always liked to walk over to that cafe to grab a coffee and relax. Our restaurant staff would also head over there on their breaks,” Flores said. “So once we saw that the landlord there was renting that area out, we wanted to see if we could get it up and running again.”

According to Flores, it was a conversation among family members about what the new cafe would be named that sparked the idea of a Game of Thrones theme.

“We were trying to think of what would be different,” she said. “My husband suggested that it would be neat to have that as a theme … and everything kind of evolved around that.”

The cafe features espresso drinks, in addition to hot or iced drip and nitro coffees, using beans roasted from A&E Coffee & Tea. Many of the options are named after Game of Thrones characters or places, like the “latte of Winterfell” made with Irish cream-flavored syrup, the “Cersei chai latte,” and the “mocha Stark,” with either white chocolate or regular cocoa. If you prefer your own unique coffee creation, there are several other flavors of syrups available, from vanilla, caramel and hazelnut, to tiramisu, amaretto, strawberry and raspberry. Other featured drinks are hot or iced teas, hot chocolate, freshly squeezed orange juice, and mixed refreshments with fruits like strawberries, passion fruit and mango.

Food options include several varieties of breakfast burritos premade the same day they are available, like those with Mexican chorizo sausage, jalapenos, scrambled eggs, cheese and house salsa. There are also paninis, like an Italian option with ham and salami, and a vegetarian option with mushrooms, tomatoes and romaine lettuce.

At the cafe’s counter is a display case of fresh baked goods, several of which are either prepared at El Arroyo or sourced from the Manchester-based Dulces Bakery. There you’ll find items like conchas (Mexican sweet bread), cuernitos (Mexican sweet croissants) and assorted cookies.

Flores said the 7Kingdoms Cafe is already fast becoming a regular stomping ground for local Game of Thrones fans.

“Some people have said that as soon as they heard the name they knew it was related to Game of Thrones and were very excited,” she said. “They love discussing the show.”

7Kingdoms Cafe
Where: 292 Route 101, Amherst
Hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
More info: Visit 7kingdoms-cafe.business.site, find them on Facebook @7kingdomscafe or call 213-5390

Red Beard’s Kitchen offers ready-made farm-to-fork meals

From soup, chowder and chili to beef stew, veal Bolognese and shepherd’s pie, a new ready-made meal business is offering a variety of locally sourced comfort options, available at a few area farm stands and also via weekly pickups in Manchester.

Known as Red Beard’s Kitchen, it’s the latest culinary project of Matt Provencher, who has held executive chef positions at multiple Granite State eateries over the years, most recently at The Foundry in Manchester. The business launched earlier this month with its first curbside pickups in front of the temporarily closed Noodz restaurant on Elm Street. For now, pickups will continue there every Saturday between 10 a.m. and noon.

“We’re working with local farms as much as we can,” said Provencher, who’s been putting out Red Beard’s Kitchen’s meals with the help of his wife, Dalila. “We’re dealing with New England Fishmongers for our scallops and haddock, and Bohanan Farm [in Hopkinton] for ground beef, dairy and cheese. … The goal is to do some self-distribution.”

Ordering is available through Red Beard’s Kitchen’s Facebook page and through its website. All items are sold frozen, with specific heating instructions depending on what you get. Most meals will serve two or three people per order

Some of Provencher’s hottest-selling items right out of the gate have been seafood chowder with scallops, haddock and veggies, and shepherd’s pie with ground beef. He has also done beef chili with kidney and pinto beans; veal Bolognese; split pea soup made with chicken stock, bacon and veggies; beef stew, and broccoli cheddar soup. Several of the meals, including the chili, the shepherd’s pie and the Bolognese, are gluten-free. Provencher has also tested the waters with different products and worked with potential items like meatloaf and meatballs.

In addition to ordering online for Saturday pickups at Noodz, you can get Provencher’s meals at a few local farm stands — he’s working with Vernon Family Farm in Newfields and Brookvale Pines Farm in Fremont, and will soon have his products available through the Three River Farmers Alliance, an online network linking customers to locally sourced food.

Red Beard’s Kitchen
To order, visit red-beards-kitchen.square.site, email [email protected] or find them on Facebook. Place orders for weekly pickups on Saturdays, between 10 a.m. and noon, at Noodz (968 Elm St., Manchester).

Mola Foods to open new tasting room and kitchen

Since launching Mola Foods in 2016, Jeannette Bryant of Nashua has opened a retail store, established a culinary scholarship program and published a cookbook offering ideas on how to best utilize her globally inspired spice blends and chili relishes into one’s meals. Now Bryant is expanding her “culture in a bottle” theme even further in the form of a new space, which will serve as a combination store front, tasting room and commercial kitchen.

Set to open on Saturday, Feb. 20, the new Mola Foods location is much more than a larger retail spot for Bryant’s products.

You’ll also be able to order traditional meals from her home country of Cameroon in Central Africa as well as other nations, prepared fresh in the kitchen and available weekly through a grab-and-go model.

Bryant, who has been offering a similar meal service at Creative Chef Kitchens in Derry, known as Jals Cuisine Bantu, said the transition to Nashua allows her to do everything under one roof.

Although she expects meals to be available on the first day for visitors stopping in to the store, orders going forward will be accepted by 10 a.m. every Thursday, for pickup on Saturdays, either fresh out of the oven or out of a refrigerated case.

“People can experience Cameroonian cuisine right here in Nashua,” she said. “[Meals] will be from other countries too, so you’ll be able to taste different things from different countries, but you’ll always find at least one Cameroonian meal that you can try.”

One such meal is ndole — because it’s a dish made with a plant that’s indigenous to Cameroon, Bryant said, she uses spinach as a substitute, stewed together with peanut sauce, shrimp and beef, and served with boiled plantains.

A vegan version of ndole will also be available.

Other options will include a black bean and mango rice bowl with cilantro vinaigrette and red bell peppers; a Cameroonian peanut soup, made with tofu or beef and served with basmati rice; and a blackened sauce, known as mbongo, that will be cooked with bone-in pork.

New menus will be updated on Sundays for the following week. All of them will be used with Mola Foods spice blends, each of which is inspired by a different country, from African nations like Cameroon, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Morocco to those in Asia, like India, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

“Everything here is made fresh. There will never be meat in here that is conserved or frozen,” Bryant said. “That’s why we have people place the orders on Thursday. It gives us time to go to the market, purchase everything and start cooking.”

In the front of the retail store, small standing tables will be set up for designated tasting events of Mola Foods products, and the space can be used for private tastings for larger parties too.

Bryant said the concept of her company started when she was experimenting with a hot sauce recipe made from a Cameroonian ghost pepper.

The feedback she received from it was so positive that she began working with other world-inspired spice blends, sauces and marinades, and she has continuously expanded her product line ever since.

Most recently she has introduced hibiscus and golden milk turmeric tea, as well as a new sweet and spicy wing sauce.

Mola Foods
Where: 9 Simon St., Suite 103, Nashua
Hours: Retail store hours are Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Order meals by 10 a.m. on Thursdays for pickups on Saturdays
Visit: molafoods.com or jalscuisinebantu.ecwid.com

Featured photo: Cameroonian ndole (spinach cooked with peanuts and served with boiled plantains). Photo courtesy of Mola Foods.