I mean, food pictures are a must when traveling, right?

My first taste of Bangladeshi food was lunch at in the office in Dhaka. I don’t have a picture, actually, but I do remember the delicious lentil soup. I must have had three bowls of that!

I have to admit, when I find Middle Eastern food, it calls to me almost immediately.

On my first full day in Dhaka, I was feeling the fatigue from my flights. My comms colleague Farah recommended I go back to the guest house and order dinner from FoodPanda. So for my first dinner in Dhaka, I ordered shawarma, fries, and a soda, from Toum on FoodPanda (below).

I was very happy. It was delicious, and also so cheap! 435 Bangladesh taka (Php 224.55), and I used a voucher, so it was even cheaper!

The next day, I had to fly out from Dhaka to Cox’s Bazar, in the southern part of the country. Of course my flight had to be scheduled at around noon, so I didn’t have time for the very cheap office lunch. Instead I grabbed a giant chicken pattie at the airport (below). BDT 150 only!

I quickly discovered that North End is the default cafe for our staff in Ukhiya. I admit my choices of drinks were not so impressive, but I was so happy with their food! Oh but I did get to try their iced Moroccan mint tea, which is delightful! Below, on the left, is the Charles, which is a massive sandwich with beef bacon, bell pepper, cheese and egg, while on the right is a beef bagel. Both are excellent, and so heavy that I didn’t really need much of a dinner afterwards!

In the staff house where I stayed, there was a cook who prepared lunch and dinner on weekdays. As a new arrival, I was happy about this arrangement, even if I wasn’t always sure what I was eating!

For breakfast, snacks, and other food and drink, we had a food budget. Everyone contributed every week, and this was what we used to buy food like bread, peanut butter, bananas, milk, juice, cereal, butter, cheese, and so on. People shared food from home, like cheese and chocolates, and this is how I discovered that I like Vegemite (below, left)!

Most days, I only had time for a few slices of bread with butter, a small banana or two, cheese, coffee. One weekend, I decided to make myself a nice breakfast (above, top right).

There wasn’t much need to cook, but after a week of Bangladeshi home cooking, I wanted to taste something different, so I decided to make a chickpea salad (above, bottom right). I overdid the salt, I think, but people ate it anyway!

On weekends, my housemates liked to go out to eat, and last Saturday I experienced two of their favorites in Cox’s. We went to Sugar for brunch, because some of them really wanted waffles. Not content, we went to Mermaid Beach Resort, where the others went for a swim while my Bangladeshi BFF Denisse and I lazed around on the sofas.

That ginger banana shake (below, left) was really good. The food that I tried, calamares and a potato salad with shrimp (below), were pretty good, but maybe a little overpriced? Resort prices, I suppose.

One of the things I’ve really liked so far is shingara, which is like a samosa. I had one in the office in Dhaka, and I was so happy! The first time I visited the refugee camps, our staff sat me and the interpreter down in a small shop, and brought us coffee and shingara. It felt like the local equivalent of someone on the team bringing me three-in-one coffee and pandesal.

Now I’m back in Cox’s Bazar, which is much more urbanized than Ukhiya, but less so than Dhaka. I’m staying in an apartment building, and very nearby is a lovely little cafe! I mean, look at the adorable straw on that iced tea below, and my nicely plated chicken meal (below, right)!

I haven’t tried much else in Cox’s, but today I was very happy to have food from Al-Goni!

I was coming from a meeting, and I was starving. I asked the driver where I could buy food on the way back to the office, maybe biryani? So he took me to Al-Goni. I was looking at the menu and trying to ask about other food. I ordered mutton khichuri without really knowing what it was. The guy at the restaurant was trying to explain it to me but of course I couldn’t understand.

When I got to the office and I opened the box, I as so happy with what my 300 taka bought: a giant mound of rice, mutton, a hard-boiled egg, a cucumber salad, extra sauce, and a mysterious brown thing that I haven’t tried. It was so good, and so spicy! I later learned that khichuri is rice and lentils. There was so much of it that I ate more than I should have, and I still couldn’t finish everything.

I wonder what else I’ll get to try while I’m here.