Walk across the meadows in Edinburgh any morning at around 11 o’clock and, amongst a sea of grey commuters heading to their jobs and rushed students late for lectures, you will see a couple riding a three-wheeled bicycle. The woman sits upfront on a cool box, arms brimming with fresh fruit and veggies, the man pedals hard behind. Fernando and Gardenia Miranda and their Brazilian creperie Tupiniquim have become an Edinburgian institution.
Over the past four years they have served a constant stream of the most delicious crepes you’re ever likely to encounter, with fillings like slow cooked beef with spinach and butternut squash or chicken peri-peri with goats cheese and avocado seasoned with their celebrated hot sauce. Brazilian music – live or recorded flavours the atmosphere but it’s their cultural events, open-air cinema nights, caiporera shows and concerts that have brought together an incredibly diverse community. They give locals and students the chance to showcase their short films and struggling musicians a stage, but the extraordinary thing about this two person gastronomic/cultural centre is the fact that it is all run out of a shed; an old green police box abandoned in the 1960s.
Fernando and Gardenia met back in Brazil when they worked in a bakery together. Fernando moved to Edinburgh to study and Gardenia followed a little while later, as did marriage and a baby. One morning Gardenia had a bad toothache and was on her way to the dentist with Fernando, when she saw the old police box with a ‘to let’ sign on it. She stopped, looked at it and said ‘lets take it’. They had no idea what they were going to use it for and originally thought hotdogs – an idea that was quickly abandoned after Fernando investigated the hot dog making process online. He had spent a while in a crepe stall in Camden market, and eventually the couple decided their mission was to bring Brazilian crepes to the people of Edinburgh.
But four years on Tupiniquim faces closure. The landlord is selling the former police box and Fernando and Gardenia don’t have the means to buy it. Between their life savings and a small bank loan they can raise £10,000 but that’s only half the £20,000 needed to buy it. This eccentric Brazilian couple refuses to accept defeat. They have come up with a plan to buy the former police box with a little help from their friends. They’ve set up a kickstarter page like no other. Pledge £150 you can secure yourself a crepe every week for a year. That works out as less than £3 pounds a crepe – at around half the normal price that’s a fairly cost effective and healthy lunch. For the real die-hard fans, you can go for the £250 pledge; a crepe every day for the whole year which works out insanely cheap at 70p. They also offer ‘Brazil in your home’ for £250 – a fiesta dinner of traditional feijoida, crepes, and fresh juices for 15 people. Smaller pledges can be exchanged for recipes, starter kits, lunches for two or aprons.
Since opening Tupiniquim Fernando and Gardenia have gone above and beyond, creating a cultural institution for their appreciative crepe-lovers. Now they’re asking their loyal customer base to return the favour and it looks like its working. Check out their kickstarter page at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1456781635/help-tupiniquim
many photos available
Submitted by Indigo Bates
