After escaping an exorbitant bill at the YAWNING PORTAL, our heroes bravely fled the City of Waterdeep aboard a SPELLJAMMER. Hurtled through time and space to the mysterious ROCK OF BRAL, the Bureau is charged with a QUEST!"
Fried Soy with Vegetables
This soy-based protein dish originated from a gnome recipe, but it is equally popular with those who shy away from animal meat, including some communities of elves. It is also ideal in environments where livestock is harder to keep, such as the Underdark and the Rock of Bral. The original gnome version uses chicken broth as a base, but vegetable broths work just as well. While the tofu is the star, the mélange of scallions, bok choy, bell pepper, and carrots imparts a variety of textures and flavors. Rice-based cooking wine and soy sauce make it a lustrous and savory meal.
Tavern Noodles
While the flavorful plate simply known as tavern noodles is a common dish throughout the multiverse, the version on offer in the various watering holes across the Rock of Bral is truly otherworldly. The noodles themselves are rumored to be the mouth tentacles of the catfish found in the deepest depths of Lake Bral. The truth of this is impossible to ascertain. What's less obscure is how delicious this dish is, especially when drenched in a light sauce made with rosemary, garlic, onion, and white wine, as they do at the Man-o-War restaurant in the Rock of Bral's High City. Whether by magic or mischief, these noodles are sure to satisfy even the most space-weary explorers.
Tamarind Balls
For those seeking sugary baubles to brighten the palate, do not neglect the sour yet sweet tamarind balls that festoon the market stalls of Trademeet and the areas surrounding Firedrake Bay in the lands of Faerûn. From Amn to Calimshan to Tashalar, these tasty morsels made of tamarind pulp and dates are a much beloved dessert and trail-side snack. Some of the finest examples exist a few miles to the south of Trademeet in Mosstone, at the venerable Drover's Last Drink, where they add a bit of vanilla and large-crystal sugar to the mix. These treats travel well, and spelljammer captains docking at Baldur's Gate have brought them to the Rock of Bral and beyond, where they are much sought after by astral elves, giff, and even space clowns.
Trencher Bread
Predating even the most rustic plates, trencher bread served as a functional, and edible, tool for serving food. Usually allowed to harden and become stale, this flat, round loaf can not only hold the meal but also become the next course once the edible "plate" has absorbed any juices or sauce and softened. Even when civilization along the Sword Coast advanced, the pre-Netherese tradition of serving food on edible plates remained. No longer used for pure utility, trencher bread is traditionally prepared hard, flat, and dry, but it is lightly salted and seasoned to make the "second course" more appealing. It has also taken on other shapes, notably a bowl, which has become a popular vessel for serving soups and stews. The bread is served along the crowded, cobbled lanes of major metropolises as far south as Calimport and as distant as the Rock of Bral asteroid spaceport. Look for street vendors in Middle City's Great Market serving rare mammalian meats and sauces on this bread—a quick and cheap option for on-the-move off-worlders—and embrace the novelty of an ancient taste of Toril.
Tears of Selûne
The bustling pedestrian pathways that etch the Rock of Bral are known for their prodigious offerings of finger foods. One such treat that garners all the accolades from the "locals" is a dish called the Tears of Selûne, a spicy, spit-roasted crispy fish, which came into fashion as a quick, crunchy snack that you can eat off a stick. Typically made with a firm white fish, like sea bass, the secret weapon of these delicacies is said to be the seasoning—a tantalizing mix of paprika, soy sauce, and sesame seeds. Today, you can sample these crispy treats throughout the Rock of Bral. Some street chefs fry them in a skillet, though connoisseurs insist the open flame yields the best texture. Whichever way you cook them, these fish skewers are best served with a starchy base, such as warm rice, to help all the delectable textures and savory flavors go down just right.
Duergar Smoked Herring
To many duergar, dwarves of the Underdark, food is simply the nourishment needed to get back to work. But the duergar are also renowned craftsmen, and what they do, they do well, which includes cooking a small but reliable menu of staples. And perhaps no duergar food is more prized than their smoked herring. While the original boasts herring from the dangerous depths of Darklake, known for imbuing the fish with distinctive brine and mineral flavorings, this version utilizes herring sourced from bountiful Lake Bral, a vital repository of water located in the center of this well-populated asteroid. There is no denying that a proper subterranean brine takes especially well to heat from Underdark fire lichen, but chile peppers will suffice for those chefs cooking on the surface. A specialty of the duergar enclave at the Underdark trading post of Mantol-Derith, this maritime delicacy is much sought after, from far below the surface of Toril all the way to the otherworldly Rock of Bral.
Spiced Pork and Orange Peppers
It is said, "When in space, do as spacefarers do," and this can prove useful advice when talking about food. One will never know how, or why, pork became such a readily available source of protein on the Rock of Bral, but that mystery is beside the point when a steaming bowl of spiced pork and orange peppers is on offer. In truth, the underside of the one-mile-long ovaloid asteroid, founded by humanoid Captain Bral, serves as a sustainable and farmable ecosystem capable of oxygen production. It even contains a freshwater lake (Lake Bral), frequently refilled by water harvested from ice asteroids, and, yes, livestock in the form of swine. Spiced Pork and Orange Peppers was a favorite of the famed Captain Bral and has remained a signature dish on the menu of the Laughing Beholder, run by gregarious beholder Large Luigi, and other notably unsavory eateries that dot the avenues of this lawless asteroid outpost. When ordered "the Captain's way," the explosion of spices (paprika, coriander, cayenne, garlic, fennel, cumin, and some mystery space seed grown onsite) combined with the zest of the orange peppers is like a peg-legged dohwar kick straight to the taste buds.
Steak of the Deep
According to legend, this hearty seafood steak was first prepared by homesick triton folk living among surface dwellers and eager for a nostalgic taste of their undersea home. Guardians of the deep, commonly clustered around ocean trenches and far from the eyes and reach of humankind, triton have increasingly emerged from self-imposed isolation to cohabit with the other peoples of the multiverse. A satisfying synthesis of tastes that borrows more from the surface world than from the seafloor, steak of the deep features a thick slab of braised swordfish, topped with a simmered tomato-based blend of onion, garlic, paprika, and a crisp dry sherry, yielding a fragrant and filling main course. While you won't find this in many triton settlements proper, it is a mainstay meal for well-traveled triton and is increasingly available at larger coastal taverns and, occasionally, the more far-flung spaceports of Realmspace.
Green Ice Rime
These chilly, wobbly, delicious squares of bright green jelly have become popular anywhere the people of the multiverse might need a refreshing and whimsical dessert, including the Rock of Bral where the natural refrigeration of Realmspace makes preparation a cinch. They are most often served in saucers on a bed of ice to keep them the ideal temperature. They have been nicknamed "the Gelatinous Cube" by some adventurers and there are confectioners who will suspend little candy swords or shields in the mix as a crunchy surprise that hits you right in the sweet tooth. The best part is that Green Ice Rime dissolves in your tummy...not the other way around.
Loaf Pudding
The Elfsong Tavern of Baldur's Gate is known for many things: the disembodied singing voice of an elven maiden for which the tavern is named; the stuffed baby beholder over the mantle; and the driftglobe-lit taproom. But there is no better reason to visit this famous haven for adventurers than its delectable Loaf Pudding. A specialty of halfling head-chef Chenna Fatrabbit and her human pastry sidekick, Klav Martilmur, this moist, yogurt-infused loaf is soaked in a delicious vanilla-almond syrup and topped with a sprinkle of salted almonds to add just the right amount of crunch. The dessert is so coveted that even Spelljammer pirates have occasionally dropped into port to bring a loaf or two back to Realmspace.
Undermountain Alurlyath
Imported to the Rock of Bral by the barrel directly from the notorious dungeon called Undermountain, Undermountain Alurlyath is a sweet sherry wine made by desperate gnomish vintners that skulk about the mad vined halls of the dungeon. It is said that the grapes that grow in the labyrinth hold the secrets of the successful romance of flavors, and that a glass of genuine Undermountain Alurlyath, bursting with notes of honey and cucumber, will enchant its imbiber with the gift of supernatural confidence—a phenomenon known as the silver glow. Yet others hold the belief that this is, in fact, a fancy term for the growing false confidence that comes with drink.