Conventional Costa Rican fare, for essentially the most half, is consolation meals, consisting largely of beans and rice, fried plantains and the occasional slab of hen, fish or beef. Lately locals have began to experiment extra with the nation’s contemporary and plentiful produce. The outcomes have been inspiring and scrumptious.
Contemplating the extent of the shoreline, it is no shock that seafood is plentiful right here too, and fish dishes are normally contemporary and scrumptious. Here is what to eat and drink in Costa Rica, together with the perfect conventional meals to strive.
Guanabana
Also called soursop, this candy and sticky fruit needs to be bought wherever you discover it and eaten together with your arms.
The place to strive it: Tamarindo Farmer’s Market, close to Playa Tamarindo on the Península de Nicoya.
Patí
A flaky, Caribbean-style turnover stuffed with meat, onions, garlic and spicy goodness. Nice as a bus-ride snack and picnic deal with.
The place to strive it: Soda El Patty, a country nine-table Caribbean restaurant in Puerto Limón.
Road mango
Offered in plastic luggage with salt, lime juice and typically chili powder, that is the last word refreshment.
The place to strive it: The farmers market on Plaza Ferias in Alajuela.
Pipa fría
Discover a vendor with a machete and an ice chest and so they’ll hack off the highest of a coconut, stick a straw in it, and also you’re good to go, with a frosty, candy deal with.
The place to strive it: Roadside distributors all throughout Costa Rica.
Pejivalle
The roasted peach-palm fruit is a roadside commonplace, scrumptious heat and salted, though Ticos like so as to add a dab of mayonnaise.
The place to strive it: You’ll find freshly roasted pejivalle at many roadside stands throughout the nation.
Gallo pinto
Breakfast for Ticos is normally gallo pinto (actually “painted rooster”), a stir-fry of final evening’s rice and beans. When mixed, the rice will get coloured by the beans, and the combo obtains a speckled look. Served with eggs, cheese or natilla (bitter cream), gallo pinto is affordable, filling and typically downright tasty.
The place to strive it: Sodas (low cost eating places) throughout Costa Rica promote gallo pinto, however we love the beachside view that comes with the rice and beans at Sheriff Rustic on Playa Sámara. Plus it is offered all day.
Ceviche
Whereas it is not conventional Tico fare, ceviche is on most menus, normally constituted of pargo (pink snapper), dorado (mahi-mahi), octopus or tilapia. The fish is marinated in lime juice with some mixture of chili, onions, tomatoes and herbs. Served chilled, it’s a delectable method to take pleasure in contemporary seafood.
The place to strive it: The contemporary ceviche from the esteemed Café Liberia in Liberia is subsequent degree.
Chifrijo
Most bars provide the nation’s hottest boca (snack), chifrijo, which derives its identify from two important elements: chicharrón (fried pork) and frijoles (beans). Diced tomatoes, spices, rice, tortilla chips and avocado are additionally thrown in for good measure.
The place to strive it: With knockout views of Laguna de Arenal and Arenal Volcano, La Ventanita in El Castillo sells the perfect chifrijo for miles.
Rondón
A spicy seafood gumbo, rondón‘s moniker comes from “rundown,” which means regardless of the chef can run down.
The place to strive it: Maxi’s By Ricky does an ideal rondón soup in San José, whereas within the heart of the capital, the fantastic Alma de Amón sells a rondón vegano with turmeric and coconut.
Vegetarians and vegans
Costa Rica is a comparatively snug place for vegetarians to journey. Rice and beans, in addition to contemporary fruit, are ubiquitous, however there’s much more than that. Go to farmers markets to pattern what’s in season: Costa Rica is a growers’ paradise.
Most eating places will make veggie casados (set meals) on request, and lots of locations at the moment are together with them on the menu. These set meals normally embrace rice and beans, cabbage salad and one or two alternatives of variously ready greens or legumes.
With the excessive inflow of tourism, there are numerous specialty vegetarian eating places or eating places with veggie menus in San José and in vacationer cities, and even vegans will discover some choices in these locations. Lodges in distant areas that provide all-inclusive meal plans can accommodate vegetarians with advance discover. The Happy Cow has a useful listing of veggie eating places nationwide.
Gluten-free, macrobiotic and raw-food-only vacationers may have a more durable time, as there are fewer retailers accommodating these diets, though that is slowly altering. In the event you intend to maintain to your weight loss program, it’s finest to decide on lodgings the place you possibly can put together meals your self. Many cities have macrobióticas (health-food shops), however the choice varies. Contemporary greens might be laborious to return by in remoted areas and are sometimes fairly costly, however farmers markets are cropping up all through the nation.
Meals price attempting
Meal worms and crickets Bug museum Museo de Insectos has its personal kitchen, the place visitors are served meal worms and crickets with a number of salt and oregano.
Mondongo Tripe intestines are a campesino (farmer) favourite in Costa Rica, and they’re served surprisingly spicy.
Meat on a stick Is it pork? Rooster? Beef? Who cares. On roadsides and at native fiestas, this mysterious Tico delicacy is simply pretty much as good because it smells, even after the seller makes use of a paintbrush to use spicy sauce.
A 12 months in meals
Meals festivals are concentrated on the finish of the wet season, however the tropical Eden that’s Costa Rica produces unimaginable fruit and veggies and vends them in farmers markets year-round.
Wet season (October and November)
Courageous the rain for deliciously ripe mangoes and mamon chino (rambutan), plus agricultural celebrations such because the Fiesta del Maíz (Pageant of Corn) and the Feria Nacional de Pejibaye (Nationwide Peach Palm Market).
Christmas (December)
Tamales, ready with masa (corn meal soaked in lime), pork, potatoes and garlic and steamed in banana leaves, turn out to be a really massive deal right now of 12 months.
Espresso harvest (September to January)
Many seasonal laborers from Nicaragua head down to select grano de oro (the golden grain).
