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Food Photos

Costa Rica is known for fresh tropical fruit, seafood and grass fed beef.  Rice and beans are traditional staples, not just mixed together as they are in the national dish Gallo Pinto but also as ingredients and or sides in nearly every meal.

Ethnic restaurants (beyond pizzerias which have always been hugely popular) are starting to migrate out of the tourist areas and show up more frequently in the cities and the variety has grown rapidly over the past few years.

We’ve made up a little glossary of food terms in English to Spanish and Spanish to English versions and tried to give both names on the photos so you can start learning what you’ll need to know to order in restaurants.  Another great resource is the Typical Menu that gives you both an idea of what foods are traditionally available as well as what they are called.

We’re not too big on “selfie with meal” pics but I’m usually carrying a camera and sometimes plates come out that are just picture perfect.  Enjoy the photos of Costa Rican food.

Zapote negro juice
Jorge brought us two types of juice to try. One was natural Viagra and the other a chocolate-ish juice of the zapote negro.
Restaurant Coconut Spice
Restaurant Coconut Spice, Domincal – gone in 2015 -too bad it was really good
Monteverde dairy ice cream shop in Santa Elena
Monteverde dairy ice cream shop in Santa Elena. The old Quaker dairy near the cloud forest reserve was sold a couple of years ago and doesn’t do tours anymore so if you want the local ice cream this is the spot.
Tamales Tamarind and Chan
Tamales with Tamarind and Chan. It just doesn’t get any better.
strawberry milkshake
Strawberry milkshake in Palmar Norte on our way to the Osa peninsula
Tapanti Media Lodge
The restaurant at the Tapanti Media Lodge serves generous portions of the best Italian food this side of the Reventazón.
Breakfast - plato del futas and coffee
Breakfast – plato del futas and coffee
What did you have for breakfast?
What did you have for breakfast?
Trout sorting
All of the fish in each pond are regularly netted for sorting. The largest trout are in the largest pools the farthest downstream.
Making breakfast in the house at the entrance to Quebrada Gato
Making breakfast in the house at the entrance to Quebrada Gato before heading out canyoneering
Wood fired brick and clay pizza oven (horno)
Wood fired brick and clay pizza oven (horno)
Wild nutmeg
Wild nutmeg or a related species. The red tendrils are a second spice called Mace from the same pod.
Gallo pinto con huevos
Gallo pinto con huevos frito – The red beans (as opposed to black) are more common the Caribbean like here in Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui
Palmitos harvest
Palmitos – the heart of young pejibaye palms freshly harvested and ready for market
The food was excellent
Buen Proveche! The food was excellent and accompanied by a nice simple selection of Chilean and Argentine wines. I had a thick cut lomito (similar cut to a filet mignon) cooked to a perfect medium with unsweetened coconut and pepper accompanied by salad and garlic mashed potatoes. Sue’s alfredo was excellent as well
Street vendors
Street vendors set up stalls with fruits and vegetables fresh from surrounding farms. Prices are fixed and haggling is not common in Costa Rica. Yucca root and palm hearts are a couple of unusual offerings at this stand among the familiar green beans, cabbages and tomatoes
Transferring trout
Transferring trout
Musmanni bakery
Musmanni fuled literally thousand of kilometers of cycling all around Costa Rica
Drying corn
Drying corn. In rural areas of Costa Rica it’s still common to see beans, corn and other kitchen garden crops laid out on tarps to dry.
Salt Production
Ever wonder where the salt on your french fries came from? In Costa Rica it may have come from here – the evaporative sea salt ponds at Ensenada
Carrots field
Carrots and other vegetables are common crops in the cooler climate of the slopes of Volcán Turrialba
French toast - pan perdu
Erwan is the chef and your made to order breakfast might include chocolate croissants or pain perdu – literally “lost bread” so named because the recipie of dipping slices into egg cream batter originated in France as a way to rescue old crusty bread – you probably know it as French toast
Shell plate
Forget the paper plates? Just grab a shell and serve lunch on that.
Sobre las Olas
Fish – pescado at Sobre las Olas Caribbean coast
Peanut chicken
Peanut chicken – unfortunately this little Thai restaurant in Dominical is no more. We ate there every time we were in town but apparently it wasn’t enough.
The mobile fish market
The fish market in Manzanillo is a cooler in the back of an ’92 Toyota pickup and it’s fresh! (pargo rojo – red snapper)
Ensalada mixte
Ensalada mixte – this one is obviously especial too since it includes hearts of palm
Praying mantis joins us for dinner
Praying mantis joins us for dinner at Corleone’s Restaurant Cahuita
The catch of the day
The catch of the day. Fresh fish is more common on the coast, but truckloads arrive at the Mercado Central in Heredia daily as well.
Hambuguesa Especial
Hambuguesa Especial with two kinds of ham!
Trout net
After catching all of the fish in the large black net they are transferred to a sorting box using a blue laundry basket
Sopa Negra
Sopa Negra Restaurante Coto in front of the church in Orosí
Mora batido, refresco, naturale
Call it a batido, refresco, naturale, or just a smoothie but whatever you call it I’ll take another round. Fruit in a blender with ice and with or without milk (leche) is on the menu nearly everywhere in Costa Rica from the smallest roadside soad (often the best) to fancy seafood restaurants.
Fruit stand in Orosi
Fruit stand in Orosi
City of flowers
Appropriately for the Cuidad de Flores, gorgeous cut flowers are available from a number of stands in the Mercado Central, Heredia. Dried herbs for cooking and medicinal purposes hang in bunches at the top.
Beachfront lunch
The view from the Tiki Hut on playa Marbella can’t be beat and the food is beach grill fare with flair. Destined to be the next Lola’s as playa Avellanas gets more crowded and people range farther south looking for something a bit eclectic and off the beaten path.
Fresh squeezed orange juice street vendor
Fresh squeezed orange juice at a street vendor in Heredia
Little grocery and basic supply stores go by a number of different names in Costa Rica - minisuper, pulperia, or abastecador
ittle grocery and basic supply stores go by a number of different names in Costa Rica – minisuper, pulperia, or abastecador
Grilled pepper sandwich
Grilled pepper sandwich with zucchini, eggplant and marinated tomato sandwiches – lunch from the cooler Playa Zapotal
Sunset at the Piedra Mar
Sunset at the Piedra Mar Soda Mal País – UPDATE Unfortunately when we were there a couple of weeks ago we found that it had been bulldozed (the picture is from 2012)…Don’t know how they decide who gets bulldozed and who stays since there are plenty of higher impact places right on the high tide line within a few hundred meters…money I suppose.
Fast foodin Costa Rica
Fast food is common in the larger towns and everywhere in the cities of Costa Rica – near the university district in Heredia
Broiled sea bass
Salad, broiled sea bass and lentils. The food was excellent for a bufett at Rio Perdido
Mercado Central, Heredia - see the big H's in the tile ;-)
Central Market, Heredia – see the big H’s in the tile ;-)
Modern supermarket
Modern supermarkets are everywhere in Costa Rica now
Thai food Domincal
Thai food Restaurant Coconut Spice, Used to be the best place to eat in Domincal now it’s been rel=placed by the best Coffee shop – Mono Loco
Anti-theft tags on $15 bottle of wine
Anti-theft tags on $15 bottles of wine. You can spot the really cheap stuff easily because it doesn’t have the tags ;-)
Pejibaye field and freshly harvested hearts of palm
Pejibaye field and freshly harvested hearts of palm
Chipolte chicken
Simple but perfectly executed the chipolte chicken sandwich actually had a little zip to it. The mango refresco followed suit, just ice and fresh fruit.
Mercado Central, Heredia
Mercado Central, Heredia
Carmelized french toast
Sue couldn’t resist a little breakfast for lunch when she saw carmelized french toast with bananas and coconut on the menu at the Tiki Hut Marbella beach Costa Rica
Costa Rica Pastries
Yummm!!! Bakeries are found in even tiny towns in Costa Rica
Shrimp stuffed Avacados
Shrimp stuffed Avacados
Chayote to market
Harvested chayote waiting alongside the road for the truck that will transport it to market.
Potato field
Potatoes are common crops in the cooler climate of the slopes of Volcán Turrialba
Cashew fruits and flowers
Cashew fruits and flowers. Don’t pick one unless you know the secret of the cyanide
A Costa Rican kitchen
Traditional Kitchen – A Costa Rican kitchen. Our friends in Pital have a modern gas stove and oven right next to the wood burning stove and use both depending on what’s on the menu. Of course they aren’t “inside” the house because that would heat it up too much.
chayote vines
These three chayote vines will grow along the overhanging wires to fill the entire space between them
Flipping tortillas wood stove
Flipping handmade corn tortillas on a wood fired stove.
Umbrella drinks? A hibiscus flower will do!
Umbrella drinks? A hibiscus flower will do!
Looks like ice cold frogs eggs
Looks like a delicious glass of ice cold frogs eggs – but it’s not. Chan (Hyptis suaveolens) is the seeds of plant in the mint family (Lamiaceae) that is related to familiar kitchen herbs like basil, rosemary , marjoram, thyme and lavender. Dry seeds are soaked in water until they hydrate forming a slimy gelatinous coating with a vague flavor reminiscent of mint iced tea. It’s getting harder to find and since it’s not hard to grow and the plant is common I can only speculate why one doesn’t see chan nearly as often anymore 1) It looks like FROG EGGS! 2) It’s coated in SLIME 3) You have to make it fresh from scratch and can’t really duplicate the experience with artificial color or flavoring in a ready to serve packaged product. 4) It looks like FROG EGGS ;-) An old traditional Costa Rican favorite that’s getting harder and harder to find.
Smoothies
Smoothies
Fruit truck
Fruit truck
Falafel, Baba Ganoush and potato, egplant and pepper salad bites.
Falafel, Baba Ganoush and potato, egplant and pepper salad bites.
traditional Costa Rican kitchen
A traditional Costa Rican kitchen with the kettle on and the chorreador waiting on the counter. I asked why the chimney didn’t go outside and Alonzo told me that might let rain in (construction details like flashing are somtimes hard to come by in Costa Rica) besides the smoke goes right out the gap on top of the wall so why bother.
Arroz con pollo
Arroz con pollo
Pizza is as popular in Costa Rica
Pizza is as popular in Costa Rica as it is anywhere and wood fired hornos are fairly common as are deleivery services (usually a motorcycle with an insulated cooler strapped to the back)
Making tortillas
Making tortillas
Theobroma cacao Coco pods
Theobroma cacao (cocoa). The process for making chocolate is 1) Harvest the pods and scoop out the pulp covered beans 2) Bacterial fermentation over 2-5 days breaks down the pulp so it’s easy to remove and warms the beans accelerating chemical changes inside 3) Slow drying in the sun or a dryer over 1-2 weeks followed by roasting at around 250 degrees f for 30 minutes to 2 hours reduces the moisture content and determines the darkness/flavor/strength (much like coffee roasting) 4) Winnowing is the process of breaking open the seeds and removing the husk to leave the cocoa nib. 5) The Cocoa nibs are crushed and warmed to form cocoa liquor (pure unsweetened chocolate) which is then combined with other ingredients to make milk chocolate, sweetened chocolate etc.
Sobre las Olas
Sobre las Olas near the north end of Playa Negra north of Cahutia Costa Rica offers at excellent seafood at indoor an al fresco tables a few meters from the waves. A little more expensive than some but still less than $10 for a meal and wine and well worth it for the setting.
MasXMenos supermarket
MasXMenos supermarket – one of the Walmart brands in Heredia Costa Rica
Truck full of watermelons near Turrialba
Truck full of watermelons near Turrialba
Snow cones (copa)
Making Snow cones (copa) in La Sabana park San Jose
One of my favorites is Club Soda with orange lime juice. The only problem is that it comes in those little tiny bottles and I have to order three or four
Orange lime juice – One of my favorites is Club Soda with orange lime juice. The only problem is that it comes in those little tiny bottles and I have to order three or four
Tiki Hut Bar & Restaurant
Tiki Hut Bar & Restaurant Playa Marbella
support vehicle
Bicycle tour support vehicle – it was a long ride and we didn’t want to get dehydrated
Chorreador de cafe. I made this one for our house in Colorado and mercedes helped us find the old fashioned stainless steel pot in Heredia. Coffee socks are hard to come by in the U.S. so stock up while you're in Costa Rica if you want to make traditional coffee at home.
Chorreador de cafe. I made this one for our house in Colorado and mercedes helped us find the old fashioned stainless steel pot in Heredia. Coffee socks are hard to come by in the U.S. so stock up while you’re in Costa Rica if you want to make traditional coffee at home.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner are all available beachfront on Playa Marbella
Sue always gets a little annoyed when I try to photograph the food before we eat but I just had to get this beachfront shot. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are all available beachfront on Playa Marbella
Sausagesin a case
Sausages in a case at an old fashioned mercado
Beach bus bar
Beach bus bar – there are strict rules about what you can build on the beach so one entrepreneur rolled this converted bus up under some coconut palm on Playa Palo Seco
Sue hard at work in the patio of the bar at of the three gems of Cahuita the Piscina Natural
Sue hard at work in the patio of the bar at of the three gems of Cahuita the Piscina Natural
A thick cut lomito
A thick cut lomito (similar cut to a filet mignon) cooked to a perfect medium with unsweetened coconut and pepper accompanied by salad and garlic mashed potatoes
Maxi’s is it in Manzanillo
Maxi’s is it in Manzanillo. Bar, restaurant, café, soda, meeting place, and when the boats come in fish market. They have clean but soulless cabinas in back where you’ll have to stay if you don’t make reservations at Arena Tropical around the corner.
Breakfast at Guayabo Lodge
Breakfast at Guayabo Lodge includes home made bread and local cheese – with gallo pinto and huevos revueltas (scrambled) of course.
Pizza at Corleone’s Restaurant Cahuita
Pizza at Corleone’s Restaurant Cahuita
Hand made chocolate
Fresh hand (by our hands) made chocolate
Gyro sandwich
Gyro sandwich
Papaya fruit and flowers on the tree
Papaya fruit and flowers on the tree
Vinagre Chilera is one of the most common condiments found on tables in Costa Rica
Vinagre Chilera is one of the most common condiments found on tables in Costa Rica
The simple wooden box has carefully spaced bars in the bottom. Smaller fish slip through the spaces and back into the pool. Larger fish stay in in the box and are lifted into the next pool downstream
Sorting trout – The simple wooden box has carefully spaced bars in the bottom. Smaller fish slip through the spaces and back into the pool. Larger fish stay in in the box and are lifted into the next pool downstream
Prohibition Semana Santa
Prohibition takes affect during Semana Santa and alcohol sales are shut down in stores, restaurants and bars. It’s a bit unpredictable where it will be in effect since communities can override the national law on a local basis and sometimes they haven’t decided until the night before.
Lunch Cano Island
Lunch Cano Island – taking a break from a snorkeling and hiking tour
Costa Rica uses more petroleum based fertilizer and pesticides per acre of cultivated land than almost any other country in the world...Ironically the grey pipeline seen in front of this banana plantation (very chemical intensive) along the Guápiles Highway is filled with gasoline.
Costa Rica uses more petroleum based fertilizer and pesticides per acre of cultivated land than almost any other country in the world…Ironically the grey pipeline seen in front of this banana plantation (very chemical intensive) along the Guápiles Highway is filled with gasoline.
Chayote field
Each chayote plant spreads to cover up to 100 square feet. Full grown plants in the foreground, newly planted in the middle and starting to spread in the background
Mercado Central fruit stall - Heredia
Fruit stall
Sodita snacks
Sodita snacks available at the soccer game between Azúl and Turrialba
Trout, fries, peppers
Trout, fries, peppers and tomato salad at a no-tell motel outside Puriscal
Picinic under the trees on deserted Playa Zapotal
Picinic under the trees on deserted Playa Zapotal
Home made bread and jam at Tenorio Lodge
Home made bread and jam at for breakfast at Tenorio Lodge

Ray & Sue

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Photos

Photos
  • Tortuguero Beach – National Park & Sea Turtles Nesting
  • Tortuguero Village & Canals Photos
  • Guayabo National Monument
  • San Gerardo de Dota National Park
  • Karen Mogensen Nature Reserve
  • Lower Savegre & Rafiki
  • Savegre National Park
  • Pacuare River Rafting Overnight
  • Portalón Estero Rey National Wildlife Refuge
  • Hacienda Barú National Wildlife Refuge Photos
  • Rainmaker Biological Reserve Photos
  • Hills of Portalón Wildlife Refuge
  • Funny, Quirky, Weird – Costa Rica Humor
  • Bahía Junquillal National Wildlife Refuge Photos
  • Playa Hermosa-Punta Mala National Wildlife Refuge Photos
  • La Cangreja National Park Photos
  • Pacuare Gilligan’s Island
  • Rincón de la Vieja – Hacienda Guachipelín Photos
  • Quirky, Weird, Funny – Costa Rica Humor
  • Lankester Botanical Gardens Photos



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