During our two trips to Costa Rica, we tried a lot of local food. In San Jose, we stayed with a Tico family (this is how Costa Ricans call themselves) for five nights. Our rental included breakfast and lunch, and it helped us to learn what locals eat at home.
We also ate at inexpensive restaurants in San Jose and around the country.
Sopa
We loved
Ceviche
Costa Rica was the first Latin country where we tried ceviche, tasty seafood appetizer. Later, we ate ceviche in Mexico, Ecuador, and other South American countries. The seafood for this dish is marinated in lime juice, garlic, onion, chili, cilantro.
Casado
One of the most popular dishes is
Almost all the
Gallo pinto
The slightly similar dish is
Since I am not a big rice eater, I couldn’t get used to eating it for breakfast. But Alexander loves rice, and he always enjoyed
Patty (empanada)
Patty (empanada) is a savory pastry filled with spiced ground meat. For me, it is the best breakfast. Also, the patty is good for a quick snack.
Olla de
Once, at a small roadside café, we were served olla de
Costa Rican desserts
As to my indifference for rice, I make a big exception for
Talking about desserts, our family loves any kind of custard. That’s why the flan was on the top of our list throughout the whole trip.
Coffee
While writing about the food in Costa Rica, we must mention its world-famous coffee. We were impressed by the smart design of the rustic coffee makers we saw everywhere: a wooden pour-over apparatus which had a reusable filter made out of white cloth.
The filter is placed on the wooden stand, the boiling water is poured over the coffee grinds, and two minutes later they serve you the strong aromatic drink. In some rural areas of Costa Rica, we drank better coffee than we ever had back home, and for a fraction of price.
Refresco
Costa Rica is a tropical country which has a rich variety of exotic fruits. While traveling through this country, we were gorging ourselves on mangos, papaya, chirimoya (custard apple), lychee.
The favorite drink of Costa Ricans is re