Tamarindo Restaurants Guide, 2019 Version

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Pangas Tamarindo by night-min

Pangas is forever one of our top choices in Tamarindo restaurants, not just for the food but for the beachfront ambiance.

Tamarindo is a veritable foodie haven: Dozens, if not hundreds of worth-your-time restaurants and joints, beachfront spreads and tiny holes-in-the-wall. If you don’t know where to go, it can all be a little overwhelming: everything just smells so good! Seafood and melting cheese, brick ovens and wood-fired grills… But, we’re getting distracted. (It’s easy to do, around all this excellent food.) And so, it’s for just this reason that we’ve updated our Tamarindo restaurants guide for 2019: to help you draft your list of must-eats and must-views.

Note that this latest interation of our restaurant guide doesn’t overwrite or cancel out any of our previous suggestions; they’re still delicious and highly recommended. We just wanted to give you a few more options. A little more room to experiment with your taste buds and hone your Tamarindo palate. A few more inspirations to try new things and taste new tastes. Or, to revisit old favorites. Because, you’ll want to. You really will. Tamarindo’s restaurants have a certain temptation.

So, as we say in Costa Rica, ¡provecho! Enjoy!

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The Costa Rican Casado – What’s That?

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Costa Rican casado

For $4-$10+, you can get dig into the national dish: a Costa Rican casado

Open up a menu in almost any Costa Rican restaurant, and you’ll be greeted with the casado.

Casado? Your Spanish-to-English dictionary says that means “married.” Who says what now?

Welcome to Costa Rica’s national dish and most popular lunchtime special, the famed casado: white rice, black or red beans, cooked veggies (aka picadillo), and/or salad, plus your choice of protein (chicken, beef, fish, or eggs), usually with a side of cooked plantains.

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7 Costa Rican Fruits to Try at the Farmer’s Market

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Costa Rica fruit to try

Some of our favorite Costa Rican fruits are exotic, delicious, and colorful!

We’ve touched on a few local foods we think everyone must try while in town, but we thought the last item on our list – Costa Rican fruits, oh glorious fruit! – deserved a bit of extra mention. Because our fruit is on a whole. other. level. It’s spectacular.

Star Apple (Caimito)

Peak Season: Late January through April

Caimito or star apple

Caimito is named for its telltale star | Photo by Forest and Kim Starr

Purple on the outside and white on the inside, caimito is one of our favorite seasonal Costa Rican fruits. Earning its name from its apple-sized exterior and, once cut, star-shaped fruit, this sweet treat features a milky, sweet and creamy flesh: thanks to a high water content, this fruit has a satisfying consistency similar to soft-serve ice cream. As for flavor, it’s almost impossible to describe: a little bit mangosteen, a little bit persimmon, a little bit apple and alllllll delicious!

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9 Costa Rican Foods You Simply Must Try

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these Costa Rican foods are delicious

Ceviche and patacones (fried plantains) are two of our favorite Costa Rican foods! | By Soytavin (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons

If you’re anything like us, food is a big part of your travels. You love to taste new things. You look forward to trying new dishes. You view your destination through the lens – or, at least a lens – of food. And so, you’re looking forward to trying traditional Costa Rican foods: rice and beans, exotic fruit, and all the tropical drinks you can stomach.

Yep. We feel the same! That’s why we’ve tasted, sampled, sipped and enjoyed hundreds of Costa Rican foods, fruits, and traditional dishes – every day, every meal since we first arrived. Now it’s your turn. Here’s where we suggest you start:

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Coffee in Tamarindo

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Costa Rican coffee latte

Costa Rican coffee in Tamarindo: It’s as good as you’ve heard!

Coffee – it’s as central to Costa Rica’s identity as lush jungles and rich biodiversity. In fact, café played a defining role in Costa Rica’s history and economy since the late 18th Century.

Production originated around 1779 in the Central Valley region, near Costa Rica’s capital city of San José. Locals discovered the land to be extremely conducive to growing coffee due to its fertile soil and cooler temperatures. Because of these conditions, Costa Rica’s coffee production remains centered in the San Jose/Central Valley area to this day.

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