Restaurants in Monteverde & Santa Elena
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Restaurante El Campesino
Relax beneath about 80 stuffed animals won from machines by the dexterous owner, who also serves up amazing casados, salads and a variety of sublime ceviche with a smile.
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Taco Taco
This brand new taquerÍa (taco stall) offers tasty Tex-Mex tacos, burritos and quesadillas filled with shredded chicken, slow-roasted short rib, pork al pastor (cooked on a spit), roasted veggies and battered mahi mahi.
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Panadería Jiménez
This bakery has the best goods in town, like whole-wheat breads, pastries and coffee for folks booked on the early bus.
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Sabores
This place serves Monteverde’s own brand of ice cream, plus coffee and a variety of homemade desserts. It’s the perfect place for a civilized scoop after a morning hike through primitive forest.
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Pizzería Tramonti
It’s worth the trip to this lovely stone house if you hanker for authentic Italian, as the pizzas are baked in a wood-fired oven, and the pastas and seafood are consistently fresh. The atmosphere is relaxed yet romantic.
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Cafe Chunches
Owned by an American biologist, this bookstore and curio shop has expanded to include a loft cafe with the best breakfasts in town. It has bagels, egg dishes, excellent coffee and smoothies too. There’s also a reliable laundry service, and the bulletin board is a good source of information.
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Morpho’s Restaurant
This romantic downtown restaurant spices up typical Costa Rican food by adding gourmet flair. Casados feature a variety of European-influenced sauces (think sea bass in a fruity demiglaze), and are served with a traditional batido (fruit shake) or a glass of wine. The menu also has a good variety of vegetarian dishes.
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Café Caburé
An Argentinean cafe set in the gorgeous Santa Fe–style lodge above the bat cave in Paseo de Stella. It specializes in creative and delicious wraps, tortillas stuffed with chicken mole, chipotle rubbed steak, curried potatoes, or lemon shrimp. The beef empanadas are fabulous, and it has magnificent gourmet truffles too! Seriously, the chocolate is high art.
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Dulce Marzo
Yummy home-baked sweets, wraps, sandwiches, good espresso drinks and a favorite-cafe feel make this one of those places to linger over a late-morning coffee as you skim the paper or your guidebook. Foreign magazines scatter the tables and there’s also a book exchange if you need reading material for the next leg of your trip. Located next door to Atmosphera gallery.
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Restaurante De Lucía
On the same road as El Jardín de las Mariposas, this Chilean-owned place is Monteverde’s most famous restaurant. Chef José Belmar, who speaks more languages then you and your friend put together, regularly chats to guests and asks for feedback on the cuisine, and dishes (a good mix of Italian and South American specialties) are always flawless, and reasonably priced.
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Sofia
Sofia has established itself as one of the best places in town with its Nuevo Latino cuisine – a modern fusion of traditional Latin American cooking styles. Think: sweet-and-sour fig roasted pork loin, plantain-crusted sea bass, and shrimp with green mango curry. The ambience is flawless – soft lighting, hip music, picture windows, romantic candle settings, sloping wooden ceilings, pastel paintwork and potent cocktails to lighten the mood.
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Musashi
Crave good sushi in the Tico rainforest? Look no further than this tiny restaurant in the heart of Santa Elena. Jesus, the Venezuelan owner, is a classically trained sushi chef, and his sushi boats are a good deal for groups. You’ll also find other favorite Japanese dishes including teppanyaki, teriyaki and lunch bento box specials.
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Tree House Restaurant & Café
Built around a half-century-old higuerón (fig) tree, this hip cafe serves up everything from BLTs to pizza to grilled tenderloin to seafood specials. It’s a lively space to have a bite, linger over wine and occasionally catch live music.
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Stella’s Bakery
Step into the terracotta entry way and browse temptations such as cinnamon rolls, cherry pie or the decadent frosted brownies. That spanakopita looks lovely too. It's all self service, except for the wine.
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Johnny's Pizzería
Johnny's has been serving up wood-fired, thin-crust pizzas since 1993. We're partial to its original Traviesa with artichoke hearts, mushrooms, red onion and tomato sauce spiced with oregano, but the Monteverde sounds good too. Think: prosciutto, green olives and home-grown organic leeks. There's a warm and elegant atmosphere, and the tapas bar upstairs serves mussels, tortilla soup and mixed ceviche.
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Restaurante Maravilla
Just about the cheapest and most authentic restaurant in Santa Elena, this charming soda serves typical Costa Rican specialties, including excellent meaty and vegetarian casados, pasta dishes and burgers. It can get crowded during lunch hour.
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Sabor Español
She’s from Barcelona. He’s from Ibiza. And together, Heri and Montse have created one of the most authentic and lovely Spanish restaurants in Costa Rica. They specialize in paella, papas bravas, fresh fish, meats and chicken. Wash it down with some of the best sangria this side of the Atlantic. The ambience is rustic, intimate and super tranquilo and well worth the trip 2km north of downtown.
reviewed
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La Chimera
Latin-infused tapas such as fried calamari with green chili-coconut sauce, slow-cooked white beans and pork, and sea bass with passionfruit cream and spicy mango chutney, are complemented by an excellent wine list featuring robust Chilean reds and crisp whites. Dine alfresco on the trellis patio or in the groovy, burnt orange dining room. The cocktails rock. Skip dessert.
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Trio's
A touch of class in sweet Santa Elena, this rather Ikea-chic dining room behind SuperCompro is perched in the trees and the menu also aims high. At first blush you may be shocked at how un-tipica it is. What with coconut curry, pork ribs slathered in guava barbecue sauce, chicken breasts stuffed with figs and goat cheese, and a Tico version of Cobb salad on the menu, but dishes deliver big time. Even the green salad is special – packed with avocado, hearts of palm and blessed with a passionfruit feta vinaigrette (yes, it works). The cocktails are tasty too, and for dessert it has an amazing looking mango split.
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