tourist value lunch: costa rica fixed price buffet @ cafetal de la luz
Here I am, reporting from San Jose, Costa Rica. This Hostel Pangea has free internet for us so I thought why not take advantage of my first day of dining and touring the city than end it with a report to the Esteemed Grub Club.
I think my lunch today was worth noting, because we were quite jetlagged and managed to find a well rounded good value of a buffet lunch in a relatively luxurious ambience. The Cafetal de La Luz is located across the street from the Hostel Pangea at Avenida 11 and Calle 3 Bis in the heart of San Jose. The Cafetal is on the ground floor of a hotel that looks nice enough for business folks and executives. The decor is quite lush and inviting, with the tables extending into a gated, shaded patio. They have a full menu of salads, soups, gourmet sandwhiches, hot entrees of chicken and fish but we opted for the all-you-can-eat fixed price lunch. For $6 american dollars (plus tip & tax...all figured out for you on the receipt) you get all you can eat goodness from appetizer to dessert. It was a "comida tipica" type of set up, with a nice beef consomme (con potatoes), chicharrones (pork fried up salty), chicken in a nice sauce, warm breadsticks, a seafood rice dish, plaintain (that were kind of dry and crustry but still had its unmistakable starchy goodness), a delicious papaya salsa, a negligible cauliflower and vegetable pickled in some sauce, flan and a mix fruit berry compote. The service was well-paced and impeccable. The bathroom, just adjacent to the hotel lobby, was clean and upscale, relative to our hostel bathroom. :) Another dollar each gave us a yummy "Cas" fruit drink that was sweet and tasted faintly like guava juice, with a hint of tartness. Since my travel mate had expected some rice and beans, the waiter was nice enough to bring us a little bowl of quite fragrant black beans for her.
All in all. Not a bad deal, especially if your are staying in the hostels/hotels in the area. Or you can walk four blocks up to the supermercado (supermarket) and buy yourself some rice krispies, cap n crunch, milk and call it a day.
I think my lunch today was worth noting, because we were quite jetlagged and managed to find a well rounded good value of a buffet lunch in a relatively luxurious ambience. The Cafetal de La Luz is located across the street from the Hostel Pangea at Avenida 11 and Calle 3 Bis in the heart of San Jose. The Cafetal is on the ground floor of a hotel that looks nice enough for business folks and executives. The decor is quite lush and inviting, with the tables extending into a gated, shaded patio. They have a full menu of salads, soups, gourmet sandwhiches, hot entrees of chicken and fish but we opted for the all-you-can-eat fixed price lunch. For $6 american dollars (plus tip & tax...all figured out for you on the receipt) you get all you can eat goodness from appetizer to dessert. It was a "comida tipica" type of set up, with a nice beef consomme (con potatoes), chicharrones (pork fried up salty), chicken in a nice sauce, warm breadsticks, a seafood rice dish, plaintain (that were kind of dry and crustry but still had its unmistakable starchy goodness), a delicious papaya salsa, a negligible cauliflower and vegetable pickled in some sauce, flan and a mix fruit berry compote. The service was well-paced and impeccable. The bathroom, just adjacent to the hotel lobby, was clean and upscale, relative to our hostel bathroom. :) Another dollar each gave us a yummy "Cas" fruit drink that was sweet and tasted faintly like guava juice, with a hint of tartness. Since my travel mate had expected some rice and beans, the waiter was nice enough to bring us a little bowl of quite fragrant black beans for her.
All in all. Not a bad deal, especially if your are staying in the hostels/hotels in the area. Or you can walk four blocks up to the supermercado (supermarket) and buy yourself some rice krispies, cap n crunch, milk and call it a day.
posted by jblogs at 9/06/2004 05:57:00 PM
2 Comments:
glad you made it safely and thanks for the international contribution! i just got back from hawaii and will be posting some entries on kauai grub spots. stay tuned!
Cool! I´ll be sharing more now that I´m actually IN Concepcion. Let´s just say Chileans really like mayonnaise on everything. And mushed up avocado on sandwiches.
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