The Tico Cuisine

Costa Rican cuisine is honest and down-to-earth — not haute cuisine, but hearty, fresh, and filling. The base of almost every meal: rice and black beans. Added to this are fresh fruits, plantains, and depending on the region, meat, fish, or coconut milk.

★★★ Gallo Pinto — The National Dish

Literally "spotted rooster" — but there's no rooster in it. Gallo Pinto is Costa Rica's breakfast: fried rice with black beans, seasoned with Salsa Lizano (the secret ingredient every Tico has in the cupboard). Accompanied by scrambled eggs, sweet plantains (plátanos maduros), sour cream (natilla), and a tortilla. Every morning, in every hotel, in every soda — Gallo Pinto IS Costa Rica.

★★★ Casado — The Daily Menu

The Casado (literally: "Married" — because it unites everything) is the Ticos' lunch: a plate with rice, black beans, salad, plantain, and a protein choice: chicken (pollo), beef (carne), pork (cerdo), or fish (pescado). In sodas for 3,000–5,000 CRC (5–9 USD), in tourist restaurants double that.

★★ Ceviche

On the Pacific coast, Ceviche is everywhere: raw fish (usually sea bass/corvina), marinated in lime juice with cilantro, onions, and chili. Served on crackers (galletas) or plain. Fresh and refreshing — the perfect beach food.

★★ Chifrijo

Costa Rica's most popular bar snack: A bowl with rice, beans, crispy pork belly (chicharrón), Pico de Gallo (tomato-onion salsa), and tortilla chips. Invented in a bar in Tibás in the 1990s, now everywhere. Best with an Imperial beer.

★★ Caribbean Cuisine

On the Caribbean coast, the cuisine is a universe of its own: Rice and Beans (cooked with coconut milk — quite different from Gallo Pinto!), Jerk Chicken, Patí (Jamaican meat patties), Rondon (a rich seafood stew with coconut milk), and fresh coconut at every corner.