Mexican : )
Recommended by the hotel, so what could go wrong? Tiny little place, 7 tables inside, 3 outside. Nothing on the menu was vegetarian, so I ordered the fajitas with no chicken or beef. The waiter said "I'm not sure we can do that, let me check". He spoke decent English. Well, here comes the chef out from the kitchen.
All my expectations of what he was going to say were completely wrong. He spoke perfect English. "I can make the fajitas for you, but I don't think you'll be happy with them. It would be just lots of peppers and onions. I can make lots of things that you'll be much happier with." He goes on to describe a few things, adding extras in place of the meat & cheese instead of just leaving them off. I went with the giant burrito, hot sauce on the size.
Wow is all I could say. Loads of spices (not hot), this thing was a flavour bomb! Tried the hot sauce and it was like fire (muy caliente!), so I used it conservatively.
The chef came out of the kitchen a couple of times to talk to people, and both lighten & enliven the vibe. There were two other tables with people from my hotel and two ladies next to me who just flew in from Nova Scotia. It was definitely a hit with the gringos.
Just looked up the restaurant on
Trip Advisor, and it's the top dog in Alajuela. Couldn't agree more. I was half tempted to order another.
Time for bed. 21 hours of travel ahead.
