La Comida de Bocas del Toro

Food! Me encanta la comida! I truly do have a love affair with food. I tried quite a few of the restaurants here during my first week. I still have more to test out, but this week I’m trying to make use of my kitchen. I went a bit over my food budget last week 😐 So far, here are five of my favorite restaurants in no particular order.

1. Bibi’s on the Beach

Bibi’s is on Isla Carenero, literally beachside. They have a deck over the water and it’s a great place for happy hour and to watch the sunset. Bibi’s was the first place that I had a decent side salad since I’ve been here. I didn’t realize how much I missed real vegetables until I had theirs. At most places the sides are only french fries, patacones or rice, so a decent salad was quite refreshing. Even though the salad was delicious, I have to admit that the fries were the best I’ve had in a while. They seemed like they were fresh cut as opposed to frozen and had the perfect amount of firmness. I like more potatoe-y french fries and they were just the right size. They also have a great happy hour deal on drinks. I ordered the Camarones al Ajillo (garlic shrimp). It was so delicious. I went back for happy hour with my classmates one day and their margaritas are great as well!

2. Pollo Rosti

I think Pollo Rosti is going to be my go to place when I don’t want to cook. You can get half a roasted chicken and more fries than you can possibly eat for $7.50. Not the healthiest side, but it works when you’re hungry. The chickens are a good size as well, so for me, since I don’t eat that much in one sitting, It lasted me a couple of days. The fries aren’t great warmed over, but the chicken is delicious.

3. MK Restaurante

After the catamaran cruise with my classmates last week, we grabbed dinner at this cute french restaurant on the water. It was recommended by one of my classmates for their burgers. I don’t eat beef so I decided to try the pescado entero. It was amazing! It came with rice and some type of pickled veggie side. I have no idea what kind of vegetables they were but it was wonderful! As a complimentary dessert, they had these delicious meringue cookies. We inhaled them so quickly that I forgot to get a picture 🙂 For the beef eaters out there, the burgers looked pretty good as well. The presentation of all the dishes was beautiful.

4. La Buguita

La Buguita had an interesting menu. First off, they have a great happy hour menu. Two national beers for $3.30 or two cocktails for $6.60. I didn’t have any of their cocktails but judging from my companions, they were muy bien 🙂 What I did try was their fresh juice, which was perfecto! I had the “Pick me up” which was a mixture of pineapple and ginger juice. It definitely got me going lol. They also have smoothies which looked pretty tasty as well. Later, I ended up ordering dinner. I got the Coconut Curry with Chicken & Veggies. It was fantastic.  The curry was more along the lines of an Indian curry, but you could still taste Caribbean flavors in it.

5. Capitan Caribe

One of the first places I went on the island was Capitan Caribe. They have a menu of burgers that are literally exploding with flavor. I ate my burger so fast that I forgot to take a picture, but trust me, it was amazing! I ordered the fish burger. It was topped with a cucumber-lemon chutney, crispy grated potatoes, sour cream and veggies. The bun they use is coco bread baked locally here in Bocas. They also have a vast menu of smoothies that they make fresh with the option of adding rum for an extra punch 🙂 It reminded me of the stationery food trucks that you can find in places like Austin. They have lights strung above make shift tables and it’s really beautiful at dusk to sit out and watch the passerby’s on the street. They also have a seating area in the back near the water I believe, although I didn’t make it back there.

So far, the food here is great. Everything is reasonably priced. Since my trip is so long, I have to pace myself a bit more. I can’t eat out like I normally would on a vacation, but I’m excited to try a couple more places on the island before I leave. There are so many restaurants here and so many cuisines are represented.  Ciao y buen provecho!