EL TUCAN By Doni — Restaurant in Tamarindo

We had our best meal in Costa Rica so far at this authentic local food place. I had the breaded fish and my spouse had the breaded chicken. Each comes with a salad, rice, beans and a fried plantain. We also had the fresh (and no sugar added or processed) orange with carrot juice and the lime with mint juices.

Everything was SO fresh and tasty. There was even this green spicy sauce available that you could add to any of the food that gave it a little extra kick. I was worried the fish would fried to oblivion (like fish and chips is) but it was nothing like that. It was perfect.

We’ve been here for several days already and paid for restaurants sometimes four times as expensive as this one, and none of them were as good.

Also the owner, Doni, is an absolute sweetheart. Came up to chat with us and you could tell he is so passionate about his cooking and providing a memorable experience for people. I love seeing that in...

2 out of 10

After few days of local food we wanted to try something different and we found this nice place in a market close to our accommodation.

I am paneer lover so after chatting a bit with the person in the counter we decided to go for the dish of the day which included a curry and rice, a paneer tikka and naan.

The curry of the day was decent, good quality considering price and quantity. However, I was very disappointed with the “paneer” as I would not even call it paneer, it was melting, gummy and was more similar to mozzarella than to real paneer. The sauce was also not tasting like Indian food at all. The waiter told us that the recipe was the chef special… which I hope it’s not true because it was probably the worst “paneer” I’ve had in my life.

I would not...

I came here for dinner tonight with my partner, and we both got the Special of the Day for ₡3500 (approx. $7 USD). Today the special was chicken + potatoes in a tomato sauce. Not only was the customer service splendid (the two workers there were so friendly, one of their names was Doni), but the food was fabulous!!! We were so happy to try authentic Costa Rican food, and at such an affordable price. We would highly highly recommend this spot for anyone wanting to try some yummy authentic...