Our Gourmet Dinners
THE FULL DINNER SERVICE IS TEMPORARILY NOT AVAILABLE/LATE MEALS AVAILABLE ANYTIME
We are in the process of opening a new restaurant - which will serve Asia fusion food with a focus on Vietnamese and Cantonese ideas. Once the restaurant is opened we expect to bring back our well reviewed 3 course dinners.
For those who need a dinner and don't want to go out we can provide an "anytime" meal but we need reservations by the previous day - just let us know if you have any dietary requests such as "vegetarian" or "no cilantro". Our "anytime" meals are $12.
There are no restaurants within walking distance. Otherwise there are a host of restaurants in Alajuela and two we like - Jalapenos (Mexican run by a super nice Colombian from New York) and Princessa Marina (primarily fish but a wide menu at excellent prices) - both are a short taxi ride from here and an easy taxi return. Taxis available both ends withing 2 minutes usually.
WHEN WE RESUME DINNER SERVICE HERE . . .
Small hotels like ours do not have large staffs or big kitchens but, with some planning (advanced reservations), daily buying, fresh local ingredients and menu preparation we can put together some of the best meals you may have in Costa Rica.
Due to the small size of the hotel, dinner is a set menu varying nightly served at a single seating at 7:30pm.
Dinner planning
. . . starts with a count of how many guests we have that day and an assessment of who we will be shopping for today and what ingredients will work together across some broad menu ideas.
On Fridays, for example we are likely to be at the Farmers Market and our favorite fish monger is likely to have excellent Red Snapper or Corvina or the infamous Bearded Brotulo. We will then shop for a complimentary first course, perhaps a Malinche Roll or and Asian Salad and ponder a desert that will work with the theme for the night which include French Country, South East Asian Authentic, California Fusion.
If Chef Nhi is not in that night, sorry, we will not compromise with a substitute
. . . so dinner is not available every night.
A note from Your Waiter
"Some years ago, I announced that we had sold our first 2 dinners. 6 weeks later we served those 2 dinners and the guests were pretty happy. If only they knew the events that led up to that moment!
This dinner took literally weeks to prepare and started with the observation that we can not live with this *%$#@&! (70 year old) kitchen. This simple observation quickly caused repercussions. The crummy old kitchen was completely demolished and rebuilt. We found a commercial oven and made really complicated decisions like "um er who should do the cooking?" and "who should be the waiter?".
Thousands of dinners later, Chef Nhi will be bringing you the freshest ingredients likely as not prepared in a way you may not expect and tasting better than you imagined.
Heck, I come here just for the food!"
Signed: "Your Waiter"
Here's a few examples from previous menus
Our first courses might include
- Roast squash soup
- Vichyssoise
- Farmers Market spinach salad
- Asian Salad with 5 spice shrimp
- Green Papaya Salad
- Malinche Roll
- Baked Tomato Bruscetta etc etc . . .
Our main course might include
- Apple Mustard Chicken
- Roast Corvina/mushroom ragout
- Sizzling Trout/Butter caper
- Moroccan Chicken
- Pucks Pork Chop/5 spice
- Grilled Pork Tenderloin/Sage butter ad infinitum . . .
Our desert course might include
- Frozen mango cream/fresh mango
- Tropical Fruit Crepes
- Fresh Fruit Eclair/Chocolate Nibs
- Creme Brulee
- Chocolate Pot de Creme
- Flourless Chocolate torte and more and more
And of course a selection of wines including
- Mapu Sauvignon Blanc from Chile
- Ruffino Orvietto from Italy
- Valle Casablanca Cono Sur Chardonnay from Chile
- Trivento Malbec Rose from Argentina
- Gascon Tempranillo from Argentina
- Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais Villages from France
- Trivento Malbec-Cabernet Reserva from Argentina and so it goes
Soft drinks, San Pelegrino and beer . . . and stuff . . .