Enjoy the Fresh, Natural Cuisine of Costa Rica
Costa Rican cuisine is generally quite healthy and balanced with herbs and light spices. Food is not spicy, similar to Mexican, as many travelers expect. Rice and beans is the basic variable in almost all Costa Rican cuisine.   Costa Rican cuisine features abundant seafood, chicken, pork, and beef accompanied by tropical fruits and vegetables.   Dishes are simply prepared using fresh ingredients and combining foods in surprising ways.
A traditional Costa Rican dish usually served at breakfast is called Gallo Pinto
Gallo Pinto
Breakfast at Villa Cabomar features fresh tropical fruit served on the patio surrounded by lush tropical vegetation
Breakfast at Villa Cabomar
Visitors to Villa Cabomar enjoy an abundance of fresh tropical fruit.
Tropical Fruits
At Villa Cabomar, guests enjoy one of Costa Rica’s most traditional dishes – gallo pinto (painted rooster)  Served for breakfast, this dish of black beans and rice is seasoned with cilantro, onions and peppers, and is sometimes accompanied by fried or scrambled eggs, sour cream, and corn tortillas.

Costa Rica offers an abundance of fruits.  Guests will find a variety of these fruits at Villa Cabomar including papaya, mango, piña (pineapple), sandía (watermelon), melón (cantaloupe), moras (blackberries), limones (limes), guayaba (guava), maracuya (passion fruit), and aguacates (avocados). Many of these fruits are served plain or as a refresco, a blended drink with ice.
Visitors to Puntarenas can enjoy a wide variety of fresh seafood from the Pacific Ocean.
Fresh Costa Rican seafood
The casado consists of meat, fish, chicken or pork chop with rice, beans, green salad, fried ripe plantain is usually priced under $5.00
Typical Costa Rican meal - Casado
Visitors to Puntarenas enjoy ceviche - fresh seafood marinated in lime juice - the signature dish of Puntarenas
Ceviche - a Puntarenas delicacy

Puntarenas offers a variety of moderate priced restaurants within walking of distance of Villa Cabomar.  Menus are generally pretty standard and a full meal with drinks and the mandatory 10 percent tip costs about $12 - $15.  Because Puntarenas is the center of Costa Rica’s seafood industry on the Pacific Coast, fresh fish, shrimp and other shellfish are almost always on the menu and are less expensive than in other parts of Costa Rica.  The typical ways of preparing fish, shrimp and chicken dishes include:

·         Al ajillo – sautéed with garlic and olive oil (or butter)

·         A la plancha – broiled

·         Con salsa de hongos – mushroom sauce

·         Al Diablo – sautéed with garlic, hot pepper, and olive oil (or butter)


No one can visit Puntarenas without trying ceviche.  Ceviche is prepared by marinating fresh seafood in lime juice seasoned with sweet peppers, onions, and cilantro.  This dish is on all restaurant and bar menus.  Varieties include “ceviche de pescado” (sea bass or red snapper), ceviche de camarones (shrimp), and ceviche mixto (combination of fish and shrimp).


Most of the restaurants in Puntarenas offer a traditional meal called “casado” (married).  This was the meal prepared by wives for their husbands who worked in the fields.  The meal consists of beef, chicken, fish or pork chop with rice, beans, lettuce and tomato salad, and “platano maduro” (ripe fried plantain).   This meal, usually eaten at lunchtime, seldom costs more than $5.00