Lunch - Northern Roots Bar & Restaurante

(Click on images to enlarge).

This newly opened restaurant is located in Santa Gertrudis Norte and is about a 7 minute drive from our house near Grecia.

We recently ate lunch here and will be going back for sure. They have started offering breakfast on the weekends.

The menu (prices are in colones - 1,000 colones is about $1.87 USD):

Lance ordered arroz con camarones (rice with shrimp), accompanied with a salad and fries:

For me, I got the pasta salsa rosada con salmon (pink sauce pasta with salmon):

We accompanied our meals with glasses of chardonnay. 

Then - dessert! Crème brûlée de vainilla. We shared one portion. It was so delicious that it disappeared before I took a photo of it.

The ambience of Northern Roots is really nice.  There is an outdoor eating area with a lovely view.

Personable and friendly staff. Large parking area. We are fortunate to have lots of excellent restaurants to choose from in and around Grecia.

Lunch - Botijas, Grecia, Costa Rica

 Last Sunday, our choice of restaurant for lunch was Botijas in Grecia. They have a cool logo:

I can’t find a clear translation of the name. But no matter - it’s the food and service that counts. And they are a ten on both counts!

Again, as per usual in Costa Rica, the entrance to the restaurant is unassuming. They have a Covid-19 hand washing station and all staff were wearing masks, as - of course - were we. 

We were greeted by the chef (I think), who introduced himself and showed us around the eating areas. The restaurant stretches quite a way to the back, with lots of seating. We chose a table at the rear. The decor is funky - lots of colour, mismatched chairs and tables, interesting photographs on the walls. We spied Anthony Bourdain featured in a couple of pictures.

After being seated, we were given our menus and glasses of ice water with lime slices. I already knew what I wanted to order because I had perused the menu online beforehand. First order of business - red wine sangria!

The portions were generous as you can see.

They grow their own herbs and greens in flats and several times I saw cooks coming out to snip off pieces for a meal they were preparing.

Lance ordered the pechuga de pollo al curry New Delhi style:

I had a taste of Lance’s curry and it was very tasty. It came with an additional separate sauce surrounded by sesame seeds.

And for me it was the Seis Dos, Hong Kong style:

Presentations were beautiful. Both meals were delicious. Look at the kumquats with basil leaves inserted in them! My protein was pork. At the bottom of the stack were flat rice noodles, then bok choy and other greens, the pork and then crispy rice noodles. 

This is our new favourite restaurant. Highly recommend that you give it a try. 

Click on images to enlarge.

Lunch - Vuelta al Mundo

It was Lance’s turn to select a place to eat lunch this weekend and he chose Vuelta al Mundo (Around the World). We stumbled by chance on this hostel/restaurant several months ago. We were walking across from the Grecia park and saw a menu sign displayed on the street. It was impressive. We had no idea there was a hostel with a restaurant at this location.

As is usual in Costa Rica, you can’t judge a book by its cover. Upon entering, we walked through a large area and then out into a garden area with lots of tables for seating. Service is very attentive. Since we had already looked at their menu online, we knew what we wanted to order.

Here is the menu:

Drinks: Lance ordered a Belgium beer and I asked for a mojito. He said the beer was really good, especially since it has a 6.6% alcohol content, which is more than a Canadian (5%) or an American beer (4%)! My mojito was refreshing, with fresh mint and lime.

Lance’s beer glass matched his beer bottle:

We ordered a selection of four Argentinian empanadas - two chorizo and two ham, cheese and mushroom - to go (para llevar):

For our lunch, Lance selected the tempura with shrimp and vegetables and I ordered the green curry with fish. Both orders came with jasmine rice. My curry was excellent - loaded with vegetables and fish in a coconut sauce. As is usual in Costa Rica, restaurant food portions are large and we asked to have quite a bit of the tempura wrapped up to go.

As an added bonus, there is a resident cat! He/She came over to us for a pat several times. This cat has the most beautiful coloration:

There were some Octoberfest food and drink offerings which we didn’t know about beforehand and the choices looked yummy also:

The outdoor (but covered) eating area was decorated for Halloween:

Some photos of the hostel/restaurant:

If you check out the menu, you will see they offer dishes from “around the world”, including Canadian Quebec poutine! 

We highly recommend this restaurant and will be going back to try out more of their menu selections. 

Click on images to enlarge.