Finding Friendly Food

Our adventure begins in January 2024. We’ve rented a tree-top home in the jungle from friends. We expect to stay here the whole 9 weeks of our trip and take a few weekend side trips, but things don’t work out exactly as planned. That’s ok, though. It’s all part of the adventure. The house is in a nature reserve called Parajungla, just outside the town of Paraiso on the Nicoya Peninsula. We end up staying 5 weeks. The positives are that we witness the most amazing sunsets every night, have lots of visits from howler monkeys, hear bird sounds we’ve never encountered before, slow down to enjoy life, and I finally becaome a (temporary) morning person. 

We’ve planned to cook most nights to save money and control what we eat, but end up eating out at least a few nights every week. That gives us a good opportunity to explore the many restaurants in nearby towns. 

The restaurant we eat at the most, because we love it so much, is Mundo Milo in Junquillal. It is one of the safest, food intolerance friendly restaurants we find as one of the owners is gluten free. In fact, they have a whole page of their menu devoted to gluten-free/dairy-free and always a gluten-free/dairy-free brownie with vegan ice cream for dessert.  Considering we eat here 4 times, I should be able to tell you about a whole bunch of food on their menu, but I like the Grilled White Fish with Coconut Curry Sauce so much I almost always order it. Once I try the sauce over veggies. So good. There are a few things I want to try, so maybe you will test it out and let me know in the comments how the rest of the menu is. 

Besides our favorite restaurant in the area, Junquillal has a large beach where we go for walks most mornings and watch the frigate birds surf the waves. We stumble upon a turtle hatchery on the beach called Verdiazul which leads to one of the coolest experiences of the trip. We get to help release baby sea turtles into the ocean, protecting them from the many predators they have to contend with to make it into the water. The evening we join in, there are 65 eggs, 62 of which hatch. We go to a nearby beach, where the eggs had been laid, to release them. Only one got swooped up by a seagull as it began it’s journey. Pretty good for these little creatures. 

Other highlights of the Junquillal area are a grocery store, Super Junquillal, where I always find lentils, oat milk and gluten-free cookies, and a couple of restaurants we visit including La Ventana del Surfista and Restaurante Lochitos. Both have really good typical Costa Rican food and I feel great after eating there. Whiskey & Cleavers Grill House at the Tides Ocean Front Resort has a lovely view of the beach and sunset. It isn’t the easiest place for me to eat, but is perfect for sunset drinks.

Playa Negra is another one of our favorite beaches in the area and we go for many walks along this beach as well. As the surf isn’t always so gentle at Playa Negra, towards the end of our stay in this part of the country we stumble upon Playa Callejones where I spend hours floating in the gentle surf and have full size sea turtle sightings on multiple occasions. Sometimes it’s just a few feet away from me. Honestly, it’s a little too close for me to feel comfortable. But that’s just me and my special fears. 

My absolute favorite thing about Playa Negra is a little plant based gelato shop called Gelato Magico. I’m not ashamed to admit that we visit 5 times and enjoy every bite. My favorite is banana with cacao nibs and walnuts. A close second is snickers, chocolate with peanut. My boyfriend keeps getting a two scoop cup with chocolate and coconut. We likely taste all of their flavors and they are all swoon worthy. Not only do the owners have this amazingly delicious scoop shop, their main business is the restaurant next door, Mycelium. Everything we order is delicious. It’s asian fusion and their staff is well versed in gluten-free and dairy-free dining. I definitely find plenty of friendly food here. It’s our most expensive meal in Costa Rica and very much worth it. 

We frequent two other places in Playa Negra; Jalepeño Eatery and Market and Corazon. Jalapeño is very friendly for me with their chilaquiles, gluten-free bread for avocado toast (they are often out of the bread, though), vegan treats and oat milk for coffee drinks. Corazon has really good coffee and a cool vibe, but not much for a girl with my food intolerances to eat. 

A little further north from Playa Negra is Playa Avellanas. We first visit this area because we want to check out Surya Natural Market, a little store with lots of gluten-free and dairy-free food items. In fact, it’s the first place I find goat milk cheese and I am incredibly happy. They also stock gluten-free cookies, crackers, breads, treats and have a case of dairy-free ice cream. The store is part of La Esquina de Avellanas which is a kind of outdoor food court with a few different food and drink options including sushi, Brazilian tapiocas (like arepas or sandwiches), tacos and a bar. We try the tapiocas because they are gluten free and as long as you don’t order one with cheese, they’re dairy free too. If you’re looking for something on the beach, don’t miss La Purruja or the very popular Lola’s. We had a delicious meal at La Purruja on our first weekend in town. They feature typical food, but at beach front restaurant prices. 

Next stop for us is Nuevo Arenal at Lake Arenal, where we’re going to escape the elements, including insane wind gusts, giant ants and rodents.