If you’ve read any of my other posts, you may gather that a crowded, touristy town like Tamarindo isn’t somewhere I’d choose to spend a lot of time. And you’d be right. We find ourselves stopping in this town quite often though. Not only does it have big, western-style grocery stores, it also has the closest ATMs for the first 5-weeks of our trip and is the location of Avis, who we rent our cars from in Costa Rica.
On our first visit to Tamarindo, it happens to be lunchtime and we strike gold. It ends up being the only place we eat in the whole town. We eat there four times. Shaka. Everything they sell is gluten free and most of the options are dairy free. This little gem is run by a daughter and mom (the daughter speaks fluent English) and they are conscious of everything they put in their homemade foods. My favorite meal is the Arepa Reina de Papiada with chicken, avocado, vegan mayo and mustard. Also love the Arepa with hummus and roasted veggies and the Arepa with eggs, tomatoes and onion. Their desserts are top notch as well. And if you’re in the mood for a coffee, their drinks are made with coffee beans from Tamarindo Coffee Roasters.
Speaking of Tamarindo Coffee Roasters, we stop in on one of our first visits to the town to try their coffee. We both order oat milk lattes and they are some of the best we’ve ever had.
After checking out a few of the big grocery stores in Tamarindo, we settle on Automercado. It’s a western-style big grocery store and has a good selection of gluten-free cookies and crackers, plus a few options for goat and sheep milk cheese. There are also two ATMs in the store. In the same shopping center is a new kiosk selling plant based meals and baked treats, but we never get the opportunity to try them.
Finding Friendly Food 
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