Flavors of San Juan Food Tour

 On Friday morning we left the hotel and walked a few blocks to meet our tour group on a plaza that included this sculpture of a cat-giraffe, titled El Girafo. Our group included three Australians, two Brits, two Floridians, and two Coloradans.


Once our group had gathered, we headed first to Cuatro Sombras, where we enjoyed cortados (espresso with a shot of milk) and a grilled croissant filled with Black Forest ham, Havarti cheese and guava butter. Not beautiful, but SO good!


 Then we walked up to the Bastion de las Palmas for a shady plaza with a great view.



Mango tree overhead 

There our guides provided Sr. Paleta’s passion-fruit popsicles, which were very refreshing. That’s our main guide in the background.

Then we walked to an interesting art gallery/restaurant called Café el Punto for two appetizers. The first was alcapurria, a root vegetable fritter filled with ground beef. The two men shown are from England, and they’re also going on our cruise.  We enjoyed getting to know them and comparing cruise experiences.

The second appetizer was ceviche made with grouper, lime, avocado, and sriracha. Both were very tasty.


Just across the street we saw this plaque, which we had to show to Rachel.


For the main course, we walked to Casa Luna, where we were greeted with piña coladas. Then we were each given wooden mortars and pestles to grind fried plantains as a base for mofongo, to which we added criollo chicken.  After adding the chicken to the mortar, we upended the contents onto the plate. Rice and beans were the sides.  


Finally, we went to Chocobar Cortes for dessert, a really delicious chocolate quesito (puff pastry filled with chocolate and cream cheese).


We would highly recommend this tour!  We learned about Puerto Rico’s history along the way and took photos of colorful buildings and scenery.

Amazing crocheted screen 

Narrowest house, built in a former alley 

Note cruise ships in the background 




Christmas is celebrated until the San Sebastián Festival in the third week of January.

Bougainvillea are everywhere!

That’s all for now! Thanks for reading.

Comments

  1. RachelJanuary 9, 2026 at 12:00 PM

    OMG I LOVE the photo of Dad with the paleta! So cute. This sounds like a very good tour with yummy treats. Glad you enjoyed it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. EleanorJanuary 10, 2026 at 3:15 AM

    I didn’t know they grew mangoes, so cool! I loved all the quesito dishes I had while in Colombia.

    ReplyDelete

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