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Eating
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For a Central American city of its size, San JosAŠ has a surprising variety of
restaurants
. Many of the best places are in the relatively high-income and cosmopolitan neighbourhoods of
San Pedro
, along
Paseo ColA?n
, and in
EscazA?
, but wherever you choose, eating out in San JosAŠ can set your budget back on its haunches. The 23 percent tax on restaurant food can deliver a real death-blow, so it's cheapest to eat in the centre, at the sodas and snack bars, where the tax doesn't apply. A sit-down lunch of the
plato del dAa
at a
soda
will rarely set you back more than US$5, or for a quick sugar fix you could feast on
churros
dispensed over the counter. Healthier choices include
empanadas
and sandwiches to take out - combine this with a stop at one of the fruit stalls on any street corner and you've got a quick, cheap lunch.
CafAŠs
also abound: some, like
GiacomAn
, have old-world European aspirations; others, like
Spoon
, are resolutely Costa Rican, with
Josefinos
piling in to order birthday cakes or grab a
coffee
. Of the major
ice-cream
chains
Pops
is the best, with particularly good fruit flavours.
Working
Josefinos
eat their main meal between noon and 2pm, when sodas especially can get very busy. Many restaurants close at 3pm and open again for the evening. In the listings we have given a phone number only for places where you might need to
reserve
a table. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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Costa Rica,
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