The best thing when visiting a destination is to know a local who will give you insider tips on “not-to-be-missed” things to see, do and eat.
When we visited San Juan, Puerto Rico in April, we did not know a local.
Luckily, we found Spoon Food Tours, and booked the San Juan Drive Around Food Tour for a 3-hour long historical food tasting journey for a Tuesday at 12 noon.
After meeting at the appointed location in Old San Juan, we learned that Spoon Food Tours is a newish culinary tour company in Puerto Rico, owned by Paulina Salach and her husband Gustavo Antonetti. They are charming, fun foodies who are also co-creators of the of the semi-annual Puerto Rico Restaurant Week gastronomic celebration. Normally the tours are small groups in a van but on our Tuesday tour we happened to be the only guests. Paulina guided and Gustavo drove. Together, they showed us the historical highlights of San Juan while teaching us about the local food.
Paulina and Gustavo took us on a progressive lunch tour in three different areas of San Juan. The first stop was La Cueva Del Mar, (Cave of the Sea) on Loiza Street. It’s a funky seafood restaurant serving the local crowd, and was packed at lunch.
Along with our fish tacos, empanadas, and local beers, Paulina explained the local sauces. The big squeeze bottle is a sauce made of ketchup or chili sauce and mayonnaise.
Next we drove out of the city to Pií±ones, an area located along Route 187, which runs along Puerto Rico’s north coast and connects San Juan and Loíza. It was a scenic drive to a more rustic side of the Puerto Rico, where locals go to enjoy fried delicacies and cheap beer right along the beach.
Paulina and Gustavo took us to the Soleil Beach Club, a more upscale beachfront restaurant offering traditional Puerto Rican cuisine in the middle of Pií±ones, where we learned all about mofongo, the fried plantain-based dish.
Mofongo De Pollo En Salsa Criolla (Chicken mofongo with creole sauce). Mofongo is very filling. We washed it down with fresh coconut water, sipped directly from the coconut.
Next, we drove back to Old San Juan, and hopped out for a walk with Paulina pointing out the historical sites and fun facts, such as the blue cobblestones paving most of the narrow streets. The cobbles are adoquine, a blue stone cast from furnace slag brought from Spain as a ballast on Spanish ships.
There are many cats in Old San Juan. If you look closely, many will have a tiny notch in their ear like this one. (It’s hard to see in this photo, but if you take a Spí¼n Food Tour, you will have to ask about the cats.)
Our last stop was at the Hotel El Convento, a luxury hotel that was formerly Carmelite convent founded more than 350 years ago. Inside the hotel – -overlooking the open-air courtyard — is the El Picoteo tapas restaurant, where we enjoyed Chocolate Mousse Cake and the Tres Leches sponge cake soaked in three kinds of milk. The next time we visit San Juan we are making a beeline to El Picoteo for tapas and wine.
It was the perfect place to savor a cup of Puerto Rican coffee while learning what makes it so special.
We highly recommend Spí¼n Food Tours for those visiting San Juan, whether for a day or a week. It’s not just a food tour, it’s like being shown around the city with a local friend who happens to be a foodie and a fantastic host.
What’s your favorite food experience in San Juan? Please share in comments below.
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