Apartado 12-5655
Santa Elena, Puntarenas, Costa Rica
(506) 2645-5125
http://www.fondavela.com
We were super tired when we arrived at the hotel, and decided just to have dinner at the hotel's restaurant, Fireside Room. When we were checking at the hotel, they were taking pictures of the hotel lobby for advertisement. They asked Dr. P and I "pretending" that we were checking in. We weren't exactly "pretending" because we were really checking in. But from time to time, they would ask us to freeze for them to take pictures.
When we got to the restaurant, they photography crew had moved into the restaurant for more advertising pictures. So there we were again. They asked us to pose like we were having dinner with some of the specially prepared dishes. I got a chicken (?) tower dish.
Dr. P got a steak dish. They offered us the food for free after the photo shoot. But the food had been sitting out for a while, and they were cold. So we declined the nice offer and ordered our own food.
Dinner Roll
Our dinner started with some warm and soft dinner roll.
White Wine ($5.00) / Red Wine ($5.00)
We ordered a glass of white wine and a glass of red wine. No idea what kind of wines, but they were both very good.
Ensalade de palmito / Heart of Palm Salad ($4.50)
Corazones de palmito con aguacate, lechuga, tomate y pepino
Mix of heart of palm, avocado, lettuce, tomato and cucumber
Both Dr. P and I love heart of palm. Heart of Palm Salad was very simple. It came with avocado, a few lettuce, a slice of tomato, and some cucumber. Fresh vegetable just tasted good.
Balsamic Vinegar & Olive Oil
The salad was served with balsamic vinegar and olive oil as dressing. In fact, all the salad we had in Costa Rica was served this way. They don't eat any ranch, thousand island, Italian, blue cheese, or none of those other dressings.
A giant "thing" was flying around the room. Dr. P thought it was a bat. Some people (and I) thought it was a bird. Then the "thing" stopped on a painting. It was a giant moth!
Have you seen moth that big? We have!
Lomito Chimichurri ($15.00)
Con aceite de oliva perejil y ajo
Cut of beef served with a garnish of chimichurri - a blend of garlic, parsley, and olive oil
Dr. P ordered Lomito Chimichurri. I never knew what chimichurri is before. It's garlic, parsley, and olive oil, and it was so tasty! I love the beef in Costa Rica. The meat tasted very lean and clean. Grass fed beef does taste better.
Filet Menier ($12.00)
Filete de pescado a la plancha, benado con mantequilla, limon, perejil, arroz y vegetales
Grilled fish filet bathed in butter, lemon, parsley, served rice and vegetables
I ordered Filet Menier. They only use local ingredients, and everything just tasted so good. The fish filet was seasoned with salt, pepper, and lemon only. The flavor was not complex at all, and it was simply delicious!
Flan de coco / Coconut Flan ($3.00)
Coconut Flan was yummy. I just wish it was a bigger piece.
We weren't really expecting much from a hotel restaurant. We thought the price would be expensive for some mediocre food. Turned out that the food was delicious, and price was very reasonable. We were so happy with our dinner that we decided to come back again the following evening.
Oh and one thing I really like about CR is that we don't need to pay tips at restaurants. 10% (I think?) service charge is already added on to the bill. So much easier that way.
Ok since we are talking about tips, I always wonder why do we need to tip in America. Why do we need to tip waiter/waitress? Why do we need to tip hair dresser? Why do we need to tip driver? Aren't they just doing their jobs? Why do we have to pay them extra? If we are tipping them because they serve people, then.... What about postman? What about people who work at retail stores? What about doctors and nurses? Why don't we tip them as well? They are also serving people. I don't know. I just think the whole concept of tipping is unnecessary and stupid. Is it just me, or anybody else feel the same way as I do?
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America is one of the few countries that have tipping. When I was visiting Australia, there was no tips. First I felt really werid, then I got used to it and loved it.
ReplyDeleteThe Australian guy who we shared the shuttle with said the same thing!
He said that they don't have to tip in Australia. When he visited America, he really hated tipping.
He said, "In Australia, when I have $5, I can go into a restaurant and order $5 of food.
But in American, I have to figure out how much I need to tip before I can order my food."
There's no tipping in Taiwan either. I love it there, too!
It's probably an incentive for the server to try to provide better service. If the service is so bad, I heard it's totally acceptable not to leave any tip! Japan is so nice that tipping at restaurant is unnecessary and discouraged, especially when the service is always superb.
ReplyDeleteLooks like you two got "forced" to do modeling work for free! It must be something memorable for the honeymoon.
The chicken tower dish looks interesting. Is that chicken or bread?
See, that's the thing I don't understand.
So they try to provide good service for the tips?
Shouldn't they just provide good service to begin with since it's their job? (Like Japan!)
Yup, I would love to see the ad. haha....
The chicken dish looked a little scary for me. It's too.... artificial looking.
I think it's chicken with breaded crust then fried.
Well, I don't know about hairdressers, drivers, etc., but we need to tip waiters/waitresses because oftentimes they work at minimum wage or lower and are expected to make the rest of their living wages through tips. They're not keeping all of the tips you're giving them too--at the end of the night, they have to tip the busboy as well, among other things. It's certainly no lucrative job considering all of the stress and exhaustion.
ReplyDeleteI did waitressing jobs before so yes, I understand how the tipping system work.
I think they need to pay waitstaff the proper amount and just get rid of the tipping system.
It's their JOB to provide good service. It shouldn't be just for money.
Fast food restaurant workers don't get tips. Do you not expect good service from them?
Using myself for example. Now I am working at an animal hospital. I don't get tips.
But I try to do the best I can to provide the best service for client and their pets because that's my job!
I think everyone should just do their job, with or without tips.
I would like to see tips system disappeared in USA too!!! why tips for better services when it suppose to be any way and yeah, the owner of places should pay them more!!
ReplyDeleteespecially when those tips sometimes can be another great place's meal cost already!!!!!!!!
K.J
Exactly what I meant! We are SUPPOSED to get good service in restaurants anyway!
還是你最了解我的感覺啊！呵呵