The tale of Santa Teresa’s food story started when the town was still a very small and isolated coastal community rather than an international destination as it is today. Frank’s Place, which opened in about 1997 and was reported by locals to be the first restaurant in the town, is one of the earliest restaurants tied to the area. With almost no infrastructure, terrible roads, and fewer visitors than you could count on a couple of fingers back then in Santa Teresa, eateries catered to locals, surfers and fishermen like those who made their way to the area. Another one of the original early establishments was Shambala at Hotel Trópico Latino which opened in 1995 and has become one of those longer-standing hotel restaurants you find in the area. Food culture was tied to location on early Santa Teresa: Fresh fish and seafood caught by local fishermen, Costa Rican staples, tropical fruits, rice and beans, and basic meals meant for leisurely beach living. With roads, electricity, hotels, and tourism’s slow improvement over the years cleared a path for restaurants to become a defining characteristic of Santa Teresa. (Visit Costa Rica)
Santa Teresa, today one of the most diverse culinary destinations in Costa Rica with restaurants serving Costa Rican, Japanese, Italian, Mediterranean, Latin American and international cuisines. Notable eateries in town include Manzú a Beachfront Restaurant at Hotel Nantipa, known for its refined Costa Rican and seafood selections; Katana Asian Cuisine that offers expansive Japanese-Asian derived dishes made from local ingredients since 2014; The Bakery, which has been operating since 2009 before it turned into one of Santa Teresa’s favourite spots as the café and bakery; and The Third Eye famous for their creative Latin-Caribbean Mediterranean cuisine. Together they illustrate how Santa Teresa food scene has grown from unpretentious local fare in a place where the sidewalk is the restaurant terrace into multi-national haute cuisine while still being seamlessly integrated with the surrounding sea, tropical environment and Costa Rica-based products.
Santa Teresa’s maturing culinary scene has also been fueled by skilled chefs who have introduced new techniques and concepts. Among them, the most impactful is Chef Randy Siles Costa Rican chef from San José who fell in love with Santa Teresa for its incredible coast and surfing. He trained internationally in Europe before coming to Santa Teresa and working up to executive chef at the Shambala at Hotel Trópico Latino. Siles started to take the concept of bringing elegant cooking with local Costa Rican products including fresh fish, vegetables, herbs, honey and other ingredients from local producers. Beyond the restaurant itself, he founded Artesanos de la Gastronomía, with a Shambala kitchen as a training space for youngsters from the neighborhood. — (via La Nación) (Academia de Artesanos de la Gastronomía) Another notable culinary figure is the owner and chef of Koji’s Restaurant, Koji Hyodo, who brought an upscale Japanese seafood and sushi experience to Santa Teresa. The chefs who made Santa Teresa about more than just surfing — they took a steamy Pacific town and started melding creative international cuisine with Costa Rican style, fresh ingredients, and Nicoya Peninsula chill.