Traditional Cuisine, Fresh Innovations: Dining at Finca Rosa Blanca

We are so pleased to highlight Finca Rosa Blanca's onsite restaurant, El Tigre Vestido, home to excellent cuisine, innovative menus, and seasonal preparations.

We like to think of El Tigre Vestido as a love letter to sustainable cuisine, rooted in our country’s most treasured gastronomic traditions – the very dishes many of us grew up (and grew to love) eating as children.

Today, our kitchen honors Costa Rica’s heritage, as we crafts menus from only the freshest ingredients, accented by native, wild, and endemic ingredients we have long enjoyed since. These creations are a true highlight of the guest experience at Finca Rosa Blanca.

Dining at El Tigre Vestido

El Tigre Vestido is located onsite at Finca Rosa Blanca, in the mountains of the Central Valley.

We are open daily for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Every morning, we prepare exquisite breakfasts (included with your hotel reservation) and brew Costa Rica’s best coffee, freshly produced in our plantation.

Dine on delicious, innovative and seasonal Costa Rican cuisine while you enjoy a spectacular view from the large outdoor terrace, surrounded by gardens and coffee plantations. The Central Valley’s sweeping greens, twinkling city lights, and occasional fireworks shows await.

What is Costa Rican Cuisine?

Costa Rican cuisine is fresh and rooted in irreplicable flavors.

For anyone who has never visited Costa Rica and is looking forward to trying our cuisine for the first time, you’re in for a real treat! From our scenic coasts to the highest mountains, Costa Rican ingredients and dishes are full of flavor.

Try as many exotic fruits as you can find, and be sure to sample our fresh fish (yellowfin tuna is a favorite) and sea bass. There is so much biodiversity here and you’ll find that reflected on your plate!

What inspires Costa Rican cuisine? And how does El Tigre Vestido go about innovating new dishes?

For many – from the humble home cook to the most renowned chefs –inspiration is found in our home kitchens, in memories of what we call criolla dishes – in other words, homecooked and traditional meals.

At El Tigre Vestido, our approach to cuisine is rooted both in these memories and in the idea that tradition cannot change its taste, but it can change its presentation. This is one of the great impacts of educating new generations about our Costa Rican cuisine: innovation in presentation.

We are often inspired by seasonal products – in their textures and aromas, their origins and the memories of the traditional ingredients and dishes that were so near and dear to us, as we grew up. That’s what we hope to share through our dishes and menus.

What's on the menu at Finca Rosa Blanca and El Tigre Vestido?

Our focus has long been on the traditional – on native, endemic, and indigenous Costa Rican products, ingredients, and techniques, as well as on creativity and versatility rooted in seasonal ingredients that we source from as close to home as we can.

Our approach is to create innovative Costa Rican cuisine – a kind of fusion that links the traditional with the modern, through both rustic and innovative techniques.

What's growing in El Tigre Vestido's gardens?

Since we’re at Finca Rosa Blanca, of course, we have the incredible opportunity to incorporate our own coffee (Café Rosa Blanca) into our menu. And then, there’s the dragonfruit that we produce seasonally. And the famous (locally, at least!) güitite fruit, which we love.

We also have many favorite herbs – the life of the party, as far as food is concerned! – and in Finca Rosa Blanca’s gardens, we're so grateful that we’ve planted medicinal, aromatic, and conventional herbs, among others.

If we had to pick a few favorites, they would be:

• Culantro coyote: A kind of native, wild cilantro.
• Apazote (a.k.a. epazote)
• Juanilama, a traditional medicinal herb that tastes a bit like oregano.
• Chicasquil, a Costa Rican favorite leafy green, which is absolutely delicious.

We’ve made sure to plant a wide variety in the garden, including rosa de jamaica (herb), strawberry guavas, passion fruit (sweet and tart varieties), tacacos (a vegetable endemic to Costa Rica), sweet lemons, and plantains.

What dish does someone really have to try?

There are many but if we had to pick one from the current menu, it would be arroz guacho con pollo (pronounced ah-rose gwah-cho cone poy-yo).

It’s a very basic dish, as far as Costa Rican cuisine and preparation are concerned, but there are many different takes on how to make it your own. It’s essentially our version of sticky rice – only, jazzed up with plenty of aromatic flavors, broth, and well-seasoned chicken, with a bit of extra liquid to create the dish’s characteristic texture. By far, it’s our most popular dish on the menu!

If you’re looking for something with that super-fresh, just-caught taste, then you can’t go wrong with our yellowfin tuna steak, which is both delicious and sustainably caught.

Reserve Your Table

El Tigre Vestido is a culinary love-letter to Costa Rica – a flavor voyage from light and fresh to savory and substantial.

From sustainably caught local fish and just-picked produce, to fresh herbs and traditional recipes, this menu is built to make both your palate and heart sing. To soar. To take you on a journey as tasty as your Costa Rican adventure is thrilling. And if you care to pair your meal with wine, we can recommend just the right white, red, and rosé to complement each course.

For reservations at El Tigre Vestido, please stop by the Front Desk. Or, if you'd like to make reservations in advance for a special occasion or one of our tasting menus, please contact us at info@fincarosablanca.com or via Whatsapp at +506-8368-6697.