Alas we had only five days on the island of Hispañola in the Dominican Republic to be exact. We landed Monday in the afternoon and spent our first night in Santo Domingo where we ate a meal of chuletas empanizadas (fried pork chops) and arroz con pollo especial (special chicken and rice – actually kind of like Chinese fried rice with chicken which is not surprising given there were a number of Chinese dishes on the menu like chou fan and chop suey). It was passable Dominican food if a bit bland.
The next day we high tailed it to Las Galeras, about three hours by bus and public van from the capital and located on the northeast tip of the Samana Peninsula. It was here in this little town where we spent the rest of our brief trip whale watching, soaking up the warm weather, combing the beautiful beaches, swimming in the mild and crystal clear ocean and eating simple and really good Dominican food. Check out the the following photos of some of the best food moments – well the ones I remembered to take photos of.
This was a our favorite place since it was super casual, outdoor eating and really homey. Rossy (pictured above).
Shef's about to comer some comida criolla from Comedor Rossy. Notice the rustic decor of paintings and ATVs in the background.
Tonights meal consisted of cambi (conch), cerdo (pork, nicely braised), and habichuelas (really good dominican style beans - not sure exactly what kind) and white rice. It was delicious.
Playa Fronton where we went after whale watching and where we were going to get a fantastic lunch.
Our view from lunch. Not bad, eh?
Papango also known as parrot fish. I've seen them numerous times when I've been snorkeling, but for some reason I never thought to eat them. No longer. So pretty and so delicious.
Grilling fish. So simple and so good.
Don't know what kind of fish it is but it's big. The the guides who brought us whale watching and to the beach ended up lunching on this.
I want to get one of these fish grillers. And I want to eat this fish.
The cooked papango. Look at how good the parrot fish look cooked. Six fish for six people. I like the one to one ratio.
Look at this beautiful lunch plate
After lunch Shef and I combed Playa Fronton and checked out a couple smaller coves with emerald blue water and stands of coconut trees. I love coconuts. I love to bust them open and eat of their sumptuous insides.
This was a young coconut that I found on the beach and busted open on the rocks. It was my Lord of the Flies moment. And then I drank and let it wash over me.
The inside of the young coconut. The flesh is has yet to solidify, so it's soft and slimy, but still rich and delicious. It has the texture of custard.
I wanted that coconut so bad! I never got it.
But I did win in the end. I found this older coconut on the ground. And after peeling the husk, it still yielded nice coconut water and delicious flesh. I did cut my hand on the shell trying to peal back the husk though. Shit is sharp! Notice that my skin is as pale as the flesh of the coconut. That's because it's winter where we came from.
Flesh from the old coconut. Sweet and rich.
Future dinner for some lucky people. A number of different fish and an octopus
Unfortunately, the next day was a rainy one. But that didn’t stop us from heading to Playa Rincon, which is supposedly rated by Conde Naste Traveler as one of the top ten beaches in the Caribbean. It was beautiful it wasn’t the most loungy, laying around beach day since since it was kind of rainy, windy and overcast. So, we just walked the 3 km stretch of beach unit we were shepherded by the police (?!) to go park ourselves closer to the side of the beach closer to the restaurants and within walking distance of the numerous beach venders . We did have another good fish meal for lunch but I forgot to take photos and it wasn’t as good as the day before. Anwyay, here are a couple shots of the beach.
This is one of the top rated (at least according to Conde Nast) beaches in the Caribbean. It was overcast and rainy, but indeed this beach is beautiful.
We noticed this guy as we were walking along the beach. He was digging for crabs for fish bait.
Poor crabs. I wonder if they know they're fish bait.
