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The
Dominican Republic has more restaurants than any Caribbean
island.
Interestingly,
here the Dominican food restaurants are outnumbered by Argentinean,
British, Chinese, Cuban,
German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mexican, Spanish, Swiss,
Taiwanese and Arabian restaurants. This reflects the cosmopolitan
outlook of the residents in this country, especially the capital
city.
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Dominican
food primarily takes its influence from Spanish cooking
with added touches of Caribbean
herbs and spices. Many restaurants, including those
in hotels, will feature several typical Dominican dishes.
We
recommend you try dishes prepared "a la criolla"
or "guisado." These are basically meat (beef,
pork, chicken) or seafood (shrimp, crab, conch) prepared
in a tomato-base sauce with garlic, onions, olives and
cilantro.
Fried
foods are very popular, such as "chicharrones de
pollo" or "carne frita", chicken and
beef which are usually heavily seasoned (but never spicy).
These will be served with fried plantains, which are
cut in one-inch slices, then flattened, dipped in salted
water and fried in vegetable oil. Do not miss "mangú",
the same green or ripe plantains that have been boiled
and then mashed and served with cooked onions. A typical
breakfast will be mangú with onions, fried white
cheese, fried eggs and orange juice.
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Coconut
is used to prepare many local dishes. Those traveling to Samana,
the nation's leading producer of coconuts, should savor the
"pescado con coco", a delicacy native to this area.
This is fish stewed in a subtle coconut and tomato sauce.
| Rice
is king in the Dominican Republic. The most popular meal
in Dominican households will be a simple dish of white
rice, red stewed beans, meat, and fried plantains. It
is so popular Dominicans call it "la bandera,"
or the flag. Another popular rice dish is "moro",
which can be of red beans, guandules or black beans. |
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Another
national dish is a stew, "Sancocho", made of a mixture
of different meats and several root plants only found in the
Caribbean.
For desert,
there are numerous sweets such as "dulce de leche,"
and "dulce de coco." Fruits cooked in syrup are
also popular, for example bitter orange, papaya, guava, cashew
or pineapple. If you visit during Easter, make sure to request
"habichuelas con dulce," a sweet concoction made
with red beans. All year round you can try "majarete,"
a kind of corn pudding. Both "habichuelas con dulce"
and "majarete" are available in ice cream form sold
by Helados Bon ice cream shops all around the country. Flan
is another very popular dessert here – even available
in cans!
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