Sikwa, Los Yoses, Costa Rica – purple corn flan, negroni & wine por favor? Si! 👏🏽

And just like that, we are 2 months into 2024! like 🧐😮😀 Happy new year garmanvsfood family,

may this year of the dragon bring you & yours all that you wish for yourselves. To celebrate another trip around the sun, I got to spend time with friends. Road tripping around Costa Rica – El Cocora, La Fortuna, Monteverde & Puntarenas, It is such a beautiful country – the greenery, bio diversity, beach

just stunning!  Dinner at Sikwa was the perfect way to end this trip and kick off the 2024 tasting menu season! Sikwa pride itself as ‘an education and research centre, a space that protects the gastronomic tradition of the native peoples’. Little wonder it is featured as one of the 50 best restaurants in the world and it is truly deserving. The seven course tasting menu is a combination of cocktails and wine pairing with dishes that are just divine! Starting with Agua e sapo, a ginger beer based cocktail with centenario rum, lime, sugar cane, golden berry and dried passion fruit

accompanied the oysters.

these were Golf of Nicoya Oysters in passion fruit juice, wild cilantro oil, stems, and Panamanian Chile salt, I mean 😋. Next up was the fish cubes aka cured sea bass tiradito, heart of palm tigers milk, roasted heart of palm, wild cilantro oil and Panamanian chile oil that was a pour over dish!

It gave ceviche on steroids – fresh, vinegary with a good kick of spicy from that Chile oil! Salsa de arracacha was grilled shrimp in celeriac sauce, coconut milk & lemon grass, toasted amaranth and citrus oil.

It was nutty in taste and smooth in texture reminiscent of a pad Thai sauce, served with a glass of Mesta, Bodega, white wine which was off dry and yummy with the shrimp! Los diablitos, a tequila with passion fruit mead, chilli tamarind liqueur, lime, hibiscus dust and sea salt; accompanied the empanada, which was green plantain flour empanadas stuffed with hen with annatto and pickled veg

Fun fact, empanadas are miniature versions of what we call meat pies (in Nigeria) and / or Caribbean Patties, but, I digress. Never would I have thought tequila cocktail pairing was a thing because boi! It was delish! Filete de marcarela en salsa de curry sobre – a fillet of mackerel in curry sauce marinated in mandarin lime juice, rice with coconut milk, thyme, Panamanian Chile with green plantain chips – a typical Caribbean dish

talk about a layered dish that G A V E indigenous food vibes and I loved it! Served with a glass of red wine 😮. This is the second time having red wine with fish, the first was in Sorrento, at Don Alfonso, and that was equally amazing! I must say, this menu has been a thorough delight so far, and just when I thought the cocktails could not get any more boujee? ha! we got served a classic negroni with cacao nibs (yep chocolate bits) with what I call the ‘spaghetti Bolognese’

aka 15 hours braised oxtail with refried Cubase and demi-glace bean with puree and squash. The umami in the black beans? Phewww….like I said Boujee! Palate cleanser was sour sap, caramelised tomato, lime juice and mango!

It was delish as it was refreshing! I was ready for pudding. And the pudding?  Lissteeen… I was never certain if I was a flan person, but the flan de maiz pujagua in this Sikwa skreets? Ouuu.. this purple corn flan with honey and toasted pumpkin, sounds simple but there was nothing simple about it.

It was rich, sweet, nutty from the topping of the honey and the pumpkin seeds. Yep, I am defo a flan person now!

Sikwa! Muchas gracias for a one of a kind tasting menu. It was brilliantly done and the little details – banana leaf as a table mat, the basket for us girls to put our purses in truly appreciated.

P.s. Happy birthday to me!

Salud

Ndidi