All-natural and eco-friendly eating meets cutting-edge, innovative cuisine in a sustainable way at Hotel Tropico Latino on Costa Rica’s Santa Teresa Beach.
Article by Shannon Farley
A healthy lifestyle goes hand-in-hand with all-natural and eco-friendly eating. The key to a healthy diet is simply putting natural things into our bodies.
One of Costa Rica’s top restaurants, the Shambala Restaurant at Hotel Tropico Latino on Santa Teresa Beach serves up avant-garde, healthy, natural cuisine in an eco-friendly way.
The kitchen is led by award-winning Costa Rican chef Randy Siles, who is also Costa Rica’s Chef Ambassador for the National Plan of Sustainable and Healthy Gastronomy. So it is only natural that Shambala Restaurant follows a sustainable, eco-friendly philosophy.
They use organic, natural and local products as much as possible, and do not use products with preservatives or artificial coloring. Their suppliers are farmers who have organic certification or good eco-friendly practices. Fruits and vegetables are sourced locally from the organic farm Hacienda Okhra. Siles personally goes and picks his produce fresh.
Siles gets his fish straight from the ocean from fishermen in Malpaís and Tambor. The restaurant serves chicken raised free-range in the region, and their shellfish is local and free of antibiotics. Cheeses are artisanal, honey and pollen come from their local region of Cobano, and they buy only organic Costa Rican coffee and cacao. Siles and his staff also make all of their own artisan breads and pastas on-site, including many gluten-free options.
“We have the freshest products here in Costa Rica – fish from two oceans and thousands of rivers, fresh vegetables and fruits, and fresh meats farmed locally. Our climate allows us to grow anything and everything,” said Siles.
Healthy lifestyles have a long tradition here. Costa Rica’s Nicoya Peninsula, where Santa Teresa is located, is considered to be one of the Blue Zones of the world where people live longer, healthier and happier lives. Many residents live to be over 100 years old.
Hotel Tropico Latino strives to be sustainable by respecting the environment, supporting renewable energy, recycling, and using biodegradable products like bamboo straws in the restaurant. Additionally, they hire staff from the local community. In Shambala Restaurant, Siles founded the Academy of Artisans of Gastronomy, which trains local residents in the culinary arts to work as cooks, bartenders, servers, etc.
Fronting the beach at Santa Teresa – one of 2018’s Top 10 Beaches in Central America and Costa Rica – Shambala provides stunning views of the Pacific Ocean while diners enjoy mouth-watering traditional and artisanal dishes.
Some of the many delectable dishes you can enjoy at Shambala Restaurant include:
Fresh fish Ceviche served with a sphere of corn and Costa Rican hearts of palm, seaweed tapenade and smoked tuna flakes.
Ancestral Costa Rican vegetable soup cooked in a clay pot and served with cassava croquettes.
For breakfast, try the Shambala Breakfast Sandwich: gluten-free bread made from potatoes, layered with carrots, daikon radishes, cucumber, jalapeños, cilantro, bacon, and fried eggs, with house mayonnaise. Or order the Super Smoothie Healthy Bowl: a smoothie base made with spinach, banana, pineapple, spirulina and coconut milk, topped with granola, bananas, pollen and blackberries.
You can make reservations here to visit Hotel Tropico Latino in Santa Teresa. Shambala Restaurant is open to the public for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
