Page 2 of 4Food in Utila, Honduras
You may also wish to eat, spending the siesta sampling some of Utila's simple, delicious food. Vegetarians and others with special diets will find eating on Utila easy, and perhaps even find it a relaxing experience in comparison to eating in American restaurants, which tend to offer too much milk, cheese, wheat, and meat. Here you will find much more than a garden salad to tide you over. Rice and beans not only abound here; you may have the best you have ever tasted. Be careful, though. Rice and Beans may be flavored using animal fat, but there are other things to eat. For others who eschew nothing in the name of eating, the fish is excellent. The spices will remind you that you have a sense of taste. You will even be able to get traditional American favorites like fried chicken and French fries.
Xijing Restaurant
Xijing, which is left from the pier, is a charming open-air restaurant with four tables and a counter in the corner. A satisfying snack of rice and beans and a beer will cost you about $1.60. Should you chose to return for diner, Xijing may serve you barracuda with rice and a salad for L.48 ($3.50). Again, a satisfying meal. Indeed, for lovers of fish and seafood, this may be one of Paradise's outposts on earth. The variety of fish available is good, but not undaunting, and certainly mouthwatering: Tuna, grouper and snapper in addition to barracuda. The owner gave us sweet rice, which she makes across the street from the restaurant, in her home. Made in a ten-gallon pot over an open flame, soaked in coconut milk and sugar, and spiced with cinnamon, it was gone in less than half an hour, filling our stomachs and those of our hostess's neighbors. To an American's palate, sweet tastes can become boring so, our national sweet tooth is so overwhelming, but after the spicy fish I had at dinner, this simple dessert impressed me as something exotic. Xijing's hostess takes her food seriously. She has traveled to Switzerland, and word has it, makes a very good spaetzle. She changes her menu daily.
Comedor Dilcia Restaurant
Close to the pier, next to the main bank, you will find Comedor Dilcia, which offers more rustic/basic "tipico" (typical) food. The restaurant serves "pollo frito" (fried chicken), "arroz" (rice), and "papas or papas fritas" (French fries) for L.40 ($2.85) � a satisfying meal that a beer for L.10 ($.70) will complete.
Another place for lunch where you may find food typical of the island is Frosty Seafrog. Chicken and rice with bread and salad for L.40 and beer for L.12 each.
Jade Seahorse Restaurant
For dinner you might also try Jade Seahorse, a place with colorful decorations and an art deco feel. Here, fresh grouper, tuna, or snapper is grilled with your choice of seasoning and served with fresh bread, baked potato, and salad. Dinner for me cost around L.65 ($4.60).
Mango Inn Restaurant
Though Jade Seahorse serves good food, the Mango Inn, with its large concrete patio, wooden tables, and chairs, is better and even a little more economical. Owned by a Frenchman, all the food is nevertheless barbecued. For entertainment, you can watch the flames from your table. The grouper with rice and beans bread, coleslaw, and baked potato is an excellent choice, as are the shish kabobs. You can get dinner here for around L.60 ($4.30). Breakfast is the secret pleasure of American travelers, who, with their minds focused on the commute and the work ahead, usually forego the morning meal at home. Zanzibar serves a comforting breakfast of pancakes, bananas, and orange juice for about L.35 ($2.50). Here you will feel the hospitality of the island as the family who runs Zanzibar seats you at picnic tables on the front patio of their house. If you eat a vegetarian diet, you may want to visit, as this restaurant seems more vegetarian oriented than other places on the island.
Zanzibar Cafe
For more local color but not the friendly, family feel, you might try Thompson's bakery at breakfast time. Here you can get a ham and cheese omelet and a biscuit (charmingly, on Utila people still call biscuits Johnny Cake) for L.32 ($2.30). This restaurant has an eclectic feel � almost a cross between a Sunday school classroom and a coffeehouse. On the walls, the owners display a combination of amateur artwork and biblical proverbs.
Baked Goods in Utila, Honduras
The island prides itself on its baked goods � you will see people on bikes carrying silver 2 x 3 feet pans of fresh cinnamon rolls, for instance. In this store, they sell for L.5 each ($.35), and are fresh, which makes it a good option for a less leisurely breakfast. Besides Johnny Cakes and cinnamon rolls, "pan de coco," (coconut bread) is Utila's other specialty. Not one to leave a pastry untasted, I asked several people where to find the best ones on the island, and everybody said Taracina. Sometimes food is an adventure and sometimes there is an adventure that leads to food, and the process of finding Utila's best coconut bread qualifies as the latter.
Finding the mysterious Taracina is a bit like finding buried treasure, but here I will draw you a map. Begin at the Kodak store next to Jade Seahorse and cross the street where you will find a trail. Follow the trail for about 300 meters through the less than glamorous surroundings until you reach her house with a small shack out back. Taracina sells her rolls from the shack. Depending on how much of a gourmand you are, your work will be rewarded with steaming hot rolls that you may find more precious than gold � certainly more appetizing. Rolls are just L.3 ($.20) each. Eat as many as you can while they're still warm!
Taracina's shack
where she
sells "pan de coco" (coconut bread)
The Forgotten Expense - Water
Do not underestimate your need for drinking water. Because the heat can be oppressive on Utila, (an average of 100 degrees Fahrenheit when I was there), I advise you to remember to rehydrate frequently. Drinking water can become an expensive necessity since the water on the island is undrinkable. You must purchase clean water in bottles or bags. You may find that the most economical option is to purchase a 1 or 1.5 liter bottle in which to carry your water and then purchase water in gallon containers which you can use as refills. Gallons can be difficult to find, so you may want to purchase water in bags that hold half-liters or liters. (L.2 and L.4, respectively).
You can purchase water on Utila in an establishment that looks like you have stepped into a retrospective of the American South 1900-1965. It is a small store that our ancestors might have given the title "general," with a variety of useful things in addition to water, including soap, shampoo, pots and pans, and food, canned and fresh.