When you’re ready to enjoy a great meal or a drink, head over to the peaceful open air restaurant situated just across the garden from the guest rooms. Surrounded by fruit trees and with a view to the lake, volcano and the garden you will see some of your food being harvested. Mango and papaya for breakfast fruit plates, jocotes which are made into a creamy desert with milk, or some wonderful tropical fruits like soursop and guava for drinks. The garden also supplies cucumbers, tropical climbing spinach and the local light green version of zucchini as well as fresh herbs like basil, lemon grass and chili.

You’ll find the service friendly and relaxed, but fast, and service is available in English or Spanish. But most important, the food is tasty. Customer favorites are the El Encanto chicken (cooked in coconut milk with lemon grass and mild curry) and the stir-fry vegetables with fish, chicken or cashew nuts.

The lunch and dinner menu offers 15 main course choices including vegetarian plates. Special dishes include eggplant baked with cheese and tomato sauce, fish steamed in banana leaves, and fish cooked in coconut cream with curry and spice sauce.     
 
  "The best restaurant south of Antigua"
Andrew y Samantha, our first guests, enjoying dinner.    
  All breakfast items include a fruit plate and a choice of a hot strong coffee, black tea, fresh herb tea, or fruit drink. We use whole wheat bread, natural yogurt, and make the fluffiest pancakes on the island!

Kitchen hours are from 7 a.m. for early risers and volcano climbers, until 8 p.m. in the evening. The bar serves until 10 p.m. so you an enjoy your friends and make some new ones over ice cold beer, some Chilean merlot, or a shot of the well loved Flor de Caña rum.
Guitarr night.    
    see the menu
         
     
  Do you like it hot ?  
     
   
     
 

We have the best and it’s grown on the farm: CHILI HABANERO. Classified as the hottest of all chilies (Scoville scale) because of its capsaicin content, it is also considered the most delicious by chilli connoisseurs.

Enjoy it in our restaurant in a salsa made with mango or pineapple or in our Mexican influenced “mash” salsa.

 
     
 
If you want something less spicy but more exotic, we have chili congo, a wild variety propagated on the island by the birds.
  
   
     
 
Kavito: the cook.
Quelite.
Chaya.
Pipián.
 
The formula for success

The human element in the El Encanto kitchen is without doubt the most important factor in our success since opening. The dedication bordering on passion that the personnel put into the preparation of each plate results in dishes that are attractive to the eye, have an enticing aroma and are delicious for the most discerning diner.

The variety and good taste in the menu design is another factor in the restaurant’s success. Starting with local ingredients and influenced by a variety of international cuisines, we’ve come up with unique dishes that identify us and set us apart from the majority of restaurants on the island. We serve dishes with a touch of cooking styles from countries as diverse as Thailand, India and Italy but with the signature of El Encanto. At the same time we’ve put an emphasis in serving our clients with selections from the traditional island cooking. Pork smoked and then steamed in banana leaves, mojarra barbecued with its scales and nacatamales are some of the island delicacies that you can find on the daily specials.

Lastly, the freshness and quality of the ingredients complement the staff’s creativity and desire to offer you an unforgettable meal. A large part of the food supplies are produced in the kitchen. We bake the whole wheat bread and cakes.  We make our own yogurt and, for the pesto, we use our own basil with native cashews or almonds. Various vegetables come from our garden to your plate - spinach, cucumber and zucchini and greens such as chaya, and quelite. The plantain and rice (carbonette, the best variety on the island) are also produced on our land or in the neighborhood. We buy fish on the beach from the Santa Cruz fisherman and so it arrives in our kitchen still jumping. These fresh ingredients are reflected in your food in the authentic and natural flavors and aromas that will make your visit to our restaurant a true culinary experience. Enjoy!