On the Menu

On the Menu

Venezuela's larger cities boast a wide variety of restaurants, from Spanish tascas (casual restaurants with bars) to French bistros to Japanese sushi bars. But while you're here, you'll want to sample Venezuela's own unique cuisine. The national dish, pabellón criollo, consists of shredded beef served with rice, black beans (caraotas), fried ripe plantains (tajadas), and local white cheeses such as queso de mano. Venezuelans like beef, and restaurants that specialize in grilled meats (called restaurante de Carne) are popular with locals. Stop at an arepera and try an arepa, a grilled cornmeal pocket stuffed with anything from fresh cheese to avocado and chicken salad. If you visit during the Christmas season, try the holiday specialty called hallaca, a combination of chicken, almonds, olives, and pork, in a cornmeal shell wrapped in aromatic banana leaves.

Excellent fish and shellfish dominate in the coastal areas and on Isla Margarita and Los Roques, including grouper, snapper, mackerel, tuna, swordfish, lobster, crab, shrimp, and clams. In the Andean regions, treat yourself to rainbow trout.

Don't leave Venezuela without sampling at least one of these scrumptious, typical desserts: bien me sabe (coconut cake), torta de guanábana (a tart fruitcake), merengón de nispero (meringue cake), and the always popular cascos de guayaba (guava shells with white cheese). As a Caribbean nation, Venezuela excels at rum production (ron in Spanish). A small bottle of aged Santa Teresa fits nicely in your pack to take home. Venezuela also produces some surprisingly good domestic wines, such as Viña Altagracia or the sparkling Pomar from Lara State in the northwest region of the country.

Lunch, the main meal of the day, begins at noon and lasts until about 3. Dinner is taken between 7 and 10 PM; don't count on being served much past 10:30 PM, except in the Las Mercedes district of Caracas, where some restaurants remain open until midnight. Some restaurants offer a prix-fixe meal at lunchtime known as the menu ejecutivo. This includes a primero (appetizer of soup or salad); a segundo, the main course; and postre (dessert). Espresso or guayoyo, a weaker drip coffee, is included.

High-end restaurants frequently have dress codes, so inquire when making reservations. For most other dining establishments, a woman can't go wrong in an informal dress or a man in a collared shirt with optional tie.