15 Best Restaurants in Tegucigalpa, Honduras

Hearty soups, tasty pastas, huge sandwiches, and abundant salads are the draws at this restaurant in Colonia Palmira. The outdoor terrace is a good spot for a beer, or even a bottle of French wine. If it's cloudy, head into the wood-paneled dining room. The café space also includes a European-style deli and a salon.

That just might be the ghost of Che Guevara plotting the next revolution off in the corner of this unpretentious little coffeehouse with a slightly political bent. Paradiso serves local beverage specialties, but is best known for its carajillo (coffee with cognac). The food is basic but filling, with locals leaning toward favorites like the tortilla española (Spanish omelet). While you wait, peruse the selection of books on Honduran history and politics, or stop by on Thursday evenings when a film is screened.

You smell the sizzling chorizo and carnitas (chunks of beef) cooked by Don Manolo even before you see his popular restaurant.

Frequented by the country's upper crust, this genteel restaurant has plenty of rooms that can be closed off for presidential meetings. Yet Melba Robelo, the Nicaraguan owner, makes sure everyone feels welcome. The fish dishes, made with the freshest ingredients, all have intriguing flavors. Try the onion soup with Swiss cheese, followed by breaded camarones (shrimp) served with butter and tarragon. The famous crepes de manzana (apple crepes) are served with almonds and liqueur. The service is irreproachable. /

One of the oldest still-operating restaurants in Tegucigalpa, Don Quijote has been in business for more than three decades. Straightforward Spanish dishes are the specialty, especially the paella valenciana, made with rice, saffron, vegetables, chicken, and seafood. Another highly recommended dish is the hearty fabada asturiana (a meaty stew). There's also a fully stocked bar.

This restaurant is named for a traditional Honduran mush of refried beans, cream, and cheese served with tortilla chips in a clay container, but don't be misled: other items on the menu, the pastas and pizzas in particular, are good here, too. It's a great place to down a beer, as it is often open until 10 or later.

Tegucigalpa's best-known Honduran restaurant dishes up ample helpings of típico (traditional) food. The rustic building with brick patio evokes an old Honduran country home. You can watch your food being prepared on the open grill, with pinchos (Honduran-style chicken, beef, or pork kebabs) being special favorites here. It's all accompanied by anafres, a dip of refried beans and cheese. The waitstaff wear traditional Honduran clothing (think white dresses and pants with thin, colorful stripes).

The unpretentious but crowded Espresso Americano serves up some of the best coffee in the country. This is the original location, but you'll find many others across Honduras.

Long considered the city's most romantic restaurant, La Cumbre arguably has the best panoramic view of Tegucigalpa going. By day or (especially) by night, it is worth the trip out here to view the world from this privileged vantage point. The elegant dining room serves classic German dishes such as Jägerschnitzel (pork or veal cutlets in mushroom gravy), and a few non-German dishes, too. Try the pork medallions with mango sauce.

A combination pony farm, playground, and miniature zoo, La Florida is a popular place for families and weekend events. There is a restaurant with typical Honduran beef and chicken dishes, as well as anafres of refried beans and cheese. The outdoor area has a small swimming pool, children's playground, and sand volleyball, as well as shaded picnic and dining areas. Don't miss the L10 pony rides, if you belong to the under-10 age bracket. There is a very large stable of ponies and horses, and they offer trail rides for adults as well. In the back is a small zoo with the white-tailed deer of Honduras and a tapir, as well as many birds.

How many restaurants keep a shrine to the Virgin Mary on their premises? At the entrance to the restrooms, no less? This downtown eatery does. The statue of the Virgin of Suyapa, Honduras's patron saint, appeared wrapped in newspaper in Don Pepe's men's room one night in 1986. A miracle or a drop-off by a thief? You can decide Standard Honduran fare—hearty chicken, beef, and pork dishes—are served here; the lunchtime plato del día, a combination of meat, rice, and vegetables, includes a beverage and is a good bargain.

It's a testament to any Argentine restaurant when you see a city's Argentine community dining there, and that's the case with this Honduran-owned minichain of restaurants (there are also branches in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, and Antigua, Guatemala). It's not just the Argentines, though; the high-quality imported cuts of beef draw diners of all nationalities to this place off Boulevard Morazán. The best deal here is the four-person platter with a selection of steak, pork, ribs, and chorizo. Top it off with a trip to the ample salad bar and a bottle of Argentine wine. The restaurant's name translates as "more or less, " but this place is definitely more.

Just as much a nightspot as Cuban restaurant, this old standby is immensely popular with the capital's Cuban community. Island recipes such as ropa vieja—the translation, "old clothes," may sound unappetizing, but it's really shredded flank steak in tomato sauce—are standard fare here. The full bar's selection of daiquiris, Cuba libres (rum and Coke), and mimosas will transport you back to Old Havana. There's live music and dancing on the back patio weekend nights, and if you'd like to wow your friends back home with a few moves, the place offers salsa lessons on Tuesday evenings.

Super Donuts has a buffet breakfast and lunch. Specialty baked goods, tamales, and fresh fruit juices are always tasty.

A lot of Italian eateries around the world go by the name Tre Fratelli (three brothers), and while this restaurant in the Plaza Criolla on Boulevard Morazán is part of a small Central America-California chain to boot, its atmosphere is warm and unchainlike. There are inside seating and a popular patio dining area. Generous servings of pasta, tasty fish dishes, a good wine selection, and pleasant salads at accessible prices—along with the obligatory checkered tablecloths—have made this place a tremendous hit with travelers and locals alike.