San Juan - Bacardi Distillery Tour

I'd read so many mixed reviews on the Bacardi Distillery tour that I wasn't sure whether I wanted to venture over to the other island, but I'm glad I did. From Old San Juan you can catch the ferry across to Catano, where I met a share taxi (they leave from a carpark about 2 minutes walk from the ferry)which takes you to the Bacardi Distillery. 

 

On arrival you book in for either a Spanish or English tour.  You are given 2 drink vouchers that you can use anytime during your visit.  This is the bar area under a big tented canopy offering shade.

 

Bacardi Bar

I tasted two ‘newer’ flavours, which were a pineapple fusion and dragonberry. Refreshing and tasty.  This is the Dragonberry Bacardi cocktail

Dragonberry Cocktail

 

 

 

All aboard the Barcadi Express!

 

Boarding trams that take you around the site, we started off here with the history of the family and how the Bat became the symbol of Bacardi.

 

Through parts of the tour, especially where they have set up a replica of the old distillery (from Cuba) and all the original documents, photos of the family, orders and old bottles and labels of the past are on showcase you can't take photos but I did manage to grab this one....barrels to boxes of bottles ready to ship!

 

 

 

Unfortunately you don't get to actually see any of the current distillery (which would make this tour much better) but it's still educational and enlightening enough.  There is a section where you get to smell the different stages of the rum making and how they make the flavours of their new rums.

 

and at the end......I'm confronted with walls of Bacardi....I'm in heaven!  Hello Bacardi! 

 

 

yeah, you can get a photo taken and email it to yourself (or others as a postcard) for free too!

 

 

Of course you are dropped off at the 'visitor's centre, aka gift shop, where you can shop up a storm for all your Bacardi needs - I restrained myself this time.

It's an interesting tour and seeing that it's free (apart from the $7 for ferry and taxi) it's not a bad deal.  Give yourself at least 2.5-3 hours (including travel and wait time for the tour). 

San Juan - Cafe Cultura, Raices and The Parrot Club

My first breakfast in San Juan I needed coffee and protein.

Damn body clock and jetlag are getting to me, so I headed out early into the very quiet streets of Old San Juan and hunted out some sustenance. Coffee!!! Grown locally (and also imported to appease the masses) – locals really know their coffee beans and all around town places are advertising which beans they use and how they are roasted. Big competition!

On a recommendation, I headed to Café Cultura to test my coffee tolerance.   This café is buzzing. Locals brunching, tourists hovering about deciding whether or not to delve into the crowded café.
I opted for a very strong macchiato – instant wake up.  With a serving of egg scrambled with spinach and feta, it was the breakfast that I needed to kick the jetlag out of the way.

macchiato and egg scramble with spinach and feta - the wake up call I needed

 

 

Over the course of the few days that I had in San Juan I ended up eating at Raices twice.  Once before the cruise and a second time after the cruise.  Raices is a San Juan local restaurant and heavily aimed at the tourist.  However, locals do eat there from time to time.  What they are most famous for is their mofongo, the local staple of mashed green plantain with a stew or meat topping.  They are also known for the Mojitos.

As it was very crowded over lunch time - lots of cruise day trippers - I managed to get a seat at the bar (which was empty?), which turned out to be great as I got to chat to the lovely bartenders, who maybe just flirted a little bit with me.  That's okay, I gave it back to them (especially after a couple of mojitos!).

Servers are dressed in traditional clothing and the decor is very over the top!  Murals are painted on the wall to look like the countryside.

Raices bar

Passionfruit mojitos straight up in a metal cup - keeps it icy cold.  Tasty and very strong mojitos!  and only Barcadi is used here.

Mojito time

Flirting so much I even got to wear my waiters hat!

 

The first visit I just wanted some snacking food to go with my mojito.  I opted for the Festival Boricua, which is a platter of Cassava and cheese fritters, corn sticks, cassava sticks and plantain chips.  With a mayo dipping sauce.

 

I'm sure this appeals to many and is best shared between 2 or more people.  It was all deep fried and stodgy. What I did like was that I got to try a variety of snack foods.  Maybe it was because I wasn't overly hungry either.

 

Festival Boricua

The second visit was better.  I was sitting in the main restaurant and ordered the Mofongo with Mojo Isleno style prawns.  This was the bomb.  Garlic and buttery mashed plantains with a sweet tomatoey sauce and big fat prawns.  The crispy plantain on top was great for scooping out the bits from the bottom.  There is something special about eating out of a wooden pestle style bowl!

Mofongo with prawns

Restaurant Raices
Recinto Sur Street
Old San Juan



Some exploring around the Princess promenade and I found a cart selling slabs of crispy shards of chicharron, aka pork crackling.  You can by by the poundage...this piece that I'm holding is 1/3 of a pound....okay as much as I wanted to, I didn't eat the whole thing in one go...but I did take a big shattering bite!

Crispy piggy crackling goodness

My last night in San Juan I was delighted to have a friend dine with me.  Chris from the cruise was flying standby and couldn't get a flight, so she came and stayed with me for the night.  We headed out and about and ended up in a bar for a few Medalla's before dinner.

We ended up at the famous Parrot Club.  A dimly lit restaurant that is perfect for either big groups or romantic interludes in the corner seating.  apart from the romanticness of it, we were not that impressed with the wait staff or the food generally.  Not sure what the hype is about this place.  Maybe we were there on an off night. 

It too far to long for our drinks and our orders to be taken. then we over ordered and ended up with so much food...oh well you live and learn.

We order the Mofongo de Yuca y plantaino - which is a mofongo made with a mix of mashed plantain and yucca.  Not as light and fluffy as the original...but to try it with yucca was a nice change.

Yucca and Plantain mofongo

Other dishes were the Cuban Black bean croquettes, Amarillos en Almibar Queso del Paio (sweet plantains in syrup with fresh local cheese) and the Viana Nachos con Ropa Vieja, which was a latino stewed beef, monterey jack cheese, aguacate, sour cream and cheese. (somehow I've missed placed the photos).

Flavours of San Juan - Food Tour

My first day in Old San Juan and what am I doing - searching out food (naturally)! One of the best ways to taste your way through a city (if you are short on time) is to do a  food tour of the city you are visiting and there just so happens to be a fabulous one here in OSJ.  I managed to book myself on the Flavours of San Juan evening tour and met our small group at Carli's.   I'm in luck too as a new local foodblogger Myriam has joined the tour.  The great thing about this food blog (one of many great things) is that it is blogged in English.  Go check her blog out (PReats) - it's full of fantastic reviews, tips and local eats!

So, we start at Carli’s Fine Bistro & Piano (Carli was a muso with the Beach Boys for many years) and sampled three morsels - salted cod fish fritter with a spicy mayo , tostone with ceviche (scallops and prawns) and pumpkin fritters with squash. These were delicious and had our taste buds wanting more. 

salted cod fritter, tostone with ceviche and pumpkin fritter

Our group is small and our guide, Victor is an awesome guide and is very passionate about the architecture, the history and culture of the town (he is currently studying to be an architect). Seeing the differences between the Spanish and French buildings was good (I would never have really noticed the difference).

Next stop was Cuatro Sombras and I have to say some of the best coffee I have ever tasted. Single origin, handpicked and dried in the sun, it is roasted and ground on site.  It was a medium bodied coffee and had an amazingly smooth, soft caramel undernote -oh don't I sound like a connoisseur? Not really, but it was a fantastic shot of java - and a tip from the locals have it with brown sugar!

Cuatro Sombras coffee

 

Wandering the streets on our way to the next venue, we walked past the narrowest house in the world, San Cristobel Church (which isn’t open very often) and down through the shopping streets. 

narrowest house in the world

We arrived at a mask shop which is also Café el Punto for alcapurrias. These are 'similar' to an empanada and are probably one of the most eaten snacks in San Juan. The pocket is made from shredded green plantain and a type of taro made into a dough with seasoned meat inside, then deep fried (like everything in Puerto Rico). They were tasty and piping hot but a little oily for my tastes.

alcapurrias - most eaten street snack in San Juan

 

Now onto the home of the Pina Colada. We arrived at Barrachina’s where it is reputed to have originated from – however some believe it was discovered at the Hilton. This is a very debatable topic and not one I am going to get into here.  I don’t know which place invented the drink and I don’t really care – it was a good pina colada and this place can sell 1,000 glasses a day! My only gripe is that it's premixed in the churners to freeze, however seeing that they sell that many a day I can forgive them!

 

 

It was time for our dinner stop (as if we haven’t had enough to eat) and Rosa de Tiana which is housed in a room at the beginning of the old tunnel system that can be found under the city is the spot to dine. It’s a small, dimly lit restaurant with arched roofing and tiled floors.

Inside and the courtyard at Rosa de Tiana

We are here to taste the famous Mofongo, which is fried mashed green plantain with any number of meats and stews. Here we get our own pilon (mortar and pestle) to mash our own plantains, which is heavily laced with roasted garlic and lashings of butter – the aroma has me drooling as I mash away. It is served with a chicken stew. It’s absolutely divine. Comfort food in a wooden bowl! We devour it!

 

 

before, during the mashing and the end result

After a walk through the old gates and along the waterfront and old fort, we wander along Paseo de La Princesa promenade where there are some small stalls selling local products.  We stop at the 'sweet' stall just have to have a look (really) - filled with coconut sweets and snacks - I decide to come back here later. 

sweets galore

To the finish off our tour we arrive at Café de Princessa, an outdoor café along the promenade, lit with fairylights.  It's a romantic spot for a coffee or a bite of dessert. Of course we finish off with flan made with coconut and a side of guava sauce.  The sauce is sticky and sweet and the flan is smooth and custardy.

coconut flan

If you enjoy the local food scene I can highly recommend this food tour. It offers a taste of many local dishes and with the history, architecture and culture aspect it was very educational too. (* but I just came for the food.....really).