Dominican Food in Cabarete

One of the great things about Cabarete is that it’s not a big resort town.  Sure there are several excellant all inclusive five star hotels available, but it’s the small hotels that give you the best opportunity to experience some Dominican food and culture.

Most of the locals that work in Cabarete live in one of two small villiages in Cabarete.  They are Las Sienaga to the west and Callejon to the east.  If you befriend a local while here on vacation, you should take the opportunity to visit one of the villages to see where the locals live and enjoy a meal at one of the colmados.  You can usually find fish or chicken (BBQ or fried) with rice, beans, yuca, platino or guinao.  Sometimes there is pork or goat available too.  Water and Coca-Cola seem to be the beverages of choice.

In Cabarete there are a few places where you can eat authentic Dominican style meals.  The Chicken Shack is by far the most popular with it’s fresh BBQ chicken and choice of side for 100 pesos.  Sides include yuca, French fries, fried platino and salad.  Just down the road after the entrance to Callejon is Casa Mamis where there is a varied menu of several different items you can choose from.  Each day the menu is different, but often includes fish fillets from mero or marlin, lemon chicken, BBQ chicken, meatballs, beef skewers, octopus and several other items.  These also come with salad and a side for 140 pesos.  Water on the house is available to drink along with pop and beer.  In town there are a few street vendors worth checking out at night.  In front of Blue Bar is a cart where you can buy delicious hot pork sandwiches for 100 pesos and in front of the Scotiabank is a hotdog vendor that has the best toppings in town for 50 pesos.  Sometimes he also has pork or chicken sandwiches available too.

About 300m down the road from eXtreme Hotel is a little fruit stand.  This is a great place to pickup fresh fruit and veggies to have for snacks, breakfast and salads.  The produce is grown locally and they carry whatever is in season in the area.  You can pickup items such as bananas, mango, papaya, starfruit, chinola (passionfruit), lettuce, tomato, eggplant, avocado and many others.  During the day there is also a booth here to buy hot food, ususally chicken with rice, beans and salad.  It’s perfect for takeout, tastes great and is easy on the pocketbook.