Touring without trying the local dishes is like not having visited at all. Dare to taste the cuisine of Santiago. We assure you, you will be satisfied!

The first thing we must make clear is that Dominican cuisine is very varied. There are dishes that you can only find in certain places in the country, but in this article, we will limit ourselves to telling you about what you can eat in the heart city.

Main Menu

• La Bandera: This dish is generally consumed at lunch. It consists of beans, rice, meat, and fried green plantains. Plantains are always present on the Dominican table in different forms, although the fried version predominates.
• El Moro: This is also very common on the family table in Santiago. It is a simple recipe where rice and beans are cooked together. This classic dish is served with stewed meat and salad.
• Locrio: Another very common preparation, which some say is a derivative of Spanish paella. Its main component is rice, to which a variety of seasonings and ingredients are added according to the cook’s preference. Raudy Torres, a well-known figure in Santiago’s culture, who has since passed away, created and made public his own recipe in which he replaced rice with cornmeal, thus losing its European roots.
• Sancocho: This is a very thick soup, resulting from the long cooking time and the amount of soft vegetables that compose it, the basics being pumpkin, yam, and plantain. It is called “seven meats” because it is made with pork, beef, chicken, goat, sausage, ribs, and smoked ham bones. It is delicious. It can be eaten alone, but in Santiago, it is accompanied by rice.
• Goat: This is also one of the culinary specialties in this city. Your option to taste it is to go to the exclusive Café Restaurant Barroko at our Hotel Platino, on Estrella Sadhalá Avenue. Sit down and treat your palate!

Anytime

• Mangú: This is a smooth-textured puree made from boiled green plantains. If you order the “Tres golpes” for breakfast, you will be served mangú, egg, cheese, and salami, a sausage that has become a staple of the Dominican diet since the early 20th century. Don’t be surprised to find salami in spaghetti, stewed, mixed with rice, or in thick fried slices.
• Mofongo: This versatile dish is made from plantains. It can be eaten as a side dish at lunch and dinner or alone as a light meal. After frying, the plantains are mashed with garlic and pork cracklings (crispy pork skin) to form a ball. A variant is to leave them partially open, creating a space to fill with some stew and topped with melted cheese.

If you want to know about popular menus, undoubtedly the reference is:

• Kipe: Although it is a common dish in the Middle East, Dominicans have made it their own. Filled with beef or chicken, it can be found on any street corner in the city due to the large number of street vendors offering it.

Finally, there is a dish that, although it is a very basic food preparation, has become famous because it was an idea born from a pregnant woman from Santiago a few years ago.

• La Yaroa: This dish is made from already cooked foods, layered in a kind of cake that is microwaved for a few minutes. It consists of French fries, ground beef, chicken, sauces, and yellow cheese. You can eat it at a fast-food stand near the Monument to the Restoration after 6 pm. Ask them to tell you how the recipe was born.

Now you know: you will have a lot of fun getting to know the city, but you will enjoy it even more if you savor the delights of Dominican cuisine in Santiago de los Caballeros!