Claro Cafe — Wholesome Tropical Nostalgia

At a Glance:

Price: $$
Food: [rating=5]
Staff: [rating=5]
Feel: [rating=5]

Price range:

$0-$3: $
$3-$12: $$
$12-$25: $$$
$25-$50: $$$$
$50-up: $$$$$

The Feel:

Claro is a little cafe on a patio in the middle of the tropical lush landscaping of the hotel it adjoins. It gets a trickle of morning sun filtering through the leaves and washing over your table like the shadows at the bottom of a pool.

Here you will get white table cloths, real silverware, cloth napkins, and white china. Sure there’s a hint of delicate, but not frail. A touch of sophisticated, but not snob. A dab of wholesome, but not heavy.

The Food:

It feels like the recipes at Claro’s Cafe were passed down through generations of women who loved cooking.

Banana Bread French Toast? Who comes up with something that divinely delicious if not someone who both loves food and the person they’re feeding?!? Liquid passion fruit jelly to drizzle over my pancakes? Why thank you, yes! How delightfully fruity!

The portions are grandma-like too…. the “eat up and put some fat on those bones, darlin!” sort of grandma. They serve little breakfast “boats” in ramequins straight out of the oven; I often can’t finish them, but not from lack of trying.

It can be easy to overlook the subtleties of breakfast because eggs rarely disappoint, no matter how much you neglect them, but Claro Cafe gets it right, down to the wholesome slices of fresh bread.

The Staff:

Usually there’s just one server on duty, this season it’s the lovely Carolina.

There are only a handful of tables on this patio, so even when it’s completely full she is more than able to take your order and warm up your morning with smiles.

We got real silly the last time we went and she laughed along with our giddiness. Thanks Carolina!

All in all the service is much like the food: warm, hearty, wholesome and genuine.

The Whole:

There’s a bit of old-world exploration at Claro Cafe. Something about dressed tables and tropical plants, I don’t know, it’s like corsets and mosquito nets. I wouldn’t be surprised to see guests pull up with trunks instead of suitcases.

It’s the kind of place where you read the important New York Times headlines from an actual newspaper in the fresh morning light before heading off to a jungle expedition (yes, the local canyoning tours totally counts)

Oh, and kids are welcome here, here’s a picture of the resident toys to prove it.