Paraguay Info
Joined: 01 Dec 2006
Posts: 14
Home Country: paraguay
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 Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2006 8:07 am Post subject: FOOD & DINING IN PARAGUAY / PARAGUAY DINING GUIDE |
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FOOD & DINING IN PARAGUAY
GENERAL
There is a wide choice of restaurants in Asunción, most with table service. A staple of Paraguayan dining is parrillada -- barbecued meats served in large portions at restaurants called parrillas. Beef, including blood sausage and organ meats, is the mainstay, but pork and chicken are also common. Puchero is a meat, sausage, vegetable, and chickpea stew that's eaten in the cooler months. Bori-bori is a hearty soup with bits of meat, vegetables, and balls molded from cheese and corn. Paraguay's rivers abound with unusual fish, such as the surubí, a giant catfish. It's tastiest when served in a dish called milanesa de surubí (battered and deep-fried fillets). Another tasty option is the dorado, a ferocious predator resembling the salmon. Try it lightly grilled.
Cafés and bars usually sell snacks, mostly fried or grilled foods that can be prepared quickly. The most popular is milanesa, thin slices of batter-fried beef, chicken breast, pork, or fish. Other favourites are empanadas, envelopes of pastry filled with beef, pork, chicken, corn, or cheese; croquetas, sausage-shape minced meat or poultry that is rolled in bread crumbs and deep fried; and mixtos, ham-and-cheese sandwiches. Many cafés have a special of the day -- plato del día -- that is usually a good bargain. Paraguayan portions tend to be generous, so don't hesitate to share a dish.
Few Paraguayans are seen without their guampa, a drinking vessel made of a cow's horn, metal, or wood, from which they sip tereré, a cold infusion made from yerba maté tea. Maté is drunk hot throughout South America, but the cold version, often mixed with medicinal herbs, is more common in Paraguay. Pilsners, particularly the Baviera brand, are quite good. If you order beer in a restaurant, an enormous bottle is likely to be brought to your table in an ice bucket. Beer on tap is known as chopp (pronounced "shop"). Choose beer over the local wine whenever possible.
Asunción and the other larger cities have plenty of excellent restaurants, bars, and cafés, but in smaller towns the choices are few. Visitors traveling along the highways will find a few good roadside restaurants serving grilled meat and fish. Since restaurants sometimes close between meals, it's important to plan when to eat. Lunch can begin at 11:30, but 12:30 is more typical. Some restaurants stop serving lunch as early as 2. Dinner is often available at 7 PM, with restaurants staying open until 11. More sophisticated dining spots open at 8 PM and serve until shortly after midnight. On weekends and special occasions, dining hours are extended.
OVERVIEW
National specialties
• Chipas (maize bread flavoured with egg and cheese).
• Sopa paraguaya (soup of mashed corn, cheese, milk and onions).
• Soo-yosopy (a soup of cornmeal and ground beef).
• Palmitos (palm hearts).
• Surubí (a fish found in the Paraná).
National drinks
• Caña (distilled from sugar cane and honey).
• Mosto (sugar cane juice).
• Yerba maté (tea-like drink brewed from dried leaves and stemlets for the Yerba maté tree).
Notes:
* An 8:00 p.m. social engagement could begin at 9:00 or 9:30 p.m. Dinner is usually served around 10:00 p.m. and never earlier than 9:00 p.m. Never invite anyone for a 7:00 p.m. dinner, which would be far too early. Invite people at 8:30 or 9:00 p.m., and serve dinner at 10:00 p.m.
* Lunch is the main meal of the day. Businesspeople and schoolchildren go home at noon to have lunch with their family. It may be followed by an hour-long nap before everyone returns to work and school.
* Guests are served full plates of food. Show that you enjoy your food. Eat dinner and accept seconds, which will probably be pressed upon you. Not finishing all the food offered is a compliment to your host.
* When dining continental style, it is customary to hold your fork constantly in your left hand.
* Paraguayans share. They buy rounds of drink and offer food to all.
* Dinner is a social event. Do not talk business unless your host initiates it. |
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