Why the food is so good here
For decades the Zona Rosa has been where San Salvador goes out to dinner. On Boulevard del Hipódromo and its side streets you’ll find Salvadoran cooking, Argentine grills, Peruvian, Japanese, Italian, craft burgers, specialty coffee and bars. Nearly all of it is within walking distance of the boulevard.
Breakfast
If you’re staying in a suite with a kitchen, many breakfasts happen at home —it’s one of the reasons people choose this format for long stays—. When you want to go out, the area has specialty cafés that open early and several hotels with breakfast open to the public.
In our case breakfast is upstairs: Séptimo Gastrobar, the hotel’s rooftop bar, serves breakfast on the roof, in the open air with the city in front of you. For lunch and dinner there’s La Gastroteca, on the ground floor. You can charge both to your suite.
Business lunch
This is the area’s most common use on weekdays: it’s minutes from the World Trade Center and the offices of San Benito and Escalón. Look for restaurants with a set lunch menu, the usual formula in San Salvador —starter, main and drink at a fixed price—, which works out much better than ordering à la carte.
Front desk tip
Between 12:00 and 13:30 the boulevard’s restaurants fill up with office workers. If you have a business meeting, book; if you’re on your own, arriving at 11:45 or after 13:45 saves you the wait.
Dinner and a night out
From Thursday to Saturday the boulevard is the heart of the capital’s nightlife: restaurants that serve late, bars with live music and terraces. It’s the busiest area at night in the city and, for the same reason, the best lit and the most walked.
Salvadoran food
If it’s your first time in El Salvador, there are three things worth trying:
- Pupusas. The national dish: a thick corn tortilla filled with cheese, beans, chicharrón or loroco, served with curtido and tomato sauce. People eat them at any time, but locally they’re a dinner habit.
- Fried yuca with chicharrón. With curtido on top, just like pupusas.
- Salvadoran coffee. The country grows very good high-altitude coffee, and there are several roasters with their own shops in the area.
For pupusas, a Salvadoran will usually send you to a neighbourhood pupusería rather than a restaurant on the boulevard. Ask at the front desk: the recommendation changes with the day and with who you ask.
If you want to go further
Multiplaza (2.8 km) and La Gran Vía (3.1 km) are full of chains and mall restaurants, useful if you’re travelling with children or want something open on a Sunday night. Galerías Escalón is 1.5 km away.