Nine Street-Food Stands to Stop at in Puerto Rico

Puerto Puerto Rico is a haven for street-food stands: whether it's a family roadside joint making hot-from-the-pan jibaritos (fried beef and plantain sandwiches) or a canary-yellow truck rolling out gourmet burgers in the urban centre, there's a wealth of on-the-go snacks to sample. Don't pass them up. Exploration of these casual kitchens is all part of the fun, and the best way to find some of the tastiest bites on the island.

Street snacks: nine island food stalls we love

A quick-fix spot to grab lunch on the island, left, and a roadside fruit stall. | Photo credit: Jacob Elwood

Néctar Puerto Rico

Head to the island's east coast for the El Yunque Food Truck Family Park, and arrive hungry because Néctar feeds its patrons well. Dishes are more artfully crafted than you might expect from a food truck, and the menu - which has a bit of a surf 'n' turf angle - ranges from rice bowls with smoked meat, spicy crab and avocado, to tamarind pork belly topped with tempura shrimp. If it's at all possible, save room for dessert - the likes of tres leches (milk cake) or churros filled with bavarian cream.

Puruko Hot Dogs

There are plenty of hot-dog stands around Puerto Rico, but Puruko, perched outside the Rebekah Colberg Sports Complex, is worth making a beeline for. Work up an appetite at the skatepark or batting cages first… or just show up for lunch. Go for a classic or Polish sausage, then have it fully loaded - topped with sauerkraut, condiments and a flourish of crunchy potato sticks.

El Churry

Ask any local for a must-stop food stand and you'll keep hearing the name El Churry. An early adopter of the food-truck trend, these guys have been cracking out incredible meat sandwiches since the late 90s, with soft Puerto Rican pan sobao bread filled with your choice of beef or chicken, sauces and crisps. Today, there are a handful of these green-and-red trucks across the island, including in Isla Verde and Guaynabo.

The daily special from SaVor, left, and diners at Santurce's food park, Lote 23. | Photo credit: Joe Howard

SaVor

Vegans, fear not: there are delicacies for you here, too. SaVor dishes up animal-free fare at the vibrant Miramar Food Truck Park - and the offerings are excellent. While the menu changes each week, you can expect flavourful dishes such as pumpkin "chop" with rosemary and pigeon-pea risotto, yautía blanca (a starchy, sweet potato-like vegetable) gnocchi with mushroom sauce, and a trio of black-bean sliders.

Ceviche Hut

Head to the beaches at Playa Fortuna and you'll find the Kioskos de Luquillo, a string of stalls selling all kinds of food and souvenirs. (Don't let their weathered appearance deceive you: there's fantastic food to be had here.) The Ceviche Hut delivers a delicious taste of Peru, with fresh local fish cured in zingy citrus and a kick of chilli that can only be further improved by the accompaniment of a cold pisco sour.

El Cuchifrito

Santurce's popular gastronomic park Lote 23 hosts a wide variety of vendors, selling everything from craft cocktails to fried chicken. But you'd be very wise indeed to visit El Cuchifrito for a generous and customisable portion of mofongo - the island's traditional root-veg mash. Choose from a base of plantain, yucca or sweet potato (or, if you're feeling brazen, go for a combination of all three), then add your choice of toppings from a line-up that includes succulent pork, garlicky shrimp and a rainbow of seasonal produce.

A colourful bowl of food from El Cuchifrito, left, and a beachfront coconut seller. | Photo credit: Joe Howard

Lechonera Los Pinos

In the mountains of Cayey, you'll find a cluster of kiosks preparing lechón (slow-cooked, spit-roast pig), a much-loved Puerto Rico tradition that has seen the approach road dubbed "the pork highway". Each vendor serves up pork and all the trimmings so good you really can't go wrong, but if you're feeling overwhelmed by the choice, start the ball rolling at Los Pinos, whose combination (mixed cuts) plate had the late Anthony Bourdain in raptures.

La Mancha de Plátano

This long-running gem at the Con-Tenedores Food Truck Park celebrates all things plantain, from soups and salads to the burger-like crispy plantain sandwiches. What many patrons keep coming back for, though, is the mamposturrias - La Mancha de Plátano's own take on traditional alcapurrias. These plantain cigars are stuffed with delights like rabbit fricassee or smoked honey and chimichurri, then fried until golden.

Limbers

If you're harbouring a sweet tooth or just fancy a little refresher on a hot Puerto Rican day, stop by Limbers in Old San Juan. The hole-in-the-wall stand has been selling shaved ice here for more than 50 years, making it a little serving of local heritage. Around £1 gets you a paper cup with your choice of flavour, be it classic lemon or something more tropical, like guava, pineapple or passion fruit. Just make sure to eat it before it melts.