Restaurant Metropol

We've lived in Puerto Rico for some three years now, and have never been able to figure out why the mofongo is such a popular dish among Puerto Ricans.  The mofongo you'll usually encounter in a local joint is a dry cake of over-fried, twice-baked, immature plantains topped with whatever sauce the house thinks best compliments this godawful gutbomb (Thousand Island dressing is a common one).  The other common possibility is that same, overcooked plantain nightmare soaked in the used cooking oil from the fish fryer, then plastered with squid ink or roofing tar.  That general rule held true until we ate at Metropol, in Fajardo.  This popular restaurant from San Juan opened a satellite restaurant in Fajardo a few years ago, and has been drawing the upmarket restaurant clientele of the eastern end of the island since then.  We decided to try out Metropol because it was supposed to be a reliably good representation of Latin Caribbean food.

During our first visit to Metropol recently, we started off by ordering one of their house specialties, a Cuban sampler-type platter, but then noticed a couple minutes after ordering that there was mofongo on the menu.  Okay, so if there's such a thing as a good mofongo, the Metropol ought to have it.  The waiter was perfectly willing to change our order and go face the cookstaff alone, risking his life by upsetting the pirates in the kitchen during the middle of lunch rush, just to care for these outsiders.  That alone, to this writer (a former  line cook), speaks volumes about the professionalism and bonhommie of the Metropol staff, both front of the house and cookstaff.

The mofongo that reached our table was at least nine inches tall and six inches across; a towering behemoth of perfectly cooked plantain.  Slathered over the peak of this mountain was a powerful garlic butter and cilantro sauce with some red pepper thrown in for color.  Hidden deep inside the fortifications of this plantain fortress was a huge cavity filled to the top with tasty lobster, shrimp, octopus, and conch.  It was absolutely delicious.  After the Metropol, we're going to try mofongo in some other reputedly top-notch places, but never again in a bar.

Don't go to the Metropol just for mofongo.  All the dishes that we saw brought out looked absolutely delectable.  Top-notch cooking, running about $13 average for an entree.  We'd recommend sampling their specialty menu, because they obviously know what they're doing.  It seemed that every other dish that went by was the stuffed cornish game hen, and it looked gorgeous, so that's the first thing we're getting the next time we go.  Stay away from the fried chicken; one of our kids ordered it, and while it was juicy, crisp, and perfectly cooked, there didn't seem to be any salt or spices at all, and the overall effect was downright bland.  The basic treatment would have made for heavenly buffalo wings, though.

Definitely a great place to eat, and a good value.  Consider the Metropol for dinner when returning from Luquillo beach or on the way to the Bioluminescent Bay.

Metropol is located in the same corner of the Fajardo mall complex as Sushi Boat, standing off on its own on one side of the lot.  It's at the main Fajardo intersection of Route 3, and its sign has a squiggly, cursive "m" on it.