We spent last July 4th in Guatemala, specifically traveling via luxury van from Lake Atitlán to Antigua. Antigua is one of Guatemala’s former capitals. It was destroyed by a terrible earthquake in the late 1700s, but its since been rebuilt and is an adorable Spanish Colonial city about an hour from the Guatemala City airport, making it very popular with tourists and expats. Due to the tourists and expats, Antigua has a very decent culinary scene, many would argue the trendiest in the country. Indeed, you can find everything from hip coffee shops to delicious, incredibly cheap street food to Vietnamese pho. This post reveals what and where we at in Antigua, as well as whether we would return to said locale. Happy eating!
Antigua, Guatemala. This is one of its most famous attractions- the Santa Catalina Arch.
Panaderia San Antonio
Without further ado, I will jump right in with Panaderia San Antonio. San Antonio – for short – is a tiny takeaway-only bakery right on Parque Centrale (next to Cafe Condessa). San Antonio opens daily at 5:30 AM, baking fresh bread-based goodies until the early evening. We, however, came for its “breakfast sandwich” – a Chile Rellenos. And no, this is not the Mexican variety. The Guatemalan chiles rellenos (or at least San Antonio’s) is a sandwich made with freshly baked Guatemalan bread – a bit crusty, but still soft and pillowy. The bread is stuffed with shredded pork meat, scrambled eggs, an unknown starch to hold it all together and wonderfully spicy pickled vegetables. I came here multiple days and always asked for it “spicy” (extra pickled veggies). The sandwich was only about $2 USD. San Antonio only accepts cash and I had to order in Spanish (don’t worry – they are super friendly and I ordered known very MINIMAL Spanish). This is my favorite thing that I ate in all of Guatemala. Come for breakfast, for a budget meal and to try local food. I cannot say enough good things about this place and would return every morning for breakfast.
Panaderia San Antonio. It doesn’t look like much.
The sweet counter at San Antonio. We tried a couple – they were good but quite sweet.
The most delicious aforementioned breakfast sandwich. It is so good!
Here is another photo. It is served in takeaway plastic wrap.