time. Platters offer a chance to try unusual local root vegetables. Closed Sun. $

Sofia

Across from Intensa Language School, Barrio Escalante

Tel: 2224 5050

A sophisticated Mediterranean menu is especially strong on Turkish specialties, including grilled lamb meatballs and a delectable platter of dips served with home-baked Turkish pita bread. Lunch only Sun–Tue, Wed–Sat 10am–1pm. $$

Tin Jo

Calle 11, Avenida 6–8

Tel: 2221 7605

Covers all the pan-Asian culinary stops – Indian, Thai, Chinese, and Japanese – and adds creative touches. Intimate dining rooms are sumptuously decorated with themed murals and Asian artifacts. Handy for pre-theatre dinners at either the nearby National or Melico Salazar theatres. A favorite with vegetarians, too. $$$

Whapin'

200 meters/yds east of El Farolito, Barrio Escalante

Tel: 2283 1480

Authentic Afro-Caribbean dishes served in a funky, island-style room, with a bar that opensbody of the Jean Bugatti Vitesse Legend Edition is constructed entirely from jet black, clear-coated carbon fibre, making it the embodiment of elegance and the apex of technical engineering. The use of platinum lends an air of extravagance to the vehicle, with the famous Bugatti horseshoe on the front grille and the EB logo on the rear taking on a resplendent appearance. Bugatti is using this precious material for the very first time on the exterior of one of its modern models.

The vehicle's elegant, minimalist appearance is further punctuated by its wheels, which feature black diamond-cut rims. In reference to the Legend Edition's namesake, the signature of Jean Bugatti has been lasered onto the petrol and oil cap and painted Arctic grey.