The Mercado Central occupies a full city block a few streets west of Parque Vargas and is the best single window onto how Limón actually eats. Inside the building's tight grid of stalls you will find Caribbean staples that are harder to track down in the highlands — ackee, breadfruit, fresh coconuts split to order, scotch bonnet peppers, salted fish, and bunches of culantro that smell nothing like the coriander in the supermarket.
The cooked food counters around the perimeter serve rice and beans the Caribbean way (cooked together in coconut milk), rondón, pati pastries, and pan bon. Prices are local and lunch is filling for a few thousand colones. Mornings are best; many stalls wind down by mid-afternoon.