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Amid the aroma of pupusas fresh off the griddle and the melted cheese typical of some streets in San Salvador, different and unmistakable smells emerge for Nicaraguans: freshly prepared gallo pinto, crispy pork rinds, and fried plantain slices with grilled meat from the Nicaraguan restaurant “Fritangas by Sivar.”
Located on 75th North Avenue in the Escalón neighborhood, “Fritangas by Sivar” is making its mark in Salvadoran territory. Behind the aroma that transports customers to Managua’s fritangas is Erika Janeth Parrales Bermúdez, a Nicaraguan woman who turned nostalgia for her homeland into a restaurant and who, after overcoming the covid-19 pandemic and a serious illness, keeps Nicaraguan cuisine alive in the country that welcomed her more than a decade ago.
The restaurant’s name combines the words fritanga and Sivar, the colloquial way many Salvadorans refer to San Salvador. The name means “Fritanga of San Salvador.”
A mission that became a home
Parrales Bermúdez is originally from San Rafael del Sur, a municipality in Managua. She arrived in El Salvador on September 14, 2013, together with her husband and daughters as part of a Christian mission.
During her first years in the country, both she and her husband worked in different companies, becoming increasingly fond of the country while always remembering their homeland. A simple question from her eldest daughter planted the seed for what is now “Fritangas by Sivar.”
“Why, if we live in El Salvador, do we keep eating Nicaraguan food?” Parrales Bermúdez recalls her daughter asking.
“That’s when the idea came to me. As Nicaraguans in El Salvador, we always miss our culture and our cuisine, but we didn’t have a Nicaraguan restaurant,” she explains.
Two attempts and a pandemic
In 2018, while still working for a company, the Nicaraguan entrepreneur decided to create a Facebook page and post the dishes she would sell from her home—“just to try it out.” To her surprise, many Nicaraguans showed up.
She set up three tables for four people on her front porch. The result exceeded all expectations. “A lot of Nicaraguans came. That day the food wasn’t even enough. We offered typical fritanga: fried plantain slices, gallo pinto, fried cheese, salad, and the customer’s choice of meat—pork, beef, or ribs—plus the traditional chilero. That’s what made us take off,” she recalls.
Parrales Bermúdez’s culinary skills did not come out of nowhere; they stem from a strong family tradition. “I grew up watching my mother make chicken soup, mondongo, beef soup, and nacatamales. We used to supply the Barceló Hotel at Montelimar Beach. We would make up to two thousand nacatamales, and as a family we ran that business,” she remembers proudly.
When the pandemic arrived in 2020, the Nicaraguan lost her job at the company where she worked and returned to her idea of opening her own restaurant. “We went out onto the streets in a very well-known area here in El Salvador, using a pickup truck. My husband adapted it, and we went out to sell at a roundabout. From there, I never stopped,” she says.
The pickup truck became her mobile restaurant, equipped with a grill and furnishings, operating under strict health protocols. It was then that not only Nicaraguans but also Salvadorans began discovering her food.
After her success on the street, Parrales Bermúdez secured a location in El Salvador del Mundo, an important commercial area of San Salvador. But two months after opening, she fell ill and required surgery. This forced her to close the location for a year and a half, losing her entire investment.
The Rebirth of “Fritangas by Sivar”
On April 1, 2024, “Fritangas by Sivar” opened its doors at its current location. “We did a lot of publicity, and both Nicaraguans and Salvadorans, thank God, showed up that day,” Parrales Bermúdez recalls. Since then, the restaurant has continued to grow.
The venue seats about 20 people and creates between four and five jobs, all filled by Salvadoran workers. The restaurant’s décor aims to transport diners to Nicaragua: every wall is filled with Nicaraguan sayings.
Maintaining the authenticity of the dishes is possible because ingredients are brought from Nicaragua—from sour oranges, cacao, chicha, coffee, vinegar, and annatto, to the cheese used for quesillos.
The menu is broad and varied. Appetizers such as fried plantain slices with salad and fried cheese cost five dollars. Main dishes range from ten to twelve dollars. Nacatamales and quesillos cost four dollars each, while specialty dishes such as indio viejo, vigorón, and chicken soups cost ten dollars.
“We have tacos, enchiladas, nacatamales—available individually or in combo—and once a week we prepare the more complex dishes, such as baho, vigorón, and soups,” Parrales Bermúdez explains.
After 12 years in El Salvador, the Nicaraguan entrepreneur feels deeply grateful: “I feel very proud to have my restaurant here in El Salvador. This country has provided the opportunities for one to grow and to see my business flourish.”
“My husband and I dream of opening a clubhouse-style venue. We’re working toward that, and, God willing, we’ll be in other parts of the country,” she says with hope.
