The Caribbean is considered the most diverse culinary region in the world. Mix French and Spanish cuisines with African and East Indian flavors, and add some British and Dutch customs. Add tropical ingredients and exotic fruits. Leave it all to steep, or ‘creolise’ for several centuries – then serve as you sit with sand between the toes and views over a radiant blue sea.
It would be a tragedy to miss it by sticking to the buffet-based ‘burgatory’ of the islands’ big resorts, or to rely on tourist restaurants.
The good news is that it is possible to find plenty of authentic culinary experiences on every island, with chefs, both local and from overseas, determined to raise the region’s gastronomic game.
Enjoy: Lap it up! The Fish Pot restaurant, which is attached to Little Good Harbour Hotel (pictured), offers an “excellent dining experience”.
Orlando’s restaurant is located in the picturesque town of Soufriere (pictured), St Lucia
At Orlando’s restaurant in Soufriere, St Lucia, owner Orlando Satchell, a Birmingham chef of Jamaican and Barbadian extraction, retains Caribbean traditions while reconstructing recipes.
‘The marinade is critical in West Indian cooking, so I keep that,’ he says. ‘We wash meats in lime or vinegar, and season them before cooking, usually on the bone.’ Then he calls on the region’s fantastic fruits and other flavours to add something special.
The yellowfin tuna is, in particular, prepared with seasoned and grated cocoa. It’s then grilled over a bed of grilled watermelon. What about the starchy vegetables, you ask? The plantains are reduced to a hot salsa.
His new method of cooking stews also appeals to him. Before they can be mixed, his meats are prepared separately. The result can be tasted in the Caribbean’s traditional ‘oil-down’ – a slow-cooked stew that Satchell makes with pork, coconut milk, green bananas, potato-like dasheen and dumplings.
Stay at Stonefield Villa Resort, with pretty self-catering cottages on the hills just outside Soufriere, from £242 per night (stonefieldresort.com).
Chef BB’s Crab Back restaurant overlooks the lively St George’s Harbour in Grenada, pictured above
There are many other ways to enjoy traditional Grenadan dishes. Chef BB, also back in the Caribbean after running a restaurant in Britain, cooks a more traditional oil-down at his Crab Back restaurant, which overlooks the lively St George’s Harbour.
The long-established method of stacking ingredients and covering them with coconut milk and spices, before cooking gently for several hours is what he follows. The turmeric and coconut milk are eventually absorbed and the meat and vegetables become succulent and fragrant. Meanwhile, Le Phare Bleu restaurant, which sits in its own cove on the island’s south coast, takes a more delicate approach, serving a lovely, boneless goat curry.
Until Covid struck, the town of Gouyave held open-air ‘Fish Fridays’ each week – fun evenings out with music and coal-filled grills made out of old oil drums lining the street. They will be returning soon, with lobster-to go, fillet sandwiches, and fish cakes.
Le Phare Bleu Restaurant, shown in this photo, has its own private cove. They serve a delicious boneless goat curry
On a trip to Grenada’s Grand Anse Beach (pictured), spend the night at the Blue Horizons Garden Resort
Pictured is a dining table at the Blue Horizons Garden Resort, where rooms are priced from £140 per night
Trevon Stoute is a chef in his own kitchen and prepares Bajan dishes with an innovative twist. He delivers the results to villas
Sea fresh: Anguilla lobster. Excellent shellfish can be found at nearly any Anguillan beachbar
Stay at Blue Horizons Garden Resort in a prime position above Grand Anse Beach from £140 per night (grenadabluehorizons.com).
On Barbados, the west coast is famous for having restaurants that are in superb seaside settings, but few do more than nod to the island’s culinary traditions. A chef trying to put this right is Trevon Stoute, who brings luxury dining to private clients in the island’s villas. He has even finessed Bajan ‘pudding and souse’ (basically boiled, pickled meat with steamed sweet potato) and created a delectable pork tenderloin accompanied by a sweet potato mousse (tstoute.com).
Others traditions are not adaptable. Bajans are fond of a Sunday picnic on remote beaches. Join them with a picnic box from Cutter’s Deli near the airport. Saltfish fritters and cutters are salt-bread sandwiches filled with breaded salmon fillets. You can also enjoy something more traditional at the Atlantis Hotel, 100 years old and newly renovated on the east coast.
Atlantis Hotel, 100 years old and renovated recently, offers an excellent buffet. This is the restaurant at Atlantis Hotel.
Visit Martinique (pictured above) to taste some Creole food in the Caribbean
Bouillante, Guadeloupe, pictured, is home to chef Jimmy Bibrac’s restaurant O Z’Epices
Meals look like tropical versions of a Victorian feast – tables groan with spicy breadfruit and corn soup, saltfish and pumpkin fritters, slabs of kingfish, yam gratin, candied sweet potato and green banana pickle.
Stay at Atlantis’s low-key sister hotel, Little Good Harbour, with its own excellent dining room, the Fish Pot, from £285 per night (littlegoodharbourbarbados.com).
Martinique, Guadeloupe and Guadeloupe offer the finest Creole food. The blaff, named after the sound of fish being dropped into hot stocks, uses oil-down seasonings. The islands’ court bouillon is just as good. It’s a broth where fish is simmered with lemon juice, bay, peppercorns and celery.
Stay at Malliouhana on Anguilla’s stunning Meads Bay, pictured, from £585 per night
Pictured is Le Toiny’s Beach Club, where guests can enjoy a glass of rosé on the beach
On Guadeloupe, spices feature extensively, if subtly, in chef Jimmy Bibrac’s cooking at his restaurant O Z’Epices.
French techniques are used to enhance Creole flavors and ingredients. Daily caught fish is cured and cubed, then stacked into a colorful tower with a cream of conch sauce and hibiscus flowers.
B&B at Le Jardin Malanga, with sweeping views of the sea, costs from £206 per night (jardinmalanga.com).
Farther north there’s a stronger French influence on the islands of St Barts and St Martin. Daily flights from France (and Miami) bring in ideas and ingredients – so expect some of the most imaginative food in the region.
On St Barts, the coolest lunch is a lobster salad and a glass of rosé on the beach at restaurants such as Le Toiny or La Cabane. For an elegant taste of Creole, try the Grain de Sel – its christophine (a local squash) seasoned and stuffed with codfish is very popular.
You can purchase ready-made champagne picnics to suit your needs on this costly island. A top tip is to head to Kiki-e Mo’s for avocado and mango salad with prawns or white anchovies. Hire a boat for a trip to Colombier, where you can explore hidden beaches.
Stay high in the island’s hills at Villa Marie – B&B is from £595 per night (saint-barth.villamarie.fr).
Stay at Guadeloupe’s Le Jardin Malanga, pictured, to soak in sweeping views of the sea
Stay high in the St Barts hills at Villa Marie, pictured above, where B&B is from £595 per night
Head to Miss T’s Kitchen in Ocho Rios, pictured, and dine on oxtail in her colourful, open-air dining room
One sign at St Martin where there are many French restaurants serving classic French food
Grand Case, a town located on St Martin is known for its excellent local cuisine. A strip of restaurants lies by the sand, and most serve classical French cuisine, but Villa Royale will offer you a local court bouillon – red snapper sizzled to perfection in stock and spices – and the delectable French/Caribbean curry called Colombo.
Visit one of the many West Indian restaurants found in the Caribbean. Called ‘lolos’, they are some of the islands’ finest outdoor restaurants, serving marinated grilled chicken, sticky ribs or lobster with heaped rice and peas and fried plantain.
Five miles away is Anguilla, where you can pick almost any beach bar for excellent lobster and crayfish, or try Leon’s at Malliouhana for salads and ceviches. Stay at Malliouhana on Meads Bay, from £585 per night (aubergeresorts.com).
Puerto Rico offers perfect pork, poke bowls and buttermilk chicken in bread. All these and more are on offer by the beach at the many ‘kioskos’ across the island. Or get all the choice you’ll ever need at the restaurants crammed in at Lote 23, a riot of parasols in Santurce, east of San Juan.
Reina Mora, a small restaurant in the island’s north-west, shows how careful cultivation of local, seasonal produce can achieve something remarkable. At an open kitchen in a family house, they create a gourmet Caribbean experience – brined pork chops seasoned and marinated in vinegar, mixed with sweet and sour peppers. For a touch of luxury, stay at Ritz-Carlton Reserve in Dorado Beach. From £1,385 a night (ritzcarlton.com).
Get all the choice you’ll ever need at the restaurants crammed in at Lote 23 in Santurce, east of San Juan (pictured above)
El Cuchifrito’s Lote 23 dish, where guests are welcomed by a “riot of parasols”.
However, Jamaica’s restaurants are few and far between due to its abundance of all-inclusive hotels. One place to try is Miss T’s Kitchen in Ocho Rios, where you can get run-down (Jamaica’s version of oil-down) and oxtail in her colourful, open-air dining room.
What you can do in Jamaica is to join locals on a culinary road trip – buying different courses from different shops. Each has its own speciality, including ‘pepper shrimps’, which can make the lips sting, or chunks of yam topped with a little salt cod. It’s the food that Usain Bolt says made him run so fast!
Finally, try another Jamaican favourite called simply ‘pudding’. It’s a sweet potato or cornmeal mix with coconut milk, cinnamon, sugar, vanilla and nutmeg, left to simmer and solidify in a steel pot by the roadside. Locals say it’s best eaten before an afternoon nap – another joy of a holiday in Jamaica. B&B at the Half Moon Hotel in Montego Bay costs from £442 a night (halfmoon.com).
Jamaica’s Montego Bay. While holidaying in the area, feast on ‘pudding’ – a sweet potato or cornmeal mix with coconut milk, cinnamon, sugar, vanilla and nutmeg