Restaurants in the Caribbean

Restaurants in the Caribbean

Who is on the way on a charter ship, usually cooks or grills on board. The disadvantage is in the high expenditure of time: Food buys, transports, create and prepare on board cooks. Afterwards the washing-up follows, then garbage remove with the Dinghy. At the beginning that is romantically, after some days annoying. The time on board is too expensive and valuable, in order to do it with buying, cooking and clearing up.

On the multicolored local markets lovely fruit and fresh vegetable are offered. Thus one asks oneself: Why not enjoy local Creole food, made from the fruits of the country and the sea in the restaurant instead of opening cans on board?

Creole kitchen. That sounds terrific, but only in the theory: The kitchen is nearly everywhere bad on the islands, which are visited by charter yachts (between the Virgin Islands in the north and Grenada in the south), often even very badly and usually much too expensively, based on achievement, quality and local income.

That particularly applies to islands, which stood in former times under English rule. Where English kitchen is tradition, one should (normally) not expect anything. Vegetable is cooked or steamed, nothing else. Thus it tastes. Meat except fish and chicken is tough, because it comes from England.

On the French islands it is not much better. The in former times famous French kitchen is hardly to be found today in France.

Why? Good kitchen requires much work, creativity and commitment. One always requires of the others, but not of oneself, therefore the kitchen is bad. In addition on the Caribbean islands: If the restaurants for many tourists are already much too expensive, then they are priceless for the local population: The usual meal costs approximately 45 EC$ plus 10% service plus often 7-8% local tax. That makes approximately 53 EC$ = 20 US$. Thus the restaurants are empty. Thus one has few supplies. Thus only one buys and one cooks after the guest ordered.

In the guides the local kitchen is praised as "delicious" and "outstanding", but that is not a yardstick: The authors are usually Englishmen ...

But there are exceptions. We (2004) could recommend restaurants with uncommonly good kitchen, special originality or good price/achievement relationship (from north to south). All islands without comments are culinary desert to our experience.

Place	Name	Remark
US Virgin Islands	The Green House	US operated, well, inexpensive, fast, correct, long happy hour, center of St. Thomas
Brit. Virgin Islands	Pusser's	Small restaurant chain, well, relatively inexpensive and originally, each knows it
St. Martin (French)	Marina Dock	Many good restaurants in the open square approximately around the Marina basin, nevertheless inexpensive by competition, ambiente as at the Mediterranean
St. Maarten	Boathouse	pleasant exception to here usual US fastfood, beside yacht club and lifting bridge Simpson Bay Lagoon
St. Kitts
Nevis
Gouadeloupe
Dominika
Martinique
St. Lucia	Razmataz	Indian restaurant (US chain), maintained, outstanding kitchen, in addition 8 Indian specialities, outstanding service, good Chilean wine, happy hour to 19 o'clock, for us one of the best restaurants in the Caribbean, Rodney Bay opposite of Hotel Royal St. Lucian.
St. Vincent
Bequia
Canouan
Mayerau
Union	Lambi's restaurant	The "Caribbean Oktoberfest of Munich", Caribbean purely: Roomy hall at the waterfront for 150 guests, often 2-3 yachts moored at its dock, each evening 6 men steel band, each evening sumptuous buffet (6 salads, each vegetable, each meat, dessert, ice with rum) from own supermarket and own herds, often Limbo Show, all service inclusive for 45 EC$ (plus 10% Tax), simply competitionless.
Carriacou
Grenada	Patrick's	On approximately 30 plates of everything from the Creole kitchen in outstanding quality. Caribbean purely at 3 tables in tiny house with tiny terrace to the Lagoon Road right beside Foodland. For the outstanding quality inexpensive.
Grenada	Nutmeg	During the day meeting place of locals, skippers and crusader, good rotis, 1. floor over Foodmarket supermarket and bookshop, romantic prospect of the Carenage, which reminds of Mediterranean ports.
Tobago
Trinidad	Jenny's Bar	Outstanding restaurant over 3 floors in Victorian mansion close to the Savannah Port of Spain with Chinese kitchen, thereby very inexpensive. The upper floors somewhat plush like, the cellar bar with restaurant often full, meeting place of locals (Trinis).