Where to eat across 13 of our favorite Caribbean food islands, from a French dinner on Grand Case’s main street to a plate of late-night fries in Curaçao.
On Boulevard de Grand Case in Saint Martin, you can eat grilled chicken and a johnnycake a few steps from the beach, then walk down the same street for a French dinner with a bottle of Burgundy. We’d call it the most delicious street in the Caribbean. It’s one of the few places where we’d happily book four nights within walking distance of dinner and spend all four on the same road.
Other islands reward a drive. In Aruba, a fried fish lunch in Savaneta and a tasting menu near Palm Beach belong on the same day. In Martinique, the road to Grand’Rivière ends in a fishing village with a family-run Creole restaurant. In Trinidad, the best thing you eat all week might come wrapped in paper before you’ve had your coffee. These are the Caribbean islands where we’d plan a vacation around the food.
New Providence, The Bahamas
Nassau is our Caribbean capital of celebrity-chef dining, and it’s also one of the best places to eat Bahamian food. You can spend an evening working through a French wine list, then eat the next day’s lunch at a fishing dock where the conch salad is chopped in front of you. Cable Beach, downtown Nassau, Potter’s Cay and Arawak Cay each deserve a meal.
At Baha Mar, Marcus at Baha Mar Fish + Chop House is the dinner to book for Marcus Samuelsson’s take on a seafood and steak restaurant. At Café Boulud The Bahamas, inside Rosewood Baha Mar, Daniel Boulud’s kitchen brings Bahamian seafood and local produce into a classically French dinner. Downtown, Café Matisse is where we’d go for Italian food in a courtyard. Give Graycliff an evening of its own and spend some time with the wine list.
Set aside two lunches for Bahamian cooking. At the original McKenzie’s Fresh Conch on Potter’s Cay Dock, below the bridge to Paradise Island, get conch salad with citrus, onion and peppers. At the Fish Fry on Arawak Cay, sit down at Oh Andros or Twin Brothers for fried fish, peas and rice, and plantains. Potter’s Cay is the stop for watching somebody make your lunch. Arawak Cay is where we’d bring a group and order enough to pass around.
