Each of the Caribbean islands has a series of elements that set them apart, and with fresh ingredients, amazing spices, and far-flung influences, they tend to serve up some of the most tantalizing cuisines on the planet. These Caribbean destinations offer the best of the best for foodies who want to enjoy fantastic meals among beautiful tropical scenery.
Martinique
Visiting Martinique feels like visiting France that’s been dropped into the Caribbean Sea. The gorgeous island and French territory showcases the typical Gallic passion for food in every level of society, yet with a definitive Caribbean spin. Travelers to this island will find everything from French bakeries and beach bars serving authentic magret de canard (seared duck breast with honey, orange and thyme) to high-end restaurants and plenty of provocative Creole cooking – often paired with the island’s famous rum. Expect items like foie gras and green bananas as well as heavenly exotic dishes like lobster in vanilla butter and sea urchin in red curry sauce, frequently served in elegant eateries that are set in French colonial villas and plantation houses.
Dominica
Dominica has been called one of the Caribbean’s best-kept secrets, a wild island that’s twice the size of Barbados with a fifth of its population. It’s filled with lush rain forests and soaring volcanoes, deserted beaches with sea caves and crystal clear rivers that cascade over gorges. It’s also blessed with rich volcanic soil and plenty of rainfall which results in amazingly fresh, tropical produce. Local fruits like guavas, cherries and mangoes make for tasty juices and mixers, as well as its wide range of citrus crops. You’ll find beef, goat meat, pork, lamb and chicken seasoned with lime, fresh herbs, peppers and spices that serve as the basis for all types of Creole cuisine, while fantastic fresh fish like tuna, kingfish and flying fish are often featured as the catch of the day.
Cayman Islands
The Cayman Islands also do food quite well. This British territory’s foodie scene is booming, though its unique food culture has roots that go back over 300 years to the buccaneers that settled here. International and local chefs are continuing to open fantastic eateries, creating a surprisingly vibrant food scene with both European and Caribbean influences. You’ll find everything from farm-to-table restaurants with fresh, local produce and excellent budget options to pull-out-the-stops (and the thick wallet) tasting menus and funky food shacks serving fried conch. “Old Caymanian” fare is an eclectic combination of British, Jamaican and Central American influences. Just a few of the Cayman’s delights include fried land crab and cornbread with custard.
Curaçao
As its population is made up of more than 50 nationalities, the food scene on this Dutch island near Venezuela is incredibly diverse. Latin and American food traditions come together in Curaçao, while seafood, including conch, plays a big part of the menus of restaurants in the capital city districts of Otrabanda and Punda. Many of Curacao’s restaurants are centered in the fascinating city of Willemstad, an exceptionally well-preserved example of a Dutch colonial trading settlement. Eateries feature everything from French and Dutch to Brazilian, Indonesian and Japanese. One of its most iconic dishes is keshi yena, a round of Gouda cheese stuffed and baked with a spicy meat filling. You’ll also find yuana (stewed iguana) and kokada (coconut patties).
Trinidad & Tobago
Trinidad is a culinary adventure offering flavors and foods that can’t be experienced anywhere else in the Western Hemisphere. Though Roti is its most iconic dish, with roti stands and eateries throughout its capital Port of Spain, you’ll find a diverse selection of cultures and cuisines that create a fusion of South Asian and Caribbean fare. Roti is a flatbread that’s rolled up with local curried meats, seafood and vegetables along with a variety of condiments and complements, strongly reflecting the East Indian influence on Trinidad. The island also has some of the best street food in the Caribbean. St. James, on the western edge of Port of Spain, is the place for both nightlife and street cuisine. During the wee hours of the morning, it’s abuzz with vendors selling jerk meats and barbecue, roti, Creole corn soup, vegetarian fare, fruit punch and homemade ice cream.
Grenada
The “Island of Spice” has long-been producing cloves, nutmeg, ginger and cinnamon for export as well as for local kitchens. The incredible amount of flavor that goes into dishes found on Grenada, like curried mutton, crayfish and ginger pork, makes it a true haven for foodies. Most places serve lots of local produce, including freshly caught fish and island-grown tropical fruit and vegetables. Savvy’s Restaurant at Mount Cinnamon Resort is highly rated and offers a romantic candlelit setting for dinner with every table providing awe-inspiring sea views.
Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe, similar to Martinique, offers French Caribbean fare that has been increasingly recognized by foodies around the world. While it may be overshadowed by its fellow French isle, Guadeloupe still manages to hold its own when it comes to food and drink. Enjoy everything from its signature dish, boudin Creole, a typical French blood sausage spiced Caribbean style to decadent bokit street sandwiches made of soft, flaky deep-fried flour, filled with a mix of proteins, sauces and vegetables, to classic French brasseries. Fried seafood and fish stews are often on the menu too, making use of the sea’s bounty. What makes Guadeloupe stand out from the rest is that it’s an archipelago, which means you can not only island-hop, but you can “food hop,” by sampling the various cuisines on each of its five major islands.
St. Martin
On St. Martin, also known as St. Maarten, you’ll get two for the price of one in this exciting Caribbean destination. On one side of the island, there are Dutch delights, while the other is home to French cuisine. It’s possible to travel around the world here sampling a diverse array of dishes including Mexican tacos and Indian curries, West Indian stews and seafood, American barbecue and burgers, Asian-Euro fusion, house-made Italian pasta and classic French vichyssoise.
Upscale waterfront dining can be found in French Villages like Marigot and Grand Case, while island also has its own homegrown libation. Guavaberry liqueur, made from oak-aged rum, cane sugar and a rare berry harvested from bushes that grow in the central highlands of St. Martin is produced right here.
Jamaica
Jerk, along with reggae and Red Stripe, has become a national icon for Jamaica. Jerk was originally developed as a means of food preservation, but today it’s known as a signature spice in the Caribbean. Originally developed by runaway slaves, jerk is meat that’s marinated in a piquant sauce before being slow-cooked over a pimento-wood fire. While pork and chicken have been the traditional jerk items, these days all sorts of things are prepared this way, including beef, mutton, goat and fish. While you’ll find lots of traditional Jamaican cuisine that has stayed true to its roots, like salt fish and ackee (a pear-shaped fruit), Jamaica continues to bring in a new crop of chefs that are doing all sorts of creative things. Visitors can go from a jerk chicken cart to a fine-dining eatery within minutes.
Barbados
Barbados has been known for its fine dining for years. Island restaurants emphasize fantastic seafood, with its flagship dish flying fish and cou-cou, which is somewhat similar to polenta or grits, made with cornmeal and okra. If high prices start to put too big of a dent in your wallet, head to the southern coast and try Cuz’s. The indigo shack serves up cutter sandwiches made up of a mound of seared blue marlin, fried egg, cheddar, lettuce, tomato, and pickles slathered in mayonnaise and Scotch bonnet chile sauce, all heaped onto chewy Bajan salt bread.
British Virgin Islands
Conde Nast readers noted that the British Virgin Islands are “totally underrated,” not only for the archipelago’s stunning scenery but for its amazing food and drinks. The cuisine features items like johnnycake, peas and rice, fish and salt fish, mutton and goat, as well as “ground provisions” such as tania, sweet potatoes and plantains, and an array of soups: fish soup, bull foot soup, goat head soup, pea soup, and pumpkin soup. Most of it is highly seasoned, and soups are commonly served with dumplings. One of the favorite local dishes here is fungi (cornmeal and okra), and you’ll also find delicious favorite drinks made from local fruits as well as other Caribbean fare like jerk chicken and roti.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
In this Caribbean nation made up of 32 islands and cays, food is sourced from the surrounding sea while produce and spices are grown on its forested islands. Menus feature lots of fresh, in-season fish as well as tubers that are grown under rich, volcanic soil. Breadfruit, the symbol of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, can be found throughout the islands in meals and snacks as well as on carved onto items like flower pots and pottery. The friendly people and fantastic local food are sure to make a trip here especially memorable. Basil’s Bar & Restaurant, on the beautiful island of Mustique, perched on stilts over the Caribbean, not only attracts plenty of the rich and famous, but outstanding food.
Nevis
On the tiny island of Nevis, you can expect to find dishes that are a fusion of African, European and American, along with plenty of local fruit like mangoes and tamarind. Many of the best restaurants can be found at its famous plantation resorts where planters once grew sugarcane. Taking their cues from traditional island ingredients, they often use items like pumpkin, tamarind, breadfruit, sour oranges, mangoes, red snapper and spiny lobster. On the Caribbean’s greenest island, the rum shops and beach bars tend to serve outstanding but casual fare with a local flair. Great food is available around every corner on this island that’s one of the least commercial in the Caribbean, unspoiled by progress and adhering closely to colonial culinary roots using only the freshest ingredients.
St. Barts
St. Barts may be the most expensive island in the Caribbean, but it’s also home to some of the very best food, with world-class restaurants and cafes that have the feel of the French Riviera. Maya’s restaurant tends to pack in the celebrities, especially over Christmas, meaning reservations are a must. Located just outside Gustavia at the north end of the public beach, it features eclectic Creole cuisine using ultra-fresh ingredients. La Gloriette is also a favorite, with its ideal setting alongside the lagoon of Cul-de-Sac on the sand and “perfect food,” including fish tataki, Colombo, curried chicken, stuffed crab, lobster salad and a variety of local cuisine.
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic, or “DR” as many call it, is renowned as an ideal island for a more budget-friendly vacation, but you’ll also find lots of excellent cuisines. With its bounty of seafood, fruits and vegetables, its hospitality and copious amounts of hearty food that fuses native Indian ways, Spanish cuisine and African products and methods, foodies won’t be disappointed. In the more upscale resort restaurants, you’ll taste a little Italian along with other European and Asian influences, as well as plenty of flavors. The Colonial Section of capital city Santo Domingo offers an especially rich variety from food carts to fine-dining restaurants.
Anguilla
Foodie travelers to Anguilla have exclaimed that on this island “every restaurant is better than the next, from beach bar to swank,” though Anguilla also offers some of its very best food at street stalls, serving everything from plantains to crayfish. From beachfront BBQ joints to elegant hotel eateries, this tiny British island is said to “personify the transformation of the Caribbean from culinary backwater to gastronomic paradise.”
St. Lucia
On St. Lucia, you can sample barbecued seafood fresh off the boat, served with sweet potato or blackened corn on the cob and breadfruit. Here, the local Creole fare is influenced by both the British and the French. Saltfish and green banana is the national dish, which is actually much tastier than the name belies. The island may best be known for the world-famous Dasheene, found at Ladera Resort, which offers a magical ambiance day or night along with breathtaking views of the Pitons and the sea beyond. Both locals and visitors flock to this extraordinary restaurant, indulging in entrees like a grilled rack of lamb with coconut risotto and curry sauce as well as the “fisherman’s catch” with a choice of flavored butter or sauces.
Puerto Rico
More than a few food connoisseurs have called Puerto Rico the culinary capital of the Caribbean in recent years. The island’s cocina criolla combines Spanish, American and First Nation influences into fare that’s like no other in the region. In its capital city of San Juan alone, there are said to be more cutting-edge chefs with internationally competitive restaurants than anywhere else in the Caribbean. Pork and peppers dominate, with roast pig on a spit (Lechon Asado), a popular favorite throughout the island. While Old San Juan and Condado are both culinary hubs, even roadside stalls are mind-blowingly delicious. The food stands along Pinones Road, roughly 30 miles east of San Juan make some of the best frituras, or fried snacks in Puerto Rico, including coconut arepas, piononos (plantains stuffed with beef), and bacalaítos, a mixture of pancake dough and salted cod.
