Where to Eat in the Caribbean: The Best Restaurants Across the Islands

Caribbean food is not one cuisine; it is a dozen cuisines that share a geography and a history. The African, European, and indigenous traditions that converged in the Caribbean over four centuries of colonial history produced something genuinely distinctive on each island: a Barbadian food culture built around flying fish and rum; a Jamaican tradition of jerk and ackee that is unlike anything else in the world; a Trinidadian food scene shaped by Indian indentured labor into one of the most diverse in the hemisphere; a French Caribbean tradition that applies European technique to tropical ingredients with results that can be extraordinary. The food cultures divide along the same colonial lines as the islands themselves. Barbados has the most sophisticated food scene in the Eastern Caribbean; a combination of the national cuisine (flying fish and cou-cou, the national dish; macaroni pie; pudding and souse) and a restaurant culture that has attracted serious chefs from Europe and North America. Jamaica has the most distinctive cuisine (jerk, ackee and saltfish, the patty, the pepper pot) a food culture so specific to the island that it has become one of the most recognized national cuisines in the world. Trinidad has the most diverse food culture in the Caribbean, shaped by the Indian indentured workers who arrived after emancipation and brought with them a culinary tradition that transformed the island's food: roti, doubles, curry, the Indian influence visible in every market and roadside stall. The French islands (Martinique, Guadeloupe, St. Barts) bring European culinary standards to Caribbean ingredients, with results that range from the excellent to the genuinely remarkable. The beach bar and grill culture is the most authentic Caribbean eating experience, and the best examples are found in Anguilla. The lobster shacks on Anguilla's beaches (Johnno's at Sandy Ground, Gwen's Reggae Grill at Little Bay) serve the freshest lobster in the Caribbean at prices that are a fraction of what the same quality would cost in a formal restaurant. The lobsters are pulled from the water that morning, grilled over charcoal, and served with rice and peas and a cold Carib beer. It is one of the great simple eating experiences in the world. The fish fry at Oistins in Barbados on Friday night is the other essential Caribbean food experience; a market of open-air stalls selling flying fish, mahi-mahi, and tuna, with macaroni pie and Banks beer and live music that goes until midnight. Fine dining in the Caribbean has reached a standard that would be notable in any major food city. Taïno at Rosewood Le Guanahani in St. Barts is the most refined restaurant in the French Caribbean; a kitchen that applies classical French technique to local ingredients with a lightness and precision that reflects the island's position at the intersection of French culture and Caribbean produce. The Cliff in Barbados is the most dramatically situated restaurant in the region; torchlit tables on a cliff face above the Caribbean Sea, a setting that makes even an ordinary meal feel like an occasion. The food is not ordinary. Jade Mountain's Celestial Terrace in St. Lucia, positioned to frame the Piton mountains, is the most visually spectacular dining room in the Caribbean. The rum culture is inseparable from Caribbean food. Barbados is the birthplace of rum (Mount Gay, the oldest rum brand in the world, has been distilling on the island since 1703) and the rum punch is the universal Caribbean cocktail. The formula is simple: one of sour (lime juice), two of sweet (sugar syrup), three of strong (rum), four of weak (water or juice). Every island has its own variation, and the debate about which island makes the best version is one of the great ongoing arguments of Caribbean travel. The rhum agricole of Martinique and Guadeloupe (made from fresh sugarcane juice rather than molasses) is a different and more complex spirit than the English-island rums, and the best examples from Martinique's AOC-designated distilleries are among the finest spirits produced anywhere in the world. Jerk in Jamaica is one of the great cooking traditions of the world; a method of marinating meat in scotch bonnet peppers, allspice, and thyme, then slow-cooking it over pimento wood smoke until the exterior is charred and the interior is falling-apart tender. The tradition originates in Boston Bay on the northeastern coast of Jamaica, where the Maroons developed the technique as a way of preserving meat in the mountains. The best jerk chicken and pork in the world is found at the roadside stands outside Montego Bay and along the road to Boston Bay; not in restaurants, not in hotels, but at the corrugated-iron shacks where the smoke rises from the pits and the line forms early. The roti culture of Trinidad is one of the most underappreciated food traditions in the Caribbean. Doubles (two pieces of bara bread filled with curried chickpeas, topped with tamarind sauce and pepper sauce) is the most popular street food in Trinidad and one of the great street foods of the world. The roti shops of Port of Spain serve a range of filled flatbreads (chicken, goat, shrimp, vegetables) that reflect the Indian culinary tradition transplanted to the Caribbean. The food is cheap, fast, and extraordinary. It is the best reason to visit Trinidad outside of Carnival. Practical notes: food safety in the Caribbean is generally good at established restaurants and markets. Street food from busy stalls with high turnover is typically safe. The all-inclusive dining trap is real; the food at most all-inclusive resorts is mediocre by design, and visitors who eat exclusively at their resort miss the most interesting food on any island. The best local food on every island is found away from the resort corridors, in the towns and markets where the locals eat.