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First-class restaurants and hotel dining rooms serve quite sophisticated cuisine—often prepared by chefs with international experience and rivaling the dishes served in the world's best restaurants. Most menus include seafood: dolphin (mahimahi), kingfish, snapper, and flying fish prepared every way imaginable. Flying fish is so popular that it has become an official national symbol. Shellfish also abounds, as do steak, pork, and local black-belly lamb.
Specialty dishes include buljol (a cold salad of pickled codfish, tomatoes, onions, sweet peppers, and celery) and conkies (cornmeal, coconut, pumpkin, raisins, sweet potatoes, and spices, mixed together, wrapped in a banana leaf, and steamed). Cou-cou, often served with steamed flying fish, is a mixture of cornmeal and okra and usually topped with a spicy creole sauce made from tomatoes, onions, and sweet peppers. Bajan-style pepper pot is a hearty stew of oxtail, beef, and other meats in a rich, spicy gravy, simmered overnight.
For lunch, restaurants often offer a traditional Bajan buffet of fried fish, baked chicken, salads, macaroni pie (macaroni and cheese), and a selection of steamed or stewed provisions (local roots and vegetables). Be cautious with the West Indian condiments—like the sun, they're hotter than you think. Typical Bajan drinks—in addition to Banks Beer and Mount Gay, Cockspur, or Malibu rum—are falernum (a liqueur concocted of rum, sugar, lime juice, and almond essence); mauby (a nonalcoholic drink made by boiling bitter bark and spices, straining the mixture, and sweetening it); and Ponche Kuba, a creamy spiced rum liqueur (Caribbean eggnog) that’s especially popular around the holidays. You're sure to enjoy the fresh fruit or rum punch, as well.
What to Wear: The dress code for dinner in Barbados is conservative, casually elegant, and, occasionally, formal—a jacket and tie for gentlemen and a cocktail dress for ladies in the fanciest restaurants and hotel dining rooms, particularly during the winter holiday season. Jeans, shorts, and T-shirts (either sleeveless or with slogans) are always frowned upon at dinner. Beach attire is appropriate only at the beach.
The chef and his brigade whip up a Mediterranean-inspired, organic, farm-to-table menu at this relaxed beachfront spot that's popular with locals and visitors. Mains such as roasted pork or whole fish are paired with seasonal vegetables and delicious hand-cut fries. There's also a tropically spirited and lively bar with weekly live music and intimate events. Pets are welcome, which is a rarity in Barbados. Shoes are optional.
At the tiny but chic Lone Star Boutique Hotel, a short drive north of Holetown, the finest local ingredients are turned into gastronomic delights. Lunchtime brings tasty salads, sandwiches, and wood-fired pizzas served in the oceanfront bar; after sunset, the casual daytime atmosphere turns trendy. Start with open wild mushroom and butternut squash ravioli or crispy coconut prawns with mango-chili sauce, followed by grilled yellowfin tuna with warm crab-and-potato salad, herb-crusted rack of lamb, saltfish and Scotch bonnet risotto, or dozens of other land, sea, and vegetarian dishes.
Next door to The Cliff, its sister restaurant serves up a selection of delectable Caribbean and international cuisine from the catch of the day to mouthwatering surf and turf. Opened at the end of 2021, this seaside bistro with ultra-modern finishes boasts of catering to all dietary needs. Prices are mid-range but service and quality are top-notch.
This trendy bustling restaurant is a favorite West Coast dining spot of local professionals, families, and visitors. Mediterranean and Caribbean flavors enliven inventive thin-crust pizzas and tasty salads; the dinner menu also includes fresh seafood and vegetarian selections. Dine alfresco or sit on the beach to eat, accompanied by live jazz music or upbeat house (depending on the night).
Perhaps the most intriguing feature of this stunning setting—besides the sound of waves crashing onto the shore just feet away—is the row of huge tree trunks growing right through the dining room. The food is equally dramatic, as a contemporary twist is given to fresh seafood, filet of beef, rack of lamb, and other top-of-the-line main courses by adding inspired sauces and delicate vegetables and garnishes. A full vegetarian menu is also available. Save room for the little sticky toffee pudding—definitely worth the calories.
Overlooking the Platinum Coast, the seaside views at this exotic locale are astonishing. Enjoy a prix-fixe two- or three-course gourmet meal (à la carte options are available) created by Michelin Star chef Matt Worswick and his team in the open kitchen; main course options might include snapper or blackened short ribs. Before or after dinner, sip a cocktail at the breathtaking bar and lounge as you enjoy the ultra-modern and chic interior design. Make a reservation to get a seat at the front of the terrace, where the views are most stunning.
Once the private home of actress Minnie Driver's dad, the front room is now an inviting bar; an interior courtyard is an intimate open-air dining area; and the second floor is a maze of small dining rooms and balconies. But it's the food—classic, bistro, or tapas—that draws the visitors. Main dishes vary from sweet potato gnocchi or steak frites to curried rabbit and pork belly risotto; braised lamb shank presented on a bed of buttery cabbage, green Thai shrimp curry, and catch-of-the-day are menu classics. Some call the atmosphere avant-garde; others call it quaint.
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