Get FREE email communications from Fodor's Travel, covering must-see travel destinations, expert trip planning advice, and travel inspiration to fuel your passion.
What's incredible about the Bermuda restaurant scene isn't so much the number or quality of restaurants, but the sheer variety of cuisines represented on the menus, especially considering that Bermuda is such a tiny island. It hosts a medley of global cuisines—British, French, Italian, Portuguese, American, Caribbean, Indian, Chinese, and Thai—palatable reminders of Bermuda's history as a colony.
Many superior independent and resort restaurants attract a constant and steady stream of internationally acclaimed chefs, assuring that the latest techniques and trends are menu regulars. At the same time, virtually all restaurant menus list traditional Bermudian dishes and drinks, so you have the opportunity to taste local specialties at almost any meal.
As you might expect, methods are not all that's imported. Roughly 80% of Bermuda's food is flown or shipped in, most of it from the United States. This explains why restaurant prices are often higher here than on the mainland.
Nevertheless, there are a number of delicious local ingredients that you should look for. At the top of the list is extraordinary seafood, like lobster (best during September through March), crab, oysters, mussels, clams, red snapper, rockfish, tuna, and wahoo. Additionally, many chefs work with local growers to serve fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables, such as potatoes, carrots, leeks, tomatoes, corn, broccoli, and Bermuda onions (one of the island's earliest exports); and in the fruit department, strawberries, cherries, bananas, and loquats (small yellow fruit used for preserves). Imports notwithstanding, Bermudian cuisine really begins and ends with local ingredients and traditional preparations, and therein lies the island's culinary identity.
While in Bermuda, try to eat like a local and put a couple of traditional dishes to the test. Bermuda is a seafood lover’s paradise, with favorite dishes including mussel pie, shark hash, and codfish and bananas. As for soups, you can go for fish chowder, conch chowder, or traditional Portuguese black-eyed bean soup. Don’t forget to kick back and relax after your meal with a rum swizzle, a Black and Coke, or a Dark ’n' Stormy. Ginger beer—which is quite different from ginger ale—remains the island’s most popular soda for the kids.
Set in a quiet corner of the Botanical Gardens, The Botanist Café is an ideal spot to recharge with a hot or cold drink and a snack after exploring the historic grounds or browsing the impressive exhibits at the Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art.
Boba fanatics can still get their fix—Bermuda Bubble Tea doles out these popular bevvies from their location inside the Royal Naval Dockyard Visitors Centre.
Bringing coffeehouse culture to Front Street, along with great coffee, including tasty options such as Snickerdoodle Frappé (a blended frozen coffee with hazelnut and vanilla syrup and cinnamon), Brew also offers delicious breakfast and lunch sandwiches, salads, and quiches, as well as specials and their famous guacamole and chips. After your caffeine fix, come here for the craft beer from Dockyard Brewing Company and selection of wine on tap. There's plenty of seating including outside at the sidewalk tables.
Tucked inside the Washington Mall, this café run by a husband-and-wife team is best known for its outstanding breakfasts, changing lunch specials, and friendly service. Try the plate-sized fluffy pancake topped with homemade candied walnuts, or give the Azorean eggs Benedict, topped with crispy chorizo and fresh Portuguese cheese, a try. The lunch board offers homemade soups, salads, quiches, and sandwiches, but the pecan-crusted chicken and biscuit sandwich topped with peach slaw is the standout.
This cozy breakfast/lunch spot just across from the Visitors Center in the Dockyard offers a decent selection of breakfast and lunch items, but the real draw is their Filipino menu. Try traditional savory dishes like longsilog (sweet pork sausage), bagnet (crispy pork belly), and sizzling tuna sisig, or their dessert ube Swiss roll, made with sponge cake and purple sweet potato. For something lighter, choose a speciality coffee and take your pick of flaky delights from their fresh-baked pastry selection.
What this little café lacks in parking, it makes up for with its extensive drinks menu—the closest you'll find to that ubiquitous American chain. There’s a wide selection of bubble teas, hot and iced coffees, frappuccinos, refreshers, and more. Grab a seat on the cozy patio and enjoy a drink and a fresh-baked pastry in the afternoon sun.
For an authentic Bermudian fish sandwich, stop into this small roadside café, which is popular with locals. There's nothing fancy about the cash-only spot, but what it lacks in decor, it makes up for in delicious tastes. The café also serves simple and satisfying breakfasts.
If you're in the mood for some good, homey Bermudian fare, search out this bright orange and blue waterside fast food restaurant. Make sure to try the signature Johnny Dog, a hot dog wrapped in a local favorite—Johnny Bread, a sweet, fluffy pan-fried bread. For something a bit heartier, try the fresh fish dinner (deep-fried fish) served with macaroni and cheese or peas and rice and a dinner roll. There are tables to sit and watch the visiting boats in the harbor.
You'll likely smell the roasting of beans before you see this eclectic coffee shop that roasts all its coffee in-house. It's the perfect spot for aficionados that don't like to overcomplicate their coffee, and there's often a selection of homey baked goods to go along with your brew. There's seating inside on the mismatched chairs and couches, but grabbing a table out back on the secluded terrace is the ideal spot. This is a true café and is open only until noon. They also accept cash only.
This busy café that has been a St. George's mainstay for 20 years is known for its delicious homemade cakes and baked goods—the oversized key lime muffins, scones, and slices of cake are some of the standouts. And the hearty sandwiches, both for breakfast and lunch, round out a visit here. They are made-to-order and piled with tasty ingredients, such as the Ships Point sub, which comes with heaps of roast beef, turkey, ham, fresh coleslaw, and pickles, all on a pillowy soft sub roll. The new location, just west of Penno's Wharf, has outdoor seating on the patio.
Sign up for Travel Tips & News
Thank you for your interest!
