The Best Restaurant in Montserrat

Background Illustration for Restaurants

Restaurants are casual affairs indeed, ranging from glorified rum shops to hotel dining rooms. Most serve classic Caribbean fare, including such specialties as goat water (a thick stew of goat meat, tubers, and vegetables that seems to have been bubbling for days), saltfish cake (codfish fritters), home-brewed ginger beer, and freshly made juices from soursop, mango, blackberry (different from the North American species), guava, tamarind, papaya, and gooseberry.

What to Wear: Dress is informal even at dinner, though skimpy attire is frowned upon by the comparatively conservative islanders. Long pants are preferred, albeit not required, for men in the evening.

Ziggy's

$$$

Vivacious owners John and Marcia Punter literally hacked Montserrat's most elegant eatery from the rain forest, dressing it with a billowing, white tent as well as pergolas, palm fronds, potted plants, hardwood chairs, jade hurricane shutters, bronze candlesticks, and colorful Moroccan-inspired table settings. The menu (posted on a blackboard) changes daily, but always offers one red meat, one white meat, and one seafood entrée. Generally well-executed dishes lean more toward bistro fare (emphasizing beef entrecôte or goat cheese soufflé over such island staples as fish, though specials like oxtail ravioli happily marry both culinary traditions); the signature butterfly shrimp usually precedes entrées. Despite an erratic schedule (reconfirm reservations), hard-to-find location, and overly relaxed service, the ambience is appealingly serene and upscale.

Mahogany La., Woodlands, Montserrat
664-491–8282
Known For
  • Refined atmosphere
  • Only decent wine list on Montserrat
  • Decadent desserts (try the chocolate sludge)
Restaurant Details
No lunch
Reservations essential

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