16 replies to this topic

[Gary Marshall]

Ok so i'm a pasty Englisman who normally heads to france or italy for holidays but given pressure from mrs marshall we're having a beach holiday after the new year.

we're staying at the hilton barbados so any thoughts of places to try within easy striking distance would be welcome. I have no idea of the geography of the island and don't want to travel too far, bridgetown is the nearest town i believe.

thanks

gary

[KOK]

Ok so i'm a pasty Englisman who normally heads to france or italy for holidays but given pressure from mrs marshall we're having a beach holiday after the new year.

we're staying at the hilton barbados so any thoughts of places to try within easy striking distance would be welcome. I have no idea of the geography of the island and don't want to travel too far, bridgetown is the nearest town i believe.

thanks

gary

I cannot give you much help as I was there in 1988, but I'm sure the old ladies are still making the fried Flying fish sandwiches on Baxter's Road. Ask any cabbie and they'll take you (pretty late into the night too). Ehhhhhxcellent!

The only other thing I remeber was going to a Bajan (that's what they call themselves) buffet poolside at some hotel. When we wen't back to get more food, they said we had to pay again. I guess a buffet is different in the U.S. than in Barbados. That and the rum punch.

Thanks,

Kevin

[onionbreath]

Barbados is really small with great public transportation so you can eat anywhere at anytime.
Sunday lunch buffets are great. Ask at your hotel for the current favourites. Friday nights there is a large gathering at Oistin's with about 25 stalls serving fresh fish. In a pinch there is an islandwide chain called Chefette's that makes good roti. Try a ham cutter, sliced ham on a hard roll with hot sauce @ the public market in Bridgetown.

[oliveDC]

If you can make it down just south of Oistins try the restaurant at Little Arches. We stayed there last winter and I thought the food was some of the best we had.

From my previous post in this thread: Cafe Luna (on the roof of Little Arches) proved to be a great food spot though it's currently closed to the public (something about liquor license problems). They bring in Caribbean lobster on Saturday night and serve it either grilled with herbs and butter (my choice), Chinese style in a sauce (my hub's choice) or as thermidor. They also did a very nice tuna tartar with capers and great smoked marlin.

Also ate at Josef's (which I suspect is a tourist trap we fell into) and South Seas which was much better, both in St. Lawrence Gap.

[ChickenLuv]

DH and I just left Barbados and ate at a two very different places.

In Bridgetown we went to the Waterfront Cafe (near the marina). They serve good local food as well as the ubiquitous "international" food. We went for the local stuff. We shared a cold app typical of the region, don't remember the name well but it was a sort of salt cod salad with diced tomato, lime juice and a bit of heat from tiny hot pepper brunoise - seriously yum. For mains we had (1) flying fish steamed and sauced and cou-cou (a sort of soft caribbean polenta, this one had a little okra in it), and (2) Pepperpot with rice. Pepperpot is a stew of shredded beef, chicken, lamb and maybe something else in a really black sauce (I don't know what it was, but it was all good)... it came with basmati rice. We shared a really excellent bread pudding for dessert. The Waterfront Cafe is on the pricier side compared to your typical local food but it is well worth it. With two half-pint beers, I think we payed somewhere in the neighborhood of $124 Barbados dollars pre-tip which is about $62 USD.

For a completely opposite experience try The Fisherman's Pub in Speightstown. You can take a bus from Bridgetown - the $1.50 (Barbados dollars) ride is about 20-25 minutes and is more exciting than your average rollercaster - pick a bus with music blasting from it. If you prefer a taxi I would skip Speightstown as the cabs tend to be pricy. Speightstown itself is pretty rundown, but colorful. We ate lunch twice at the Fisherman's pub and practically licked the plates each time. It's cheap and no-frills local food. We payed about $25 Barbados dollars for two people each time. You stand outside a small glass enclosed room and point to what you want. The ladies in the room put your choices on plates and you pay at the bar - don't be shy about asking the ladies behind the glass questions, they were very nice with us. Each time we went there was one curry, three stews (beef, chicken or lamb), rice, noodles, fried fishes of different sorts and fish cakes. The first time we had fried fish cakes, chicken curry, rice (studded with fresh pigeon peas), a tiny salad and some breadfruit and fish casserole that the person standing in line before us picked, plus 2 beers. The second time we had fish curry with the same rice, fried flying fish, fried fish cakes, and breadfruit puree plus two cokes and tiny salads. Maybe I just like street food, but this stuff was really tasty.

I heard from someone on a bus we took one afternoon that on Wednesdays there is a big party in Fisherman's Pub, but I never went there myself.

Hope the above helps. One note: we tend to like spicy food and most of the above was mildly or medium spicy (to our taste).

Have fun,
ChickenLuv

Edited by ChickenLuv, 17 January 2006 - 02:38 PM.

[FabulousFoodBabe]

We'll be spending our Christmas holidays on Barbados this year -- very excited. It's one of the few Caribbean islands we've never visited.

We are in an apartment just a bit south of Gibbs Beach, in St. James Parish, on the water. (We feel most lucky that the owners agreed to let it to us for just one week, which is all the time Secondo has for winter break.)

We will have a housekeeper and a cook for our family, for the entire stay. I've asked that the cook prepare only breakfasts and lunches each day. We will have dinner out either at a nice'ish place, or a beach bar, or at Oistin's or that other fish fry place whose name escapes me (but I have it written down; too lazy to look right now!).

Dinner plans are The Tides (our first night in), Lone Star for Christmas Eve and The Cliff for Christmas Day. Anyone been to these? any other don't-miss places?

And, any suggestions as to what native, or local, foods we should have our cook prepare for breakfast and lunch?

[tim]

Fabby,

Go for the best of the local ingredients:

Dark Barrel Aged Rum

Falernum

Fruit

Have a wonderful time.

Tim


Edit to correct the spelling of Falernum. Hanschell's might be the best!

Edited by tim, 05 October 2007 - 06:57 AM.

[Sam Salmon]

I'm pretty sure Tim means Falernum that famous sweet liqueur.

Look for Bajan Hot Sauces and not just the commercially prepared ones-check the shelves of country stores for local favourites-I've had good luck in Tobago finding some very unique and flavourful products.

Perhaps the most (in)famous one of all-Lottie's-is now produced in the USA-don't be fooled!

Edited by Sam Salmon, 04 October 2007 - 07:58 PM.

[Risi e Bisi]

Sounds like you have a fabulous vacation planned.
A cook and a housekeeper usually accompanies those west side villas, and I would reccomend you to have the cook make Bajan food.
The holiday time is quite busy in Barbados. The villas and Hotels are usually full, and alot of buzz on the island. I lived down the road in Porters for three years, and frequently visit.
There are fish stall very close to you, in an area called Six Men Bay, a good place to buy your fish for dinner, I would try the King fish or Dophin(mahi-mahi) and ofcourse Flying Fish (Have your cook prepare Flying fish and Cou -Cou). They also have a fish fry on friday night, like Oistin. Oistins is over an hours drive, but worth seeing. I use to live in the Lone Star villas, before they opened. Great Place!
Paul Owens at the Cliff does a great job, he has been there since they open, around 13 years. Don, forget the Royal Pavillion for dinner.

[FabulousFoodBabe]

I'm pretty sure Tim means Falernum that famous sweet liqueur.

Look for Bajan Hot Sauces and not just the commercially prepared ones-check the shelves of country stores for local favourites-I've had good luck in Tobago finding some very unique and flavourful products.

Perhaps the most (in)famous one of all-Lottie's-is now produced in the USA-don't be fooled!

Thanks, Sam! The first question Google asked me is, "did you mean falernum?"

Are the Bajan hot sauces anything like Marie's (Belize) hot sauces? I am addicted to the grapefruit.

[FabulousFoodBabe]

Sounds like you have a fabulous vacation planned.
A cook and a housekeeper usually accompanies those west side villas, and I would reccomend you to have the cook make Bajan food.
The holiday time is quite busy in Barbados. The villas and Hotels are usually full, and alot of buzz on the island. I lived down the road in Porters for three years, and frequently visit.
There are fish stall very close to you, in an area called Six Men Bay, a good place to buy your fish for dinner, I would try the King fish or Dophin(mahi-mahi) and ofcourse Flying Fish (Have your cook prepare Flying fish and Cou -Cou). They also have a fish fry on friday night, like Oistin. Oistins is over an hours drive, but worth seeing. I use to live in the Lone Star villas,  before they opened. Great Place!
Paul Owens at the Cliff does a great job, he has been there since they open, around 13 years. Don, forget the Royal Pavillion for dinner.

I've already told the booking agent that our cook will not work on Christmas Day (and maybe Eve), so I'll be cooking for us, and will keep your reply on hand.

Traveling during the high season can be less relaxing than I'd like, but it's the only time the kids have, and they like being able to find lots to do and lots of people to do it with. Should be an interesting week. It doesn't seem like so long ago, that we traveled during quieter times because the boys (a) weren't in school yet, and (b) liked being with US more than anyone else. Not any more!

Oh -- we will eat at The Cliff one night as well. Royal Pavilion, hm? We'll check it out.

Edited by FabulousFoodBabe, 11 October 2007 - 11:06 AM.

[Sam Salmon]

Are the Bajan hot sauces anything like Marie's (Belize) hot sauces?  I am addicted to the grapefruit.

Bajan Hot Sauce is more mustard based-quite a different product from the Belizean product except equally strong.

[Risi e Bisi]

If you want a nice Rum Shop experience, try Marshals on Holders Hill, good Bajan cooking.
The lunch truck behind Super Center in Holetown, is a great place for food on the go, Fried or steamed flying fish, peas and rice, breadfruit, chicken etc.
La Bonita or Edgewater on the east coast is good on sundays.
Try Crain beach hotel for a rum punch and a view.
My favorite beach for a picnic is ginger beach, north of crane beach.
Good Luck

[Risi e Bisi]

Bonito Beach Bar- Sorry

[FabulousFoodBabe]

thank you so much, Risi and Sam. My dream is to be able to spend more than a week somewhere; I'm already running out of time and I'm not even there yet! We have reservations at The Cliff but the rail is already booked

[nikkib]

Have dinner at the coral reef just near speightstown - beautiful spot, delicious food - i forget which night they do their BBq (lobster fillet steak etc) but they have live entertainment in the form of fire eaters, limbo dancers etc which despite sounding terribly touristy is great fun and absolutely worth a shot. For the real carribbean - try the fishermans pub in speaightstown. Real no frills bajan food in a fairly ramshackle bar jutting out into the sea, definitely the real barbados. The surfside beach bar just up from the coral reef is a simple beach bar but great quiet spot to enjoy some flying fish or battered prawns for a casula lunch. Mannis is another one on the west coast - sushi etc in the evening but great rotis, pumpkin fritters etc for lunch. If you go anywhere near the Crane hotel their restaurant has a view you would struggle to better anywhere in the world and a beautiful beach too. Cocktails at the sandy lane (when we were there the most expensive on the island at $25 bajan dollars a pop) is also beautiful and the celeb spotting over christmas is always fun. Flying fish, dolphin fish (mahi mahi) maccaroni pie (like a more solid mac n cheese, rotis (indian style curry wrapped in bread) CHILLI SAUCE - mmmmmm be careful though i love hot sauce and have a collection to rival any supermarket but the spicy ones are damn hot - work your way up the scale carefully! plantain, pumpkin and sweet potatoes feature big too. Have an amzing holiday and please do report back - i am sooo jealous!

[FabulousFoodBabe]

It. Was. Amazing.

Day one found us at the Newark airport checking in, at 6:15 a.m. Some guy at the Northwest counter couldn't get on the plane he wanted, so he said he had a bomb in his suitcase. Well, he didn't have a suitcase, just the backpack he was wearing, but still, the evacuation began. It was the sorriest excuse for an evacuation I've ever seen; we were basically shuffled around for a few hours. The flights themselves were uneventful, but we wound up arriving on the island at 10PM and at the villa at 11:30.

The rest of the week was wonderful. Here's the shot of me on Christmas Morning:


I'll post photos tomorrow, but I can say that Barbados is my favorite island, roundly beating Tortola (we used to go before the cruise ships started landing), Virgin Gorda, Bonaire and Cayman Brac (which are still in my top ten, but still).

Highlights: Roti from The Roti House, having an island burger at the Chefette "just because," all the dorado and flying fish and dolphin I could stuff into myself. Had to miss The Tides because we arrived too late -- but we did go to La Mer and The Cliff, and a little place in Holetown that was right across from Spago. Hey, should we tell Wolfgang Puck?!?

The Brits in the villa next to ours said there were lots of celebrities on the island that week, including Simon Cowell, but we didn't see him. I did see CCH Pounder at the airport coffee shop

More tomorrow!