Dining in Bermuda

[Smithy]

As always, the photos are beautiful. The menus and food are inspiring! This bit surprised me, though:

 

2 hours ago, liamsaunt said:

We both got the local fish sandwich, which comes on raisin bread.

 

I would be annoyed at raisin bread with fish or any other savory filling that I can think of. Do you like it? Is this common in the islands? What am I maybe missing?

[TdeV]

Growing up, we always ate fish on Fridays. I used to really like raisin bread fish sandwiches.

 

Edited to add that was in Southern Ontario.

Edited Sunday at 03:42 PM by TdeV (log)

[gfweb]

2 hours ago, Smithy said:

As always, the photos are beautiful. The menus and food are inspiring! This bit surprised me, though:

 

 

I would be annoyed at raisin bread with fish or any other savory filling that I can think of. Do you like it? Is this common in the islands? What am I maybe missing?

 

Its a (weird) Bermuda thing.

[liamsaunt]

23 hours ago, KennethT said:

I hope the weather gets better soon!

 

It's nice here rain or shine.  My husband and I honeymooned here for 10 days (27 years ago!) and it absolutely poured for the first six days.  We saw every single museum and attraction on the island, except for the beaches.  😂

 

23 hours ago, Smithy said:

As always, the photos are beautiful. The menus and food are inspiring! This bit surprised me, though:

 

 

I would be annoyed at raisin bread with fish or any other savory filling that I can think of. Do you like it? Is this common in the islands? What am I maybe missing?

 

I know it's polarizing, but the raisin bread is traditional here.  I actually like it a lot.  You can ask for regular bread if you have a raisin aversion.

 

Yesterday we picked up an electric mini car for a few days.  We should have timed it differently, since my husband has to work during the week this week (he's on vacation next week), so we won't get much more use out of it.  We tooled around yesterday and went to our favorite beach, Warwick Long Bay.  All the cruise ship passengers go to the two beaches with amenities like rental chairs and snack bars (Horseshoe Bay and Tobacco Bay), so we had the place to ourselves.

 

 

Eventually husband got hungry and I forgot to pack snacks, so we went back to the Reefs for lunch.  The main restaurant was completely filled with locals dressed to the nines enjoying the sumptuous Sunday brunch, so we took our casually dressed selves  down to the beach cafe.  (As an aside, Bermuda is very different from the other Caribbean islands in that people still dress fairly formally here, and tourists are expected to also.  It's illegal to be in a swimsuit anywhere except the actual beach, and casually elegant attire is required at the nicer restaurants for dinner.)

 

Menu

 

 

The view from our table.  Our apartment is in the furthest building to the left.

 

 

Drinks.  Continuing my exploration of the mocktail menu, I got a mango puree mixed with lime, mint, and club soda.  Pretty good.

 

 

We got some shrimp tacos with fries to share.  We have to get all our shrimp eating in before my nephew arrives on Friday!

 

 

We spent the rest of the afternoon swimming on the hotel beach.  We probably should have taken advantage of the car to drive to a different beach, but...lazy.

 

Speaking of lazy, we just went back to the same restaurant for dinner.  Menu

 

 

 

Drinks.  This mocktail was ginger beer blended with ice and grenadine.  It was too sweet for me, so I switched to club soda water after a sip or two.  I am determined to try all the mocktails though, so at least I got it out of the way early.

 

 

Table view.  We were seated on the far side with an ocean view.  On a less cloudy night, this would have been a good spot for the sunset.

 

 

Husband had angel hair with wahoo

 

 

and I had the same with shrimp

 

 

It's another mixed bag day, weather wise, but the view is not bad from here anyway

 

 

 

[liamsaunt]

Yesterday we popped out for lunch to a fish sandwich stand up the road.  We shared a sandwich since we had a large dinner planned.  The local fish today was snapper. 

 

 

After husband was done working for the day, we took the car to the next beach up the street for a quick snorkel before it got too dark.  This is Church Bay

 

 

It was a little stirred up, but there were lots of fish.  Here are a couple.  Orange stoplight parrotfish

 

 

Blue parrotfish

 

 

Bermuda chubs

 

 

Sand diver

 

 

Our dinner was at Fourways, which is probably the most traditional restaurant on the island. It's in an old farmhouse building and features a large menu with lots of flambeed items, a live piano player, etc.  Here's one side of the interior before it filled up

 

 

And the massive menu.  Appetizers

 

 

 

mains

 

 

Classic dishes. The veal seemed to be the most popular, and it is flambeed table side.  I also saw some steaks being flambeed.

 

 

There's even a vegan menu

 

 

 

Amuse bouche.  Seared tuna with mango sauce and beetroot

 

 

Husband chose foie gras for his appetizer

 

 

I had the tuna tartare

 

 

Husband ordered a half bottle of wine for his dinner.  They did the whole candle thing

 

 

I had the catch of the day, which was wahoo. This is an example of Bermudian sweet and savory that I do not like.  Bermuda restaurants often serve banana with their fish.  I have tried it many times, and really do not like banana with fish.  It's easy enough to push to the side though.

 

 

Husband had beef wellington.  He said it was perfectly cooked.

 

 

Dessert.  They are famous for their souffles

 

 

I chose the lemon, and it was much better than the one we shared at Tom Moore's Tavern the other night.

 

 

Edited Tuesday at 12:16 PM by liamsaunt
extra photo (log)

[TdeV]

Those dishes look particularly scrumptious. You are a fabulous photographer and I always feel like I'm right there with you.

Sorry if you explained this already, @liamsaunt. What is MAP or Dine Around Surcharge?

[liamsaunt]

On 10/1/2024 at 10:34 AM, TdeV said:

Those dishes look particularly scrumptious. You are a fabulous photographer and I always feel like I'm right there with you.

Sorry if you explained this already, @liamsaunt. What is MAP or Dine Around Surcharge?

 

 

MAP is modified American Plan.  Some of the hotels on the island offer this as an option.  You pay a higher daily rate, and then your cost includes full breakfast at your hotel and a three course dinner at a participating restaurant. It does not include alcoholic beverages, and some dishes have a surcharge, as you can see on the menu.  Most people seem to think that if you choose your restaurant carefully and order well, it is a deal to get the MAP plan.  All I know is that when my husband and I honeymooned in Bermuda as young whippersnappers, my parents paid for our trip and got us the MAP plan thinking we would have a free visit.  Between the meal surcharges and the drinks we ordered, we had quite a hefty fee to pay to our hotel at the end of our vacation. 😂 

 

The dine around plan as it exists today is a plan offered only in the off season.  It's like a gift card.  You pay a flat fee and it covers three multi course meals at any of the participating restaurants.  If you don't use it by the end of the season, you can carry it over to next time for a small fee.  That one is definitely considered a deal, but it is only good October-May.

 

Yesterday I spent the day reading a book here

 

 

Husband came down at the end of the day for a quick swim before we headed to dinner at Blu.  The view is lovely

 

 

and the menu is large

 

 

 

 

vegan menu

 

 

There's also a full sushi menu here but I guess I did not take pictures.  

 

Drinks.  My mocktail was cucumber, strawberry, and lime.  Husband had a cucumber martini

 

 

I ordered my appetizer from the sushi menu.  It was yellowtail with mango and jalapeño.  The portion was larger than I was expecting, but it was very good.

 

 

Husband had a special appetizer of grilled local guinea chick lobster

 

 

I ordered shrimp salsa verde with grilled vegetables for my main.  They are under the shrimp, but it came with grilled asparagus and assorted peppers.  It was very nice, and light, which I appreciated.

 

 

Husband had the catch of the day, which was wahoo with grilled shrimp and a parsnip risotto.

 

 

The sun went down as we were eating

 

 

 

 

 

Dessert menu

 

 

We, of course, got the soufflé to share.  This was my favorite soufflé so far, light and fluffy.

 

 

We don't have any set dinner plans tonight.  The wind is starting to pick up as there is a low system passing by to the east over the next few days which is going to bring some unsettled weather, higher winds, and rough seas.  

 

Edited 19 hours ago by liamsaunt (log)