A guide to the five foods you must try on your next trip to Barbados.
Fact: Caribbean cuisine is one of the tastiest in the world.
However, it is also among the most fattening. *groan*
But if you’re willing to put aside your worries of a widening waistline, your stomach will be, well, #winning. And what good is a trip to the islands if you don’t sample this integral part of the cultural fabric, hmm? (Hint: not good at all.)
And so I tucked unashamedly into delectable dish after delectable dish when I found myself in dreamy Barbados last summer. As a result, I gained 7 pounds and a wicked case of tummy bloat, but hot diggity dog was it worth it! After all, that’s why Spanx were invented right?
But enough about my swollen belly– the point of this post was to share the heavenly food that crossed my palate while I worked on my tan in beautiful Bimshire. Here are the 5 best things I ate in Barbados:
The 5 best meals I had in Barbados
Roti
I may have grown up in Canada but being of Caribbean parentage I looove me a good roti. For the uninitiated, the dish is comprised of a doughy, unleavened flatbread (known as a roti skin) which is then stuffed to the gills with meat or vegetables that have been stewed in a thick curry sauce. Curry chicken is my filling of preference, but get me hungry enough and I’ll polish off a curry goat roti before you can say “Buju Banton”. And so, it was with much anticipation that I made my way to The Roti Den, located just up the street from our hotel in St. James Bay. I mean, if the establishment is named after the very food you’re dying to eat, you know it must be good. My curry chicken roti was everything I wanted and more: the chicken tender, the sauce abundant and hot, the roti skin just the right amount of flaky. In a word: YAAAAASS.
Grilled Tuna with Macaroni Pie
As I wrote in this post, the Friday night fish fry event at Oistins Bay Gardens is an institution. It’s an open air venue with row upon row of food vendors who grill fresh seafood on large spits; there is also plentiful picnic table seating for those who care to indulge or just lime. As if the food aspect wasn’t tempting enough, a variety of crafts are sold onsite and music from unseen speakers rocks the atmosphere: you can turn up, sate your appetite, and do some shopping in one fell swoop! I’m all about the food so ordered grilled tuna steak with a side of macaroni, which was delicious, if too massive to finish!
Bajan Style Chicken w/Rice and peas
I love chicken but am finicky about my rice and peas: if too much coconut creme is mixed into the rice I gag, and if the peas are too mushy I react similarly. Truth be told, the only person whose rice and peas I adored consistently were the ones my beloved late grandma used to make, and she passed away over 10 years ago. That said, I am still willing to give rice and peas a try… at the right places. Enter Cloud 9 Restaurant, the establishment located near the second place we stayed at on Maxwell Beach. The restaurant had the cutest aviation theme– servers were dressed in flight attendant uniforms and asked patrons whether they wanted to be seated in “premium” or “economy”. But beyond that, my chicken and rice and peas were on point! Pictures speak louder than words so take a look at the snap to see what I mean.
Jerk Chicken
Yes, yes, I know what you’re thinking: another restaurant, another chicken dish–I probably should have mentioned at the start of this post that I very rarely eat beef or pork, oops! At any rate, Just Grillin’ is a casual restaurant that has two locations on the island: one in Holetown and one in Christchurch. I went to the one in Holetown and it reminded me of a fast-food place in that you go and place your order at the cashier and you go back up there to pick it up when it is ready. I had the jerk chicken and it was well-seasoned and not too heavily sauced, just the way I like it. Thumbs up!
Bread and Two
Bread and fried anything are my two major food vices so I knew that I was going to fall head over heels for the “bread and two” even before it hit my tastebuds. The concept is so simultaneously simple and beautiful I could cry: two fishcakes (typically battered codfish that is fried to crispy perfection) wedged between a sliced soft roll known as Bajan salt bread (which is ironically not salty at all, heh). The first (and sadly only) time I got to experience this bit of perfection was at an outdoor party my friend brought me to one of the nights I was in town: it was raining, it was cold, I had no umbrella and was inadequately dressed. Shivering like a very wet, bald cat, I was feeling a little sorry for myself– until this golden gift hit my esophagus and spread a warm glow throughout my body. I mean, I have a penchant for hyperbole, but this was exquisitely delicious– so much so that I devoured it before I could take a picture, which is blasphemy for a blogger! However, thanks to the power of Google, here is a shot of this small but mighty foodstuff. (Thanks fellow bloggess Jet Set Sarah for the pic!)
And a Banks to wash it all down
I don’t drink alcohol but my sources tell me that you haven’t truly experienced eating in Barbados if you haven’t sampled the local ale! Produced on the island, this beverage is ubiquitous! Be sure to give it a taste the next time you’re in the region.
So there you have it, my top 5 eats in Barbados! Have you ever tried any of these foods or been to any of these restaurants in Barbados? Do you like trying out the local fare when you travel?
PIN IT!
46 Comments
As a fellow Foodie, I loved this entry!! Thanks so much for sharing. I can’t wait to try some of these dishes on my trip to Barbados.
Love this – and love Barbados, a great place to visit, especially for those of us who live in colder parts of the world! I am lucky to have relatives in Barbados, so when we visit we get to taste home-cooked Bajan food. One of my favourite is the simple fish cutter. We also eat out at some restaurants, but they can be expensive… we’ve recently started a site ( eataway.com )where travellers can find great home-cooked meals (a bit like airbnb, but for food, not accommodation!), and we already have one cook in Barbados. I hope a few more will join, so everyone who visits the island can get to try all these great meals – cooked at home!
Have you seen or heard of Barbados Bu’n Bu’n? Written by a friend of mine Rosemary Parkinson – two volumes of recipes from Barbados. Amazing book albeit expensive at US$150 🙂
you mean no one gave you some coucou and flying fis.h? shame. or some stew food with dumplins. conkies or casava pone? shame
Great Article! But you missed out on way too much. I am happy you enjoyed your experience but on your next visit make sure to visit some of the favourite spots for the local dish called Souse. If you do not enjoy pork then have pickled chicken, turkey, seacat (octopus) or conch. Some places even pickle shrimp and lobster. The Barbadian way of pickling food is different to the North American or European way of pickling. It is derived from the early days when our ancestors from Africa had to make do with little and make the most of what was available to them, hence its tightly wound up in our heritage and is in my opinion the real National Dish of Barbados. I also suggest you try something expressly Bajan like a dessert called Cassava Pone. You can email me for more details when you return. I’d be happy to point you in the right direction.
Ramon: Going in August; would love to be pointed in the right direction.
yes the souse is to die for with the pickled breadfruit and the pudding.
Suriname should benon you list…..
Good article. Surprised you didn’t include flying fish and cou cou. That is the national dish and must be included.
Yep, I will be eating ALL of these when I get to Barbados in December. Thanks for the food inspiration 🙂
Wonderful views on that!
Why is it I always really feel like you do?
That’s a great point
Definitely imagine that that you said. Your favourite justification appeared to be on the
web the simplest factor to keep in mind of.
I say to you, I definitely get annoyed at the same time as people consider concerns that they just do not recognize about.
You managed to hit the nail upon the top as smartly as outlined out the
whole thing with no need side-effects , folks could take a signal.
Will probably be back to get more. Thank you
You need to be a part of a contest for one of the highest quality blogs on the web.
I’m going to recommend this site!
My family members every time say that I am wasting my
time here at web, however I know I am getting know-how
all the time by reading thes pleasant articles.
I am really impressed with your writing skills and also with the
layout on your weblog. Is this a paid theme or did you modify
it yourself? Anyway keep up the excellent quality writing,
it’s rare to see a nice blog like this one nowadays.
magnificent points altogether, you simply received a logo new reader.
What could you suggest about your put up that you just made some days in the past?
Any sure?
Please let me know if you’re looking for a article author for your blog.
You have some really great posts and I feel I would be a good asset.
If you ever want to take some of the load off, I’d really like
to write some articles for your blog in exchange for a link back to mine.
Please shoot me an e-mail if interested. Thanks!
I have been browsing online more than 3 hours these days, but I by no means found any fascinating article like yours. It’s beautiful value sufficient for me. In my opinion, if all webmasters and bloggers made just right content material as you probably did, the web might be a lot more useful than ever before.|
I do not even know how I finished up here, but I assumed this post was once good.
I do not know who you are but definitely you are going to a famous blogger if you
happen to are not already. Cheers!
Hey! This post couldn’t be written any better! Reading through this
post reminds me of my old room mate! He always kept talking about this.
I will forward this write-up to him. Pretty sure he will have a good read.
Many thanks for sharing!
This excellent website really has all of the info I needed concerning this subject and didn’t know who to ask.
Hi, i believe that i noticed you visited my website thus i came to return the prefer?.I am trying to to find issues
to enhance my website!I guess its good enough to make use of a few of your ideas!!
Appreciation to my father who shared with me on the topic of
this blog, this weblog is truly amazing.
Hi there! I could have sworn I’ve visited this web site before but after
looking at many of the articles I realized it’s new to me.
Regardless, I’m certainly happy I came across it and I’ll be book-marking it and checking back
often!
Hey would you mind sharing which blog platform you’re working with?
I’m going to start my own blog soon but I’m having a difficult time choosing between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal.
The reason I ask is because your layout seems different then most blogs and I’m looking for something completely
unique. P.S My apologies for being off-topic but I had to
ask!
Everything is very open with a precise clarification of the issues.
It was definitely informative. Your website is very useful.
Thank you for sharing!
My brother suggested I might like this website.
He was entirely right. This post actually made my day. You cann’t imagine simply how
much time I had spent for this information! Thanks!
Hello there, I do think your blog could possibly be having internet browser compatibility issues.
Whenever I look at your site in Safari, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer,
it’s got some overlapping issues. I just wanted to provide you with a
quick heads up! Apart from that, fantastic blog!
Pretty nice post. I just stumbled upon your weblog and wanted to mention that I have truly loved browsing your blog posts.
After all I will be subscribing to your rss feed and I am hoping you write once more soon!
I’m really enjoying the design and layout of
your site. It’s a very easy on the eyes which makes it much more enjoyable for me to come
here and visit more often. Did you hire out a developer
to create your theme? Outstanding work!
Hi, this weekend is fastidious for me, because this occasion i am
reading this impressive informative post here at my house.
Fascinating blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download it
from somewhere? A design like yours with a few simple tweeks would really make my blog stand out.
Please let me know where you got your design. Cheers
When someone writes an post he/she keeps the thought of a user
in his/her mind that how a user can be aware of it. Therefore that’s why this article is amazing.
Thanks!
I don’t even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post was good.
I don’t know who you are but definitely you are going to
a famous blogger if you are not already 😉 Cheers!
Good way of explaining, and good post to take data
concerning my presentation subject, which i am going to convey in academy.
What a stuff of un-ambiguity and preserveness of valuable familiarity concerning unexpected feelings.
Hello colleagues, good article and fastidious arguments commented here, I am actually enjoying by these.
Heya i’m for the first time here. I came across this board and I find It truly useful
& it helped me out much. I hope to give something back and help others like you aided me.
Thanks for the marvelous posting! I truly enjoyed
reading it, you might be a great author.I will be sure to bookmark your blog and will come back at some point.
I want to encourage you to ultimately continue your great
posts, have a nice day!
It’s an remarkable piece of writing for all the internet visitors;
they will take advantage from it I am sure.
Hello! I’ve been following your weblog for a while now and finally
got the courage to go ahead and give you a shout out from
Lubbock Tx! Just wanted to mention keep up the excellent
job!
I didn’t know that.
Wonderful views on that!
Comments are closed.