Caribbean cuisine is very simple and tasty. But because of the tourism many local restaurants changed menus to accommodate westerns palates and they substitute local cuisine for fries, pizza, pasta and burgers. I avoid these places at all costs.
In Cayman was hard to find local cuisine. We had to head off from George Town to enjoy good old style Caymanian food.
Local places are not fancy at all. They are all about food. If you are looking for something else like views or fancy French places (don't get me even started on French and Italian cuisine for American taste), stay in George Town. Eventually you'll find what you are looking for... A tourist trap.
Ms. Vivine's house in East End is the backdrop for her charming restaurant located just across the coast.
Menu is small but everything (exempt the rum cake) is made from scratch in her kitchen with fresh ingredients.
We had the oxtail and the fried fish. Both were terrific. Price is unbeatable, KYD$6 each (cash only, no such thing as an ATM around it). We still had room (or at least we were very willing) to try the rice cake.
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| Menu |
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| Oxtail |
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| Fried Fish |
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| Rice Cake |
As soon as we arrived there we realized that we were in the right place. The owner, a native Caymanian lady, had just started cooking and the smell that was coming from the kitchen was awesome. She was in her kitchen, next to the stove. And this was really just her kitchen... home cooked is an understatement.
Everything is fresh and made from scratch. Menu is short and it changes every day.
We had what they called dolphin fish, mahi mahi (KYD$18, cash only).
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| Fried Mahi Mahi |
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| Restaurant |
This one is located just across Marriott at 7 Mile Beach. It's nothing to write home about but food is pretty decent.
The grilled fish was surprisingly good. Grilled to perfection and moist. Only thing I didn't appreciate was the butter on top of it (thankfully it was just a little bit).
Some Jerk chicken pieces were a bit dry. But overall it was OK. It goes well with the fried bread, they called it "Jamaican Surprise".
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| Grilled Fish |
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| This one is dedicated to my friend Ferhan that loves chicken |
In George Town but away from the most touristic area. This is the place to go if you want to try Trinidadian and local dishes.
We ordered the conch roti and the goat roti with a paratha on the side. The conch one was delicious. But the goat and paratha was even better.
The difference between the conch roti and the goat paratha roti is that the conch roti is already stuffed, the paratha roti comes with some dough on the side to dip in the goat (the paratha itself).
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| Goat Paratha Roti |
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| Conch Roti |
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| Goat Paratha Roti |
In our last day before our departure we stopped by to have lunch at this Filipino place, we didn't have time to go around. This restaurant is at walking distance from the cruise ship dock which made me suspicious about it... But after tasting the food I realized that I was wrong.
This is not authentic Cayman cuisine but it looks pretty legit Filipino food (now I'm looking forward to go to Philippines).
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| Tapsilog |
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| Longsilog |
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