Cayman Islands Restaurants
We’ve compiled the best of the best in Cayman Islands - browse our top choices for Restaurants during your stay.
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We’ve compiled the best of the best in Cayman Islands - browse our top choices for Restaurants during your stay.
Classic Caribbean dishes utilize produce from local farms in a homey environment. Great beach views and tropical atmosphere round out the experience. The restaurant works equally well as a chilled-out lunch spot as it does a laid-back party venue. Try the sweet potato and cheese empanadas, Mr. White pizza, or the green papaya salad. Enjoy the sounds of the sea lapping against the shore. After lunch, flop out on a shaded lounger and rest up ahead of the spectacular sunset display.
This popular locals' insider spot (though celeb sightings have run from Shaq to Sly Stallone), straddling the unofficial "border" between Seven Mile Beach and West Bay, resembles a little neighborhood diner transported to the ocean. Enjoy equally fresh sea breezes and food on the waterfront wood deck under one of the mismatched umbrellas. The co-owner is a longtime fisherman, and the fish-and-chips would make any Londoner proud. Other savvy seafood selections run from fiery tiger shrimp curry to specials such as lobster ravioli in gossamer pumpkin-cream sauce. Indeed, the menu is as much Capri as Cayman, with fine pizzas (try the Scotch bonnet-lobster), chicken marsala, and fried calamari served with both jerk mayo and marinara sauce.
Ads trumpet that this restaurant overlooking a garden with a cheery tropical motif is "where the islanders dine"; indeed they have since the Robinson family started selling takeout from its kitchen in 1965. The West Indies breakfast, themed lunch, and Taste of Cayman dinner buffets are legendary spreads. Local food (curried goat, oxtail with broad beans, turtle soup, and heavy cake) is authentic, hearty, and cheap. Pricier global dishes range from chop suey to enchiladas to fine Indian vegetarian options like samosas and masala dal (lentils simmered with green chiles).
Devotees would probably award four exclamation points to the marvelously moist chicken, slow-roasted on a hardwood open-hearth rotisserie. Most customers grab takeout, but the decor is appealing for a fast-food joint; the clever interior replicates an old-time Cayman cottage. Bright smiles and home cooking from scratch enhance the authentic vibe. Hearty but (mostly) healthful heaping helpings of sides include scrumptious Cayman-style corn bread, honey-rum beans, jicama coleslaw, and spinach-pesto pasta. Prices are even cheaper at lunch.
This seaside eatery daubed in a virtual rainbow of blues from turquoise to teal serves up fine local food, emphasizing fresh seafood and, on weekends, mouth- and eye-watering barbecue. The lusciously painted outdoor bar offers equally colorful sunsets, cocktails, and characters (one regular swears, "If I were any better, I'd be dangerous," before buying another round). At night, spotlights illuminate the reef sharks and lobsters lurking in the turtle grass below the patio. The congenial owner, Carlton Ebanks, offers regular entertainment from DJs to fashion shows to domino tournaments, whenever possible on weekends in season.
A popular roadside grill offering Czech foods, steaks, and jerk chicken from chef Jiri Zitterbart is tucked away in Pease Bay, Bodden Town. This ramshackle bar has grown somewhat of a devoted following in a short time. Fabulous seafood and vegetarian options are available.
West Bay's popular family-run restaurant serves up legendary raconteur Tunny Powell's fish tea, coconut grouper, barbecue ribs, and fish fry—with a generous portion of local lore and sterling sea views. The colorfully painted, gingerbread-trim lean-to is easy to miss from the main road, so look for it when you're in the area. Just go early because it's only open until 6 pm.
Overlooking the North Sound, this beach hangout rocks during the day (fantastic lunches that cost half the price of dinner, festive atmosphere including impromptu volleyball tourneys, and free Wi-Fi) and serves murderous margaritas and mudslides well into the evening to boisterous yachties, locals, sports buffs, and expats. Enjoy smoked mahimahi pâté, brick-oven pizzas, hefty burgers, and wondrous wraps, either on the multitier seafood platter with Christmas lights or in hammocks and thatched cabanas amid the palms. Swaddled in white muslin, the nautically themed Upstairs dining room (noted for its rare rum selection) is open nightly except Tuesday (reservations essential) and serves more creative fare at higher prices. The ultimate in romance is the catered Luna del Mar on the Friday evening closest to the full moon. Tuesday beach barbecues are popular (including limbo dancing, live music, half-price drinks, and discounted water taxi service to the "mainland").
Just follow the boisterous laughter and pulsating Caribbean tunes to this hard-to-find mint-green Caymanian cottage, where you feel like you've been invited to a family reunion. The Sunday Caribbean buffet attracts hordes of hungry church goers (call ahead to ensure they're open that week), but every day offers authentic turtle steak, oxtail, jerk, and delectable fried snapper with sassy salsas that liberate your taste buds from the humdrum. Avoid the overpriced Chinese dishes. There's also a George Town outpost.
One of the locals' favorite burger joints—not a fast-food outlet—MacDonald's does a brisk lunch business in stick-to-your ribs basics like rotisserie chicken and escoveitch fish. The decor features yellows and pinks, with appetizing posters of food and a large cartoon chicken mounted on the wall—all an afterthought, really, to the politicos, housewives in curlers, and gossipmongers.
This fun, funky seaside spot brims with character and characters (a soused regular might welcome you by reciting "the daily lunch special: chilled barley soup . . . That's beer"). Expertly prepared local fare (Cajun chicken to conch steak to Cayman rock lobster escoveitch, served with rice and beans, plantains, and fried festival bread) is a bargain, especially at lunch, though the chef also surprises with such gussied-up fare as shrimp in Pernod sauce and turtle steak in port. The nutty nautical decor—brass ships' lanterns dangle from the ceiling, and steering wheels, lacquered turtle shells, and fishing photos adorn the walls—contrasts with cool mirrored ads for Gitanes and Mumm Cordon Rouge and the trendily semi-open kitchen with fresh fish prominently displayed. The jukebox jumps (country music rules the roost), and the tiki-lit terrace offers stunning views and fresh breezes.
A faux cow and pig greet you, and you can savor Miss Rankin's scrumptious turtle stew, lobster curry, and jerk dishes in her alluring garden. Don't miss her homemade bread pudding for dessert. If you're cooking in your condo, consider the ultrafresh produce and meats from the adjacent Rankin's butcher and farm. It's open continuously from 7:30 am to 8 pm.
Offering dine-in and take-out options, this popular spot has an almost endless and diverse menu that includes Caribbean cuisine like oxtail, plantains, and rice and beans as well as the national dish, turtle stew. With friendly, attentive staff and a cozy, American diner atmosphere, it's a big hit with both locals and visitors. It's best known for delicious conch fritters; those with a sweet tooth may prefer the coconut cream pie.
This cheerful, cherished locals' secret serves haute comfort food—great burgers, wahoo-mushrooms bites, and fabulous fish tacos—that elevates pub grub to an art form at bargain prices. Even the chattel-style poolside building, painted a delectable lemon with lime shutters, multihue interior columns, and orange and blueberry accents, whets the appetite. Wash your food down with a signature libation like the Painkiller, and take advantage of affordable nightly dinner specials such as red snapper amandine in lemon butter caper sauce, and Cuban roast chicken marinated with sour orange, garlic, lime, and olive oil.
Cars practically block the road at this unprepossessing hot spot for classic Caymanian food—literally Vivine and Ray Watler's home. Prime seating is in the waterfront courtyard, serenaded by rustling seagrape leaves, crashing surf, and screeching gulls. The day's menu, sourced locally for freshness, is scrawled on a blackboard: perhaps stewed turtle (one of the few places you can still find it), curried goat, barbecued chicken, and snapper, with cassava and sweet-potato cake sides. Burgers, dogs, and chicken-and-chips make a concession to more timid taste buds. Alcohol isn't served, but fresh tamarind, mango, and sorrel juices pack a flavorful punch. Vivine's generally closes early (and occasionally on Monday), but stays open if there's demand—and any food left.
Rustic Caribbean meets casual American at this roadside eatery in West Bay. The spot is locally famous for its quick bites, breakfasts, and a limited menu of staple dishes. Owned and managed by Danny Lamarca, it's a great destination for a no-fuss bite to eat or a filling breakfast to wolf down.
Sharon Connolly (fondly nicknamed Aunt Sha) remains the chef at this unassuming pretty-in-pink spot which is usually packed with locals, from ladies in hairnets to fishers with buckets of catch flirting or gossiping (the island's best eavesdropping). Sea-green and sky-blue walls, ceramic fish, nature photos, and fringe lamps lend some decorative flair, but you come here for stellar Caymanian cuisine, from brown stew tuna to conch fritters, Cayman-style lobster (the most expensive item by far, also prepared curried or broiled in mushroom sauce), or even fried chicken, all served with heaping helpings of sides such as dumplings. You can add heat with homemade hot sauce (pickled peppers, cabbage, onions, and tomato) that will knock your socks (and shoes) off. Everyone swears by Aunt Sha's velvety key lime pie.
This little waterfront hangout is daubed in edible colors from its lime-and-blueberry facade to salmon-and-mint walls hung with little driftwood signs espousing its philosophy (Yeah Man, Chillin, Relax). Picture windows afford wondrous views of Kingston Bight, especially when the setting sun triggers a laser show across the bay as smooth and finely hued as Murano glass. The Bight is the island's only truly safe harbor, and everyone has moorings here, so the BL is filled with character and characters. Food is incidental but more than serviceable (though half the extensive menu usually isn't available). Fish-and-chips (fresh catch), lasagna, red-bean soup, chicken tikka masala, turtle steak, and pepper-crusted tuna are usually reliable.
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