St. John - vegetarian and gluten free dining options?
 

My husband and I are visiting St. John the end of November and have not been there before.
We are staying at Caneel Bay and I was wondering if anyone could suggest any restaurants where I might find vegetarian and gluten free food. I am not fussy. Salads, sides of veggies, potatoes... etc. I do eat dairy, but no fish, meat or poultry.

My husband and I went in Dec. last year. We are vegetarian but not gluten free. We didn't have any trouble finding things at every restaurant we went to. Almost every place has a veggie burger, salad, and loads of fresh fruit. We weren't looking for gluten free though so I'm sorry I don't have suggestions for specifc restaurants. We also went to the grocery stores a lot and did some of our own cooking so we didn't eat out as much.

Hi Traveler2009,

Thanks so much for your reply.

Did you have any favorite restaurants?

Pegpaz, I hadn't realized that you needed vegetarian and gluten-free. For a gluten-eating omnivore such as myself, that's a lot of restrictions to wrap my mind around.

As you've only had one response so far...

The place you really wanted was called Satyamuna, which used to be on the second floor of the Marketplace. But it closed in 2009, and as I recall from my last visit in May 2010, it hadn't reopened.

Deli Grotto, in Mongoose Junction, makes good salads, and you could probably get a lot of mileage out of them. I don't know if your husband has the same restrictions as you, but they make good meat-containing and meat-free sandwiches too. Here's the menu: http://www.virginislandsthisweek.com...otto_menu.html

Deli Grotto does take-out, and they have a few tables, but it's not the kind of place where you'd sit down and have a nice dinner. In fact, they close at 6 PM, and 3 on Sundays. For the nice dinner, well... I guess you could probably find a salad or a side dish or something that you could eat at most restaurants, including the ones on the Caneel property. I can't think of a place that's specifically vegetarian-friendly, let alone gluten-free-friendly.

Your best food option would probably be to go to Sweet Plantains on Indo-Caribbean Night, which historically was Friday or Saturday, and order one of their curries (they offer them with tofu instead of meat or fish as a standard option). You could also have a good meal at Waterfront Bistro in Cruz Bay, if they're still serving their risotto. Another good choice would have been Mojo Café, which used to serve good Indian food from a little hole-in-the-wall near the ferry dock. However, when I was there in May, I learned that the cook was about to move his operation to some bar (I forget which one), and he was bragging about the steaks he was going to make over there. So I'm not sure if the Indian food will still be an option. He may even be off-island this season. The food scene is pretty fluid like that on St. John. I guess you could wander by Mojo Café's old location and see if someone has decided to revive the old menu. I'd do it myself, but I think I probably won't get there until a little after you do.

Thanks Hawksbill ! I will write down the places you mentioned and check them out.
It sounds like you are doing to St. John soon also. I hope you have a great trip as well.