What’s for dinner on Bonaire? Lots of flavors and choices
We are on Bonaire at a thatched-roof restaurant off the tourist track called Posada Paramira, on the outskirts of Rincon, the island’s oldest town. Locals, our guide Rolando Marin explains, eat a lot of fish and goat—not so much iguana, which he says tastes like chicken.
We opt for grilled barracuda served up with rice, beans, pumpkin, and fried plantains along with pumpkin pancakes. Yum! I forgo the tripe soup and goat liver stew.
Marin, who has worked at Bonaire Tourism for more than three decades, explains that you can get any kind of food here, especially in the main town of Kralenjik—everything from sushi to Chinese, Indian to pizza, burgers, and of course fresh fish.
Locals eat a lot of goat and fish, he said, with their main meal at lunchtime and a sandwich for dinner. Ham is a favorite on holidays like Christmas and Easter.
We are staying at the 40-room Harbour Village, known for its on site dive shop, private beach and open air restaurant La Balandra where we enjoy watching the resident pelican Ponch. At night, tarpon swim under the restaurant’s lighted deck. There is always a fresh catch as well as everything from burgers to pasta. It is led by Executive Chef Janet Hoediona who specializes in locally inspired cuisine.
Our first night, we ate under a palm tree next to the water at Seaside Krioyo Fusion Restaurant at Isidel Beach Park, where kids were busy on the playground and riding scooters and small bikes.
Krioyo’s Chef, Rahindra Donge, is a past winner of Caribbean Chef of the Year during the Taste of Caribbean competition in Miami.
“Visitors should definitely try local authentic food like we serve—goat stew, kari kari (fish in a creole sauce) piska salu (salt fish stew), and conch strew. Vlatap is a popular side dish made from boiled pumpkin and cornmeal,” Donge said.
She notes that her mom loves kabes kuy igra, meat from goat head and liver, and papaya stew with salted beef and pigtail—acquired tastes, I guess.
Her favorite snack? Kroket di karko (conch croquettes) which we totally enjoyed at her restaurant. Also popular are goat burgers, though we opted for chicken kabobs—also yummy with peanut sauce.
Our last night was aboard the Melissa , a dinner cruise where we sat like pashas on cushions around the wooden boat along with some 30 other passengers. We cruised gently up and down the south coast of Bonaire, eating gourmet bites that were brought to us (a bargain, we think, at $115 PP). The boat, we learned, was built in Turkey and indeed reminds us of a wooden Turkish sailing boat called a gullet that we spent a day sailing many years ago.
We don’t need to move as we are served drinks and then delicious mini courses—focaccia and pepper dip, ceviche, cauliflower soup with truffle oil, a Bloody Mary shot, seared tuna salad with couscous, pork tenderloin with mushroom risotto, carrot cake and coffee with Bailey’s and whipped cream. It sounds like a lot of food but each course was just a couple of bites. All this as we watched the sun set and then the twinkling lights of the island in the distance.
A perfect evening… a perfect end to our visit to Bonaire