If you go to Cuzzin's for example, you can try fried or boiled fish (the entire pot fish- head and scales and eyes and all), stewed or curried mutton, stewed or curried chicken, conch in butter sauce (or curried), local soups- chicken (with the bones), red pea, mutton, etc. There are daily specials like souse, kallaloo, saltfish... Side dishes include boiled green banana, fried plantain, local sweet potato, peas and rice, fungi. West Indian cooking is a lot like southern cooking- everything is WELL done- don't even try to order a rare burger! 😉

You are right that Caribbean food is like European food. For example, jerk chicken is pretty much a Jamaican dish, although you will find restaurants that serve it here. Roti is a Trini food, again, imported.

Marina Market's customer base is pretty much statesiders. They don't have flatfish (Angelfish) in the fish department.or chicken feet in the meat section. Try Food Center or Pueblo for those kinds of items! Oh, my!

Some of the out of the way places that you might like to try:

-Uncle Buddy's on Coki Beach (try the Ole Wife! Yummy!)
-Lake's (right at the corner heading to Coki)
-Petite Pump Room (waterfront)
-Victor's New Hideout (sub base)
-Uncle Joe's (Cruz Bay, St, John)
-Tropical Deli for the Cuban Sandwich (next to Bunker Hill in town)
-Open Pit BBQ (trailers that are parked downtown at night or at Wheatly Center)
-Mandahl Market has a little outside place right next to it.
-Brook's Bar on the way to Magens Beach(Puerto Rican/Dominican)
-The Delly Deck at Havensight
-any of the little places in Al Cohen's Mall across from Havensight

Jeez! The list just goes onand on! Haha! I could probably keep going all day! And we haven't even scratched the surface! Haha!

~Marty

Go on, Marty, as long as you have time to write I want to hear about the food you like on the island - 'cause I'd sure like to read about it. Some of my friends say that I'm preocupied with food and talk about it a little too much. 😀

Remember we only have a week, and we won't be really hunting for food. I'll have the list with me and if any of these places will be near I'll give them a try. Thing is, I don't want to spend precious minutes LOL looking at the menu and not be able to decide what to get. I want exotic and excellent.
I want to try conch. Any of these places have a good dish of conch?

And all of those fruits... can't wait to try trem.

Hello Cherie,

Udder Delight is good for milk shakes... spend a couple hours at Magens Bay and then grab a shake when your leaving. The litlte shop is just at the corner on the road to/from Magens Bay.Or grab one while going there. 🙂

Cuzzins is great for trying local dishes. And Gladys as well. Both are downtown, so you could plan them when doing shopping one day and perhaps the other on a day you are checking out the historical sites downtown. Look at the cruise ship schedule so you can pick a day with fewest ships for your downtown days.

Bolongo Bay has a neat Caribbean show and buffet.

If you are on-island on January 5th... How about taking the St. Croix ferry over to St. Croix and enjoying the Carnival FOOD FAIR 🙂 Caribbean food sampling at its best! Food, drinks, deserts, local music, arts and crafts. Its an 1 hour 15 minute ferry one way... you can take the seaplane if you want a shorter commute. (Ferry schedules available from the link at the very top of this page.)

If you like eclectic, good food in general... try Craig & Sallys on St. Thomas in Frenchtown. Its pricey but really good.

--Islander

Islander, you're killing me!!! We're leaving the island oh the 5th... Oh, how I wish I knew about this! I would've book an extra day.

I'll have to do with the ones I noted. No dishes in particular to try at Cuzzins or Gladys? Something that it's really outstanding/don't miss kinda thing?

And now, a new question. Where to buy a bottle (or two... 😉 ) of champagne/sparkling wine? I have a couple of favs, I'm wondering if they can be found on the island: Cerdon de Bugey or Cristallino. Anyone knows? Now, I know this is a pretty picky question, but I'll reformulate: is there a large selection of sparkling wines?

Hello Cherie,

My favorites are boiled fish and fungi, whelks (or conch) and rice, stuffed whelks or stuffed crabs, crab and rice, saltfish - dash of home made hot sauce on all :-).

Drinks: Passionfruit juice is great. Peanut punch is ok. Seamoss is pretty good. Coconut water is good.

I seldom eat caribbean dishes in restaurants.... I get them home cooked. 🙂

--Islander

So Islander,what time shall we all show up for dinner at your house??hahaha

Hi, Islander

Can't wait to have conch. And many-many fruits that we don't find here. What are seamoss and peanut punch? Never heard of them, can you describe?

Home made hot sauce... hmm... Care to share a recipe? 🙂 If not, I understand, but give me a name of sauce that I should buy to bring home.

No info on sparkling wine? should I bring some from NY?

Gourmet Gallery has a large selection of wine and champagne.

Hello Cherie,

You can check out some of the local fruits at:

https://www.vinow.com/general_usvi/flora_fauna/fruit.php

Seamoss is a drink made of a type of seaweed mixed with spices. Doesn't sound good, but it is.

Peanut Punch is a drink made with peanuts... almost like a liquid peanut butter.

If I had the hot sauce recipe I'd share it :-). Each time I ask my father and uncle their replies sound like this "ohhh you just cut up a few peppers and some onions and garlic and you leave them to sit in some vinegar". 🙂

For locally made hot sauce try: Blind Betty's Hot Caribbean Concoctions (made on St. John).

--Islander

Hello, Islander

I had to laugh at your father's/uncle recipes because that's pretty much how my recipes sound - I don't really measure anything. But I noted Blind Betty's and will try it.
I'll try that seamoss drink, sounds intriguing, and can't.wait.to.have.lots.of.passion.fruit.everything. 🙂

And thanks again to both you and Marty. Happy Holidays!

Shoot! I forgot to mention sushi!! Beni Iguana's is my fav on STT. Try the mussels for your appy. Wow! Are they good! And Todd (the owner) has this sauce called "Iguana Sauce". Put it on everything! Tasty stuff! He also sells it for $20/bottle. And it's worth it! When my wife wen to the Budda Bar (a new sushi place here, she said it was good) to check it out, she snuck our bottle of iguana sauce in. wWhen she was trying to subtly take it out to put some on her food, she was looking around, and all of the other customers were doing the same thing! Haha!

Also, when you are downtown shopping, try some of the soup at Time for a Break (Creque Alley). Franz is an awesome cook. Say "Hi" to Franz, Maryanne and Joey for me! Oh! And Cafe Amici is great, too! Say "Hi" toTahia for me!