Cuisine of Antigua Island for gourmets. Places for dinner - best restaurants

The cuisine of Antigua, as any other island cuisine, has a variety of fish and seafood courses. Have you tried lobsters? Probably. But a fried red snapper you most probably did not. Braised clams? Quite usual. But a sunfish, a kingfish or a red snapper you can probably taste only here. Those, who like seafood, should try gambas prawns, lambi and soudons clams, which are very small by the way. It is interesting that part of the recipes includes the Creole traditions, using a lot of local spices and herbs, and the others have traditional French features. However, usually those two completely different types of cuisine mix, creating a dish of a truly unique taste.

However, they do not eat only fish in Antigua. Meat courses are a vital part of the local cuisine. They mostly use veal and chicken, while beef is much less popular due to its high price. The locals like steaks of different sizes and cooking stage, fried pork with spices, and chicken with vegetables and rice, and a braised rabbit. You should certainly try a dish called pepperpot. it is quite a spicy dish, made from meat or fish, cooked with vegetables and roots of the local plants. It is usually served with porridge. In any restaurant, you can order fridantos, which is an analog of a kebab. Meat in Antigua is usually served with red beans with smoked sausage in tomato sauce.

One of the national Antigua dishes is cou-cou. It is made from gumbo and corn flour and served with fried flying fish or corned beef. Fungi is the same dish, prepared without gumbo. The name “cou-cou” comes from the same-name kitchen utensils, which is used to check the thickness of dough. When in Antigua, you should also try ducana. It is made of boiled sweet potato, flour, coconut and nutmeg, sugar, water, and sometimes vanilla. The recipe is quite easy – you mix all the ingredients, cover them in foil or banana leaves and boil for half an hour. They can serve it cooled, sliced, and fried, or freshly cooked, with salted cod, spinach, gumbo or eggplants. Copyright www.orangesmile.com

A unique fruit that only grows in Antigua is a black pineapple. Why it is called “black” is unknown, it differs from a regular pineapple only by a smaller size and a sweeter taste. Unfortunately, it is rarely going to export – the harvest is quite little. The locals like the sweets, so in almost every shop, restaurant or a café you will find a wide range of desserts: various cookies, ice cream, pastries, fruit pies, and roasted peanuts. Among soft drinks, the locals prefer tea, juices from raspberry, mango, hibiscus, guava, and passion fruit, coconut milk, ginger ale, and mauby. The last one is a drink, made with the bark and leafs of mabi and Colubrina elliptica.

Antigua is also famous for its rum. There are many brands, but the most popular one is Cavalier. You can also try punches and cocktails with this drink. Local beer Wadadli is quite popular as well. Banks is delivered from Barbados and Red Stripes – from Jamaica. However, you can find popular European and American kinds of beer in the local shops. They also have here wine and whisky, so a tourist can always have a nice drink in the evening.