Bermuda's AAA Four-Diamond Cambridge Beaches Resort has just announced a new added-value promotion to help you stretch your vacation budget this winter. Just book a three-night minimum stay by January 31 for travel through March 31, 2010 and you'll get complimentary breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner with the Dine on Us package. Rates start at $385 per night double occupancy – and you'll enjoy all of your meals free in either the gourmet Tamarisk Room or the more casual Shutters restaurant. Call 800-468-7300 or surf over to cambridgebeaches.com to book using code CBDINE.
Who knew there were so many way to enjoy the chewy mollusc? On a lunchtime visit to beachfront Da Conch Shack I made a meal of hearty conch chowder; a bowl of lime-drenched ceviche-style conch salad; and a combo platter of battered and fried "cracked" conch and piping hot conch fritters. I admit it, I'm a glutton for the gastropod, baby. 
"The average egg mass contains more than half a million conch, but in the wild only one conch will survive," our tour guide told us. "But here at the conch farm we raise more than 1.5 million conch each year, which we export all over the world and sell to local restaurants and hotels for visitors like you to enjoy. So before you leave, make sure you try some."
The Deal: Book a three-night-minimum stay at Paradise Island's posh One&Only Ocean Club resort this winter and get a $300 food and beverage credit, redeemable toward all on-site restaurants and room service.
Hello fellow food lovers. I just got back from Trinidad, and let's just say it's a good thing my pants were loose when I got there. Trinidad is renowned for its food traditions - with 40% of the population descended from India, I knew I'd be in heaven - but traditional Indian foods have definitely undergone a delicious island spin. We'll start with breakfast - crazy, I know. Trinidad is known for "doubles," a common street food sold out of vendor's trucks all over the island. We beelined for our guides' favorite and weren't disappointed. Its closest approximation is a sandwich; each piece of "bread" is a lightly fried round, spiced and colored with turmeric, and between them is a filling of curried chick peas called channa - as spicy as you can stand it. (Doubles photo at top courtesy of Jon Whittle)
Let's move on to lunch: The other biggie on Trinidad is bake and shark, and the most famous place to get it is at Richard's on Maracas Beach. Naturally, we made a beeline. It's a deep-fried shark filet, most commonly blacktip shark, sandwiched between a "bake," a lot like Navajo fry bread, and slathered with as many Trini condiments as you can handle. Don't skip the cilantro sauce or the tamarind sauce, whatever you do; hot sauce I'll leave up to your tolerance for pain. Paired with a cold Carib beer, there's no better lunch to be had.
As a travel editor, I'm lucky to spend more than my share of time in the Caribbean each year, exploring the best of what's new in each destination and reporting back on the hotels and restaurants that are getting it right.
The island of Martinique just announced a new late-summer event that's perfect for you foodies out there. In partnership with Tour de Forks, a stateside operator of special culinary events, the new Martinique Culinary Escapade will combine five nights accommodations at the très chic Hôtel Plein Soleil in Le François (pictured), with six days of mouthwatering food and wine events that will please even the pickiest of palates. The package is available from August 26-31 and includes...
The first of this year's Winemakers Dinners kicked off last night at Necker Island, the private BVI estate of billionaire Virgin magnate Sir Richard Branson. While Branson takes residence on Necker throughout the year, the private island also functions as an ultra-exclusive resort and can be experienced for around $51,000 per night - a price tag that includes accommodations for up to 28 people as well as private chefs, personal butlers and whatever food, wine and activities you can dream up for the day. But even splitting that cost with my closest friends, I stand pretty much zero chance of ever staying on Necker Island on my own dime, so I was thrilled to have the chance to check it out before the dinner yesterday!
...is a little Hacienda el Jibarito dark roast in your cup. At least that's what I discovered last week in Puerto Rico. Heading west from my home base in San Juan, I had a chance to settle in for a night at the eco-friendly hacienda tucked quietly in the mountains of San Sebastian - and like any true caffeine addict, I was thrilled to find that the property grows, hand-picks and roasts its own coffee beans.
some seriously delicious coffee.
I just arrived in Curaçao this afternoon, and like any responsible foodie, I decided to spend the rest of the day eating. About two hours after inhaling an overproportioned lunch of fresh seafood salad and rice, I rightly decided it was time for some authentic Curaçaoan appetizers, so I headed downstairs to the Renaissance Curaçao's Blue Bar and I noshed on bitterballen - the national dish of spiced, battered meatballs soaked in mustard - then washed them down with the resort's signature (and as yet unnamed) cocktail of light rum, amaretto, fruit juice, green curaçao and champagne. Yum!
I was in Port Antonio for three days and inhaled more Jamaican jerk than I care to admit. Our home base Great Huts was literally steps away from the famous stands at Boston Beach,* so twice a day we’d take a seat at the counter at my favorite, Little David’s, for our daily dose of jerk pork, chicken and sausage dressed in a spicy/sweet mixture of ketchup and jerk seasoning, with festival and hardo (similar to sourdough) bread on the side.
Yellow Bird
I'm only three sunny days into my Grenada adventure and I've already had the pleasure of consuming some truly sensational meals (tonight I suspect I'll have another when I dine at the acclaimed Aquarium). One place that bears special mention is Patrick's Homestyle Restaurant, found within a lavender house that seems too small to contain a kitchen, no less a real restaurant. Don't be fooled.
After an appetite-spurring vegetable soup, dish after dish hits the table, four or five at a time, delivered full and retrieved empty by Patrick's good-natured sidekick, Compta McDonald. Cou-cou, crab salad, creole fish, breadfruit salad, saltfish cake, green papaya, ginger pork, sea urchin, stewed beef — they just keep coming, each one as lovingly prepared and unwaveringly scrumptious as the last. A scoop of fresh pineapple sorbet finishes things off, followed by a shot of Patrick's home-made "under-the-counter" rum for good measure. This fearsome spice- and herb-infused concoction, its big jug stuffed with a secret recipe of twigs and leaves, purportedly has medicinal powers. I certainly won't suggest otherwise.
Good news for the foodies out there...Barbados' premier Sandy Lane resort just completed a multi-million dollar renovation that includes a new culinary facility and a gourmet cooking and tasting program for guests. With the Gourmet Challenge package, guests get a personalized cooking demo with one of the resort's culinary artists, a customized tasting menu at l'Acajou, a sommelier-guided wine tasting, and the chance to prepare hors d'oeuvres and cocktails right alongside Sandy Lane's top chefs and bartenders. Guests will leave with a special culinary amenity like a cookbook or embroidered chef's apron, plus the recipe to a new signature cocktail created and named just for you.
Take a chance on the unmarked road east of Cabarete at Isla Bon. The winding path is tough on the tires but easy on the eyes, and the end-of-the-road hideaway of La Boca Grill that fringes the mouth of the Rio Yesica is the payoff: friendly local chefs, a pristine and authentically Dominican beachfront locale untouched by mass tourism, and the freshest seafood around. Our feast of today's catch - parrotfish, lobster, blue crab and shrimp - just came off the grill, so I'm off to enjoy the meal and soak up every second of this off-the-beaten-path oasis.
