St. Kitts and Nevis — Food and Dining
Cuisine
St Kitts and Nevis has built up a widely established reputation for fine food, a reputation which the local restauranteurs guard zealously. Restaurants specialize in Chinese, Western, Creole, Indian and West Indian cuisine. Most restaurants in St Kitts offer a continental menu with island variations. Nevis is less grand and Charlestown’s small restaurants cater more to Nevisians than visitors. Fruit, including mangoes, papayas and bananas, is sold at the waterfront market. A wide range of imported drinks is available.
National specialties:
• Spiny lobster.
• Crab back.
• Roti (thin pastry filled with curried potatoes, chickpeas and beef, chicken, goat, shrimp or vegetables).
• Pelau (rice, pigeon peas and meat, similar to paella).
• Conch (curried, soused or in salad).
National drinks:
• The locally-produced CSR (cane spirit) is excellent.
• Local rums include Belmont Estate and Brinley Gold.
Tipping: In restaurants, leave 10 to 15%.
Nightlife
Very low key. A number of hotels and inns have string or steel bands to dance to on Saturday nights in the peak season, and there is a disco called J’s Place at the foot of the Brimstone Hill Fortress in St Kitts. Reflections Night Club, also in St Kitts, is open until the small hours. St Kitts has two casinos in Frigate Bay, complete with slot machines, roulette wheels and blackjack tables. In Nevis, Club Trenim is recommended. Otherwise, entertainment centers around the pleasant bars of the inns and hotels.
