British Virgin Islands / Restaurants

The BVIs have a reasonably good variety of restaurants, many of them in spectacular settings. The top dining rooms tend to be in the smartest hotels (on Tortola the Sugar Mill is particularly highly thought of, as are those in the smaller islands, including Biras Creek, Little Dix Bay and Peter Island Resort), but with its large expatriate community, Tortola itself has a few independent restaurants of note, including Brandywine Bay, Le Cabanon, the Dove and Eclipse. These and others may offer a particular style of cuisine such as French or Italian.

Beyond the few at the top end of the range, the fare in the restaurants tends to be a little the samey, offering a combination of “ininternational” dishes (largely American), and slightly sanitised versions of West Indian dishes (for details of local fare see under Food and Cooking). Finally, the BVIs have many places serving takeaway food, including the ubiquitous “chicken bus” and other mobile food stalls, less endearingly named “roach coaches”. These are mainly in Road Town.

You are advised to make reservations during season because the restaurants can get pretty busy. If you are on a yacht you will find that many of the restaurants will answer the VHF Channel 16. The following price categories are a guide to the cost of a main course.

The cost of an average main course (excluding steak and lobster) is as follows: Inexpensive, less than US$15, Moderate – $15-25, Expensive – $25 plus.

Here is a selection of our recommended British Virgin Island restaurants:

Tortola

Road Town has the highest concentration of restaurants, many of which have different menus in the daytime and in the evenings. There is a bustling lunchtime trade catering for the business community which then peters off to something less frenetic and more relaxed in the evenings, often with more sophisticated fare.

Brandywine Bay, Road Town, expensive  - Set in a hilltop villa just east of Road Town. Diners have a lovely view of Sir Francis Drake Channel before dinner and then move into the main house for mainly Italian dishes. Nightly changing menu with an emphasis on fresh ingredients available on island.

Eclipse, East End, expensive - Stylishly presented food on a deck right on the waterfront in the East End. An international menu including tapas for grazing (in styles from around the world) and more substantial plates.

Le Cabanon, Road Town, moderate-expensive - A lively open-fronted restaurant set back from Waterfront Drive among the palms. The fare is French and some of the ingredients are flown in from France twice- weekly. During the day try one of their panini sandwiches, or a chartcuterie platter, or even a salade niçoise. In the evening expect beef carpaccio, Calvados-flamed camembert, smoked salmon platters as dinner appetisers, with entrees that range from fresh Dover sole or foie gras through to Normandie chicken or cassoulet. Finish with an espresso and cognac if there’s room.

Fat Hog Bobs, East End, moderate - Comfortable cushioned sofas and rattan armchairs on a covered terrace on the waterfront at Hodges Creek. As the name suggests, generously proportioned dishes, particularly good for breakfast, known for its cheese and bacon rosti.

Harbour View, East End, moderate-expensive - First floor, waterfront dining at the Harbour View Marine Centre. Good fresh fish, nightly specials.

Sugar Mill, Apple Bay, moderate-expensive - Set in the authentic stone walls of an old sugar boiling house at the hotel on the north shore of Tortola, the Sugar Mill has a nightly changing menu that mixes Caribbean and foreign ingredients in an innovative way. Well worth a visit.

The Dove, Road Town, moderate-expensive - Set just south of the Government Dock, the Dove offers good food, in portions that are slightly on the light side. It has an excellent wine list, with more than 100 wines and 20 by the glass, and is a popular stopover for Tortola’s young “yuppie” crowd from the trust companies, who catch a glass of Champagne during Happy Hour. Their “Hangover Sunday Brunch” is also popular with residents.

The Captain’s Table, Road Town, expensive - Overlooking the dock at Inner Harbour Marina. A light lunch menu, with the exception of excellent jerked pork chops. More sophisticated evening menu offering French and other dishes including escargots, a warm goats cheese salad and conch fritters through to steaks, fresh local fish. The Captain’s Table is the only place in the BVI where you can pick your live lobster from a vivier (fish tank).

The Last Resort, Bellamy Cay, moderate-expensive - Set on its own island just offshore at the eastern tip of Tortola (off Beef Island), the Last Resort is a BVI institution for its atmosphere as much for its (very good) food. Singing chefs and sometimes a cabaret. Fusion cuisine and trusty international dishes. The “nice ass” of its logo refers to the restaurant’s donkey, which sticks its head through the window. The donkey is not a drinker like the last one, but you can have your picture taken with it . . . all good fun as well as good cuisine.

Skyworld, Ridge Road, moderate-expensive - A spectacular setting by day (when quite a lot of bus-bourne cruise ship passengers come for cocktails), but also a good restaurant in the evenings. Daily changing international menu with a good variety.

Fort Burt Restaurant, Road Town, moderate-expensive - Home of the New England Culinary Institute’s catering school in the BVI. All meals are prepared by students, with bread and pastries coming from the school’s bakery in Road Town. The menus are imaginative, the food well prepared and service is generally good, if sometimes slow. Try the fresh Prince Edward Island mussels appetiser or the jerked rack of lamb for some wonderful flavours.

C & F Restaurant, Road Town, moderate-expensive - A fun place in the back streets of Road Town that has built a reputation for its West Indian fare and BBQ food, particularly ribs. Dark, cramped and not well lit, and with a telly blaring in the background, it’s not the most inviting of places but it is an institution. Huge racks of baby back ribs or half chicken, generously covered with a tasty, but not overpowering, sauce served with bowls of potato salad and coleslaw. Their conch in butter sauce is excellent, as is the traditionally prepared steamed fish with mayonnaise sauce, which hardly sounds appetising, but is excellent.

Capriccio di Mare, Road Town, moderate - An all- day Italian café overlooking the palms and ferry dock. Sit with a cappuccino and croissant while watching Road Town’s business day commute. At lunch perhaps have a piadina (an Italian-style tortilla) or a focaccia sandwich, or in the evening some bruschetta followed by pasta and salad. Their unique offering is a drink called the “Hot, Hot, Hot”, a shot of home-made hot pepper vodka served in a glass of Red Stripe beer. Open 8am-9pm, Capriccio serves an all-day menu, with a breakfast menu available until 10.30am.

Seaside Grill, Apple Bay, moderate  - The Seaside Grill is set on a very pretty waterfront deck at Sebastian’s in Apple Bay, looking out past the palms and waves to Jost Van Dyke in the distance. Homely atmosphere. International fare with local ingredients, including excellent fresh local fish.

Coco Plums, Apple Bay, moderate - Pretty setting in a dining room by the road side in the small local community of Apple Bay. Good service and good fare, a combination of Caribbean and international dishes.

Palm’s Delight, Carrot Bay, moderate - West Indian food family-style on the waterfront in Carrot Bay near the west of the north shore, rotis, curried goat and fish with rice ‘n’ peas.

Village Cay Dockside, Road Town, moderate - On the dockside in town, overlooking the yachts, but comfortably breezy and right in the action of the dock. Serves breakfast, lunch and dinner daily, from an American-influenced menu, with buffet lunches some days and sushi on Friday evenings. Sunday brunch is worth going to, particularly if you’ve a healthy appetite. Service is reliably slow, so patience and a sense of humour are a necessity, but there is plenty of activity on the dock to keep you amused. Village Cay’s sandwich shop is open from 10am - 4pm and has a comprehensive made-to-order sandwich menu plus some good salads and quiches. Good if you’re thinking about taking a picnic to the beach.

Spaghetti Junction and the Bat Cave, Road Town, moderate - The Bat Cave is a club in the evenings, when Spaghetti Junction takes over the main dining room, for its full range of pastas and Caribbean fish and seafood dishes as well as specials. By day you can eat in the Bat Cave itself. It is a cool air-conditioned spot for lunch, for a wonderful seared tuna salad or a sizzling fajita.

The Pub, Fort Burt Marina, moderate - Right on the water with views over Road Harbour, the Pub is second home to many of Tortola’s older ex-pat community and it can be fairly rumbustious. The day-time waitress, Princess, does an admirable job of keeping everything under control and service flowing well. Breakfast, a robust lunch menu and simpler dinner menu, with exceptional prime ribs on Thursday nights, probably the best available on Tortola.

The Mid-Town Restaurant, Road Town,  inexpensive-moderate - Really more of a diner than a restaurant, with a good market menu of West Indian dishes. Check the chalk board out side the door to see the days’ specials, and then get stuck into a good rib-sticking meal.

The Roti Palace, Road Town, inexpensive - Set above a jeweller’s shop on Main Street, the Roti Palace is a small restaurant with only one thing, roti, on the menu. A roti is a large flat unleavened bread a bit like a soft tortilla with a layer of ground spiced channa (chick-peas or garbanzos) in the middle. This bread is wrapped like an envelope around a mild-medium spiced curry - boneless chicken, conch, lobster, whelk, mutton or vegetable fillings. Add some of the coldest bottled beer in Road Town, mango chutney and the spicy condiment called kuchela (grated green mangoes, garlic and spices) and you have excellent traditional West Indian fare.

The Virgin Queen, Road Town, inexpensive - In the back of town, the “VQ" serves essentially English- style “pub food”, shepherd’s pie and liver and bacon remain staples for the ex-pat community. Also known for its pizzas. At lunch-time during school terms it can be difficult to get served quickly as hordes of high- school students go there to eat.

Courtyard Café, Road Town, inexpensive - A café set in a very pretty wooden house and covered courtyard, great stopover for a juice and a coffee and a cookie. Also some light fried fare for lunch, daytimes only.

Virgin Gorda

The two best places to eat out are probably the hotel dining rooms at Biras Creek and Little Dix Bay, as there are just a handful of independent restaurants of any standard in Virgin Gorda. The island is basically divided into two halves, the North Sound and the “south”.

Giorgio’s Table, Mahoe Bay, expensive - Lovely setting in a wooden cabin with verandas right above the water. Excellent Italian fare. Well worth the effort of getting there. Good service, though you need to take time because it is cooked to order.

Chez Bamboo, Spanish Town, moderate-expensive - A pretty courtyard and indoor dining room in Spanish Town, serving a combination of international and Caribbean cuisine.

Rock Café, Spanish Town, moderate-expensive - Al fresco dining amid the boulders of Virgin Gorda, or inside in the Piano Bar. Italian-inspired dishes, good for pastas of all kinds, fresh fish, steaks and the ubiquitous lobster.

The Fat Virgin, Biras Creek, moderate - A café and deli on the lagoon, great lunch.

The Restaurant at Leverick Bay, North Sound, expensive - Having been refurbished and upgraded, the Restaurant at Leverick Bay has lost some of its mock “Pub” style and is now more cosmopolitan, with a menu to match.

The Mine Shaft, Coppermine area, inexpensive - Good grub and the best sunset on Virgin Gorda.

Jost Van Dyke

Sidney’s, Little Harbour - A waterfront restaurant in a wooden deck. Local and international fare.

Anegada

With a couple of exceptions, you will be dependent on the dining rooms of the local hotels when on Anegada. The cuisine is not as sophisticated as in the other islands in the BVI, but you can expect wholesome West Indian and international fare.

Anegada Reef Hotel, moderate - On a calm waterfront on the southern shore, either outside under the palms or on a screened deck. International and good West Indian fare.

Cow Wreck Beach Bar and Restaurant, moderate-expensive - A charming, family-run restaurant in a spectacular beach setting, with the best value lobster on Anegada. Also great lobster and crab fritters and simply-prepared fresh, but excellent, grilled fish. Particularly good salad dressing. The food is cooked to order at Cow Wreck, so service might be slow, but you probably won’t care after a few Cow Wreck punches!

Flash of Beauty, Loblolly Bay, moderate - On the beach at Loblolly Bay, West Indian fare as well as some sandwiches.

Neptune’s Treasure, moderate - Locally-caught fish and seafood and other hearty West Indian fare.

Big Bamboo, Loblolly Bay, inexpensive-moderate - Classic West Indian setting, right on the beach, and cuisine of, fish, chicken and more.