Saba / Special Interests / Food and Cooking

Saba is not an island for fine dining, but you won't go hungry. There are only a few local boats that go out fishing and the lobsters caught in the rich waters of Saba Bank tend to go straight to the dining tables of St Martin/St Maarten. Some restaurants, notably Brigadoon in Windwardside and Queen's Garden Resort in The Bottom, offer attentive service and an above-average cuisine. Others are content to dish up a plate piled high with imported ingredients where quantity is deemed as important as quality.

The stalls set out during festivals and celebrations offer a rare chance to try some home-made fare, and you can buy a book of island recipes compiled by ''The Saban Lace Ladies” in local shops. Look out too for jars of guava jelly, hot pepper sauce and Saba Spice that are made by enterprising cooks with names like “Swinging Hilda”. The last is a rum spiced up with cinnamon, cloves, aniseed and fruits according to time-honoured traditions – try a glass in a bar before investing in a bottle.