Montserratian cuisine is bound to dish up a lot of excitement for you. It is at once, both, traditional and international. The island abounds in marine life, exotic fruits and vegetables and livestock of a high quality, all of which are harnessed to give you a gastronomic experience of a lifetime, distinctive to the last bite. You do get the routine pastas, salads and burgers, with innovative add-ons like fillings of lobster meat.

Goat water is the national dish of Montserrat. It is eaten, not drunk! This rich stew made with chunky goat meat and served with fresh bread rolls is typically Montserratian all the way!

This Montserrat Restaurant Guide gives a brief indication of the types of meals you are likely to come across on the island, as well as listing some of the best places to go for a meal. This includes both high-class restaurants, for those times you wish to treat yourself, and little snack bars, for those times you just want to grab a quick bite. Don't forget to take a look at our Montserrat Shopping Guide too, for some of the best souvenirs to take with you.

Montserrat Restaurant Guide

If you want to sink your teeth into some authentic Montserratian cuisine then step into one of the numerous homely mom and pop restaurants that dot the island. However, if you prefer the regular fare, you can find British, Italian and French, Indian and Chinese cuisine in the locality of Plymouth. The restaurants of the two hotels in the Centre of Montserrat serve lunch and dinner buffets that stick to the familiar Continental format. This is ideally suited to the taste buds of the less adventurous tourist.

For starters, you could rejuvenate yourself with one of the many fresh fruit juices made from some exotic island fruits like soursop, cashew, West Indian cherries and sorrel. If you prefer something less alien, then ask for fresh juices extracted from papaya, mango and guava.

Then go on to sample the main fare that revolves around meat and ham and various types of seafood.  If you are adventurous then try their range of seafood cakes. Lobster cake in a bed of fresh greens and tomato tartar sauce is a strong favourite with the tourists. Or there is the exotic Montserrat jerk shrimp with cinnamon, bananas, rum and cranberry.

For the truly adventurous, there is mahi mahi which is dolphin meat, grilled after marinating in herbs and ground coconut, served with bread. Mountain Chicken is a another typical Montserratian delicacy, made from frog legs. There is no chicken in Mountain Chicken!

Presentation is given great value and most dishes are delectably decorated. A careful balance is maintained while cooking. Even the tiniest details are considered very important, so how the quantity of spices, their proportion and colours and the way they blend to create the flavour of the dish are all essentials that cannot be messed with.
Montserratian cuisine is a fine combination of nature's bounty and man's creativity.

The lush tropical vegetation has thrown up a number of exotic vegetables, cereals, herbs and spices. These are combined in various proportions, with meat and seafood to produce some culinary delights that are subtle, and sometimes not so subtle, but visually appealing, and unique in taste, at all times.