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Anguilla is the Go-To Caribbean Island for Foodies

By Marian Betancourt

Anguilla is the go-to Caribbean island for people who love good food and wine. You won’t find jet skis, high rises, or casinos on this lovely island in the British West Indies, but you will find a culinary oasis with fine food in high-end resorts as well as local restaurants.  This may explain why tourism jumped 13 percent from 2004 to 2005.

The CuisinArt Resort and Spa at Rendezvous Bay (yes, the same people who brought you the food processor) offers culinary packages that include not only gourmet dinners, but master cooking classes in the resort’s kitchen stadium with Chef Daniel Orr, tours of the orchard, the hydroponic farm, and the organic garden. The stunning white buildings at CuisinArt (www.cuisinartresort.com) are inspired by the architecture of Greece and the cuisine at Santorini Restaurant, Café Mediterraneo, and Famiglia, are reminiscent of southern Italy.

Key lime, bitter orange, sugar apple, tamarind, and avocado trees grow in the orchard, and in the extensive herb garden calaloo (wild spinach), along with more traditional herbs like thyme, rosemary, and several types of basil flourish. In your kitchen stadium class, you’ll learn to use these herbs to make bush tea, which is not your ordinary cup of herbal tea. Once a pot of water comes to a boil, the heat is turned off and a bunch of herbs—Mexican oregano and lemon grass, for example--goes into the pot and is allowed to steep for awhile. A splash of key lime juice and a touch of honey complete the drink.

CuisinArt was the first Caribbean resort to create a hydroponic farm to assure that guests had fresh vegetables, which are normally imported and thus, arrive past their prime. The hydroponic garden produces tomatoes, lettuces, peppers, bok choy and herbs year round.

The organic garden is “curated” by Franklin “Doc” Brooks, an Anguillan, who believes it’s important to touch and admire each plant as he walks through his garden checking and treating his “patients,” such as a hot pepper bush native to the island. His organic bug spray contains chile, garlic and sometimes Epsom salts. Leading a tour, he may twist the cap off, poke his nose in, grimace, and get the expected laughs.

In the kitchen stadium you’ll prepare dishes like salmon smoked over Jamaican allspice leaves, or a ceviche of yellow fin tuna with coconut water, organic herbs, and white balsamic. Pumpkin and banana bisque with crabmeat salad is on the agenda, as is pork tenderloin with bitter orange, chilies and lime.

On another part of the island, the wine cellar at the elegant European-inspired Malliouhana (www.malliouhanaresort.com), hotel and resort, is built into the side of a hill and holds 25,000 bottles, the largest wine collection in the Caribbean. The resort is one of only 100 in the world to hold the Wine Spectator “Grand” award. A wine lover from Britain opened this hotel 20 years ago and brought in Michelin-starred chef Michel Rostang of Paris as consulting chef. Head chef Alain Laurent, also from France, carries on a tradition of incorporating subtle flavors of the Caribbean into their French cuisine. The restaurant is a tiered, circular porch on top of a hill overlooking the sea.

In Forest Bay, the Straw Hat restaurant (www.strawhat.com) is built on stilts over the sea. Shortly after it was opened by Peter and Anne Parles, it appeared on Conde Naste Traveler’s list of 50 best new restaurants. The daily catch from local fishermen is transformed into dishes such as red snapper ceviche, lobster and crayfish spring rolls, or Anguillan spiny lobster sautéed in Pernod cream sauce.

Smokey’s is a beachside bistro at Cove Bay operated by the Rendezvous Bay Hotel and Resort (www.rendezvousbay.com) a few miles away. This laid back place, with a volleyball net outside, features West Indian food. At night, the addition of tiki torches and fine china make it romantic. Chef Leonard “Smoke” Sharplis makes spicy seafood chowder; honeyed baby ribs; stewed chicken, and grilled snapper. Curried goat is a popular item here. In fact, you will see goat on many Anguillan menus, and also “on the hoof” in fields and roads all over the island.

One of the best local restaurants is Tasty’s (www.tastysrestaurant.com) on the main road in South Hill. This colorful house, neatly trimmed with bright lilac, lime green, and sea blue, was decorated by artist Susan Croft.  Chef Dale Carty, who trained in France, serves indigenous Anguillan cuisine with a European flair. Carty first worked his way up through the restaurant ranks at Malliouhana before opening his own place. (He still works the dinner service there, which is why Tasty’s is open only for breakfast and lunch.) Carty likes to cook local fish such as grunt, butterfish, and trigger fish, the way his mother and grandmother taught him. Try one of these fish fried for breakfast along with Johnny Cakes and bush tea.  For lunch there’s red snapper with papaya salad, Creole filet, West Indian curry, or Grandma’s stew chicken.

And when you’re not enjoying the food on Anguilla you can soak up the spectacular landscape and miles of uncrowded white powder beaches.  If you’re not too sated, try swimming with the dolphins.

For information: www.anguilla-vacation.com

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