Tobago Restaurants and Dining

(Tobago, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago)

The cuisine of Tobago is likely to be a highlight of any holiday, and those dining out at restaurants and eateries on the island will find a distinctive Creole / Caribbean flavour present. In particular, Creole is an African-style of cooking and has been very much adopted by Trinidad and Tobago, evolving on the islands and influenced by available ingredients and local herbs.

Although the cooks on Tobago don't use excessive amounts of chillis and dishes aren't usually over spicy, heat is often added at the table by dashes of the island's very famous hot pepper sauce. When ordering your meal at a restaurant, if you are not keen on over spicy dining, do mention this in case the hot pepper sauce is automatically added before your dish is served.

What to Eat

Many of the island's hotel restaurants tend to offer a fairly simple and often unappealing tourist-orientated cuisine, and so if you are looking for something a little more authentic, look for more traditional eateries.

Expect to find plenty of Creole dishes featuring caramelised (pelau) chicken and other meats, zaboca (avocado) and callaloo (coconut milk and dasheen / taro leaves). Curried goat, black pudding (blood sausage), 'souse' (marinated chicken's feet), and 'oildown' (stewed vegetables in coconut milk) are also extremely popular, as well as seafood dining with shark steaks, tuna and lobster.

Where to Eat

Notable restaurants on the island of Tobago are in their greatest numbers in Scarborough and the surrounding southerly resorts, such as Buccoo, Crown Point, Plymouth and Stonehaven Bay. On the northern side of Tobago, Charlotteville, Roxborough and Speyside have become well known for fine dining and seafood dishes, with a number of eateries offering views of the ocean and scenic Caribbean coastline.

Eating out is also a popular pastime at the resort of Pigeon Point, on Tobago's south-western coast, some 2 km / 1.5 miles north of Crown Point. Restaurants in Pigeon Point are never far from its famed powder white sandy beachfront and leaning palm trees.