The country's cuisine, like the island, is a blend of cultures. African, Carib, Indian, French and Oriental influences provide an assortment of dishes, all which are waiting to be sampled and savoured during your visit. Indeed, you will find that dining in Dominica is a savoury story with a happy ending. Fruits and spices abound, and tables overflow with red, pink, yellow, orange and green vegetables.

Nowhere else in the Caribbean will you find such a culinary rainbow!

This Dominica Restaurant Guide will get your mouth watering, with our descriptions of common local dishes and drinks, as well as various restaurants where you can tempt your tastebuds. Combine this with some Shopping in Dominica to give yourself a real treat while you are on holiday. Abit more background on Caribbean cuisine, as well as some meals which are popular across the whole region, can be found by checking out our Caribbean Restaurants Guide.

Dominican Cuisine 

Dominican Fresh Juices

Isn't a nice tall glass of fresh juice the most refreshing way to start the day? There is a wide range of exotic fruits available in Dominica. Ever heard of soursop, sorrel or gooseberry juice? They taste better than they sound. Try the sea moss or carambola or barbadine or paw paw. If you don't like to experiment, you can always fall back on the tried and tested mango, watermelon, grapefruit or mandarin juice.

Dominican Creole Dishes

Lunch Menus

Dominican cuisine offers a variety of seafood - varieties of fish such as saltfish, flying fish, codfish, tuna, snapper, king fish, blue marlin, grouper and dolphin; and shellfish such as lobster, a local prawn known as bouk, crab, river crayfish and lambi. Also gracing menus are goat, beef, chicken and crapaud.  The popular condiments and flavouring agents are coconut, chives, tomatoes, dasheen plant leaves and boiled bananas.

Dinner Menus

Dominican dinners are much more elaborate than lunches. The accent is on the correct blend of spices and fresh ingredients found locally. You can experiment with hundreds of different varieties of fish or stick to the local favourite Volan (flying fish). Meats and fish are sautéed, braised, roasted and stewed into rare delicacies with unique ingredients such as cocoa, vanilla, cinnamon, bay leaves, onions and hot peppers. The Creole cooking traditions often convert mundane ingredients into succulent sizzlers.

Dominican Seasonings

Dominicans place a lot of emphasis on subtle flavours to enhance the taste of all dishes. Some popular spices used are bay leaves, hot peppers and cinnamon. Cocoa and vanilla, which are normally used for desserts all over the world, are used here for flavouring savoury dishes.

Dominican Delicacies

Dominica offers many unique dining experiences. It has a wealth of indigenous products that are sure to leave your palate sated. Try the crapaud, which is a large frog that inhabits the mountainous regions here. It is also called mountain chicken because it tastes amazingly like chicken but with a subtle difference. It tastes best when served as a stew or fried golden brown. Another exotic meat that you must sample is the wild agouti, cooked in a stew or roasted to a smoky flavour. A small opossum called Manicou is very popular here.

Going by the local tastes, another delectable offering of this land is the very aromatic and spicy sausage, black pudding. Next on your ‘sampling delicacies' list should be a stew called goat water made from tender goat that melts in the mouth. During special occasions and festive feasts two meats that are most popular are the agouti and manicou, cooked barbeque style. And the best way to down it all is to sip a chilled beer called Kubuli.

Sample must-have Dominican menu

Callaloo soup: Start your meal with this delicious blend of spinach-like greens of the dasheen plant and crab simmered to perfection.

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Pumpkin soup: If you want to go for a vegetarian option, try this soup which is made from pumpkin and cream.

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San coche: This classic dish has codfish in a velvety sauce of coconut, garnished with boiled green bananas and dumplings.

Buljow: Saltfish cooked in Creole spices with onions, tomatoes, chives, coconut and pepper.

Crab backs: A crab meat patty flavoured with onion, garlic, pepper and tomatoes, coated with breadcrumbs and parsley and stuffed back into a crab shell.

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Dominican Ice cream

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Dominican Coffee

Dominican vegetables and greens

If you thought all Dominica offered is a wide variety of meat, you're in for a surprise when you sample the veggies here. A wholesome smorgasbord of tubers with varying tastes and textures awaits you. Tannia and dasheen are the unusual ones besides the ubiquitous yam and potatoes. Vegetarians can enjoy locally grown vegetables, organic and farm fresh.

Dominican Ice cream

The exotic Dominican fruits lend themselves well to creamy ice creams. These homemade ice creams have no artificial flavours or colouring agents and use only fresh fruits and milk - a deliciously healthy combination. So forget your regular chocolate or vanilla and indulge in flavours that are both refreshing and alluring - mango, coconut, cranberry, guava, sorrel and gooseberry. Indulge your sweet tooth with these delicious ice-creams.