Kathy A. wrote: >Someone wrote: >: I will shortly be spending a few days in Freeport, Bahamas. > >: Can somebody help with the following questions: > >: 1. any recommended restaurants in or near Freeport - good >: food (any nationality) in casual surroundings? > >: 2. any recommended bars in or near Freeport? > >: 3. any restaurants or bars to avoid? > >: 4. any good surfing (body-surfing) beaches near Freeport? > >: 5. I will be staying at the Xanadu Resort. How formal/casual >: is the atmosphere there? > >: Thanks, >: -------------------------------------------------------------------- >: Chris Palmer "Ashes to ashes, >: Data General Corporation dust to dust, >: Network Systems Development Division If Lillee don't get you, >: [email removed] Thommo must!" > > Chris, > I have to say that I hope you have better luck with food in the > Bahamas than we did. Everything in the Bahamas is extremely casual > including the food and service. I do not recommend venturing out > on your own..We ate breakfast at Burger King all 4 days, we would > usually skip lunch cause we were just too busy, then at dinner we > tried a different restuarant each night. The worst was the Charthouse > the best was a restuarant inside the hotel we stayed in (Princess Country > Club) Good Luck! I don't know Freeport very well, I'm sorry to say, but I know the rest of the Bahamas and love it and I wanted to provide a more balanced viewpoint in its defense. I could, in fact, make a comment about traveling to a beautiful tropical foreign country and eating at Burger King, but I won't. Instead, I'll say that the Bahamas IS casual, in the best sense of the word. There is no point in being in a hurry in a warm tropical place. The Bahamians do not expect finger-snapping service and if you do you will be disappointed. The key is to get on "island time" as soon as possible after your arrival and stay on it. Mellow out. And try NOT to visit during spring break, when the mobs are trying to find Burger King. Avoid chain restaurants like Charthouse and eat where the locals eat. (No, not Burger King....). In the Bahamas, including in Freeport, there is a program run by the government called "Bahama Host." It requires special training and passing tests, and is quite an honor in its own way. Look for the Bahama Host sticker, and you will usually find friendly, cooperative service. Find a Bahama Host cabdriver and ask him to help you select somewhere to eat. Your hotel may have a good restaurant, or you may find a place like my favorites in Nassau: Traveller's Rest: out on the beach road past Cable Beach. Run by a once-Canadian now-Bahamian woman named Joan Hanna who has lived in the Bahamas since the early 1960s. Good but still relaxed service, a great bar, tables with umbrellas out on the veranda overlooking the beach. WONDERFUL local specialties like grouper fingers, peas and rice, conch, and chicken. Sugar syrup for your iced tea. Cute little boutique next door. The Cellar: on a small street just off the main Bay Street shopping area. Back patio is shady and cool. Service is slow but careful, and the food is very good, local cooking like Travellers. Excellent grouper fingers. Coconuts: a more upscale dinner house with good food. Also recommended in Nassau are the Greycliffe and Buena Vista, both expensive. Now on Andros, one of the Bahamas Family Islands where life is REALLY third-world, you can eat at Charly Gay's Chickcharnie Hotel, where if you're not the first party seated for dinner you'd better plan on a *long* wait....of course you get a huge cracked conch dinner for $7.95..... (Conch is basically like abalone. Yum.) Or also on Andros, there's the Golden Conch, in what used to be the living room of Richard's house...eat in and watch TV with Richard while you enjoy your lobster and grouper or take out. Or also on Andros there's Mrs. Johnson up north who cooks what she feels like and you lean in the window and see if it look like your kind of fish that night. See what I mean? How can Burger King compare to that??????? Valerie Maslak
Bahamas, Caribbean