Our loose plans for this trip were to have the breakfast buffet at Buddy's, generally do leftovers or other stuff back at the room for lunch, and even though they are some of our favorites we decided to skip some of the nicer (and slightly more expensive) places that we've eaten at so many times to explore a few places, especially those with a bit more local flavor. So for this trip we skipped Cappriccio's and Mona Lisa, but discovered a few gems.

Bobbe Jans: Our first and last meals of the trip were at this excellent BBQ place that we discovered a few trips ago. Outstanding ribs, chicken sate with peanut sauce and other stuff at absurdly low prices. Nice little garden dining area in the back, and taking home lots of leftovers made for dynamite lunches.

China Nobo: This is the first time we stopped in there, and won't be our last. Don't let the rough-around-the-edges front area fool you: the area conditioned room in the back is very comfortable, the service was fun (since the owners were away, one of the cooks was waiting on us and seemed to enjoy practicing his English -- plus this adorable 4-year old boy came alone into the room to bring us our water), and the food was outstanding and very reasonably priced. It was very interesting observing Cantonese folks struggling with English but speaking quite well in Papiamento; the fascinating mix of cultures and languages on the island never ceases to amaze and intrigue me.

Gibi's Tuesday BT dinner: a very small group, but Gibi and his family are wonderful hosts and it was great to see Gibi doing well and to hear the story of his travails over the last year. Renee as well as Ed and Liz were there, but the only other non-islander was Janet from northern Canada, and Gale and I enjoyed talking with her. Great food, of course.

Rum Runners at Capt. Don's: Right next door to Buddy's, better food in my opinion than Buddy's, nice to see old friends like TT and Dennis working there, and one night while I was night diving Gale brought back to the room a Caesar Salad as well as some fantastic pizzas (a white pizza with shrimp, caramelized onions and garlic was especially tasty) that were absolutely heavenly to dive into after coming back from the night dive. Plus there were plenty of leftovers for a couple of lunches.

El Fogon Latino: away from town and the tourist areas, this place is an absolutely incredible gem if you like simple but boldly flavored food. Incredible seafood soup (cream based like a New England chowdah), conch with garlic, fresh dorado with tons of garlic, sauces on the side that were outstanding, fries, rice, etc.....simply outstanding at an unbeatable price. You must try this place.

Cactus Blue: since we know Hagen and Corinna from their days at Buddy Dive, we stopped in here an were not disappointed. The seared on the outside and sushi-rare on the inside tuna was fantastic, and the fresh red snapper was also excellent, and the sides, appetizers and service were all top notch. I think that they may just have a winner here.

Kon-Tiki: lunch here on our last day overlooking Lac Bay was just great: excellent food, great view, and a nice, cool breeze.

Last Bite Bakery: we finally got to meet Annette, and, man, does she make some good stuff. Mini-quiches the size of muffins were great to have in the fridge in the room for lunches. And her chocolate lava cake, more like a mousse than a cake, was positively out of sight.

Garden Cafe: Raja was in Venezuela until January doing some Santa Claus photo shoots, but Esmerelda (his wife) more than took care of us. Outstanding Mediterannean food, and a pizza with egg, onion, tomato and cheese that we really like and take back for more lunch leftovers.

Cultimara seemed to be suffering from one of those just-a-little-bit-short-on-lots-of-things weeks, but the onion and cheddar bread from the bakery there was as good as ever.

Great dining this trip, not a bad meal in the bunch.

Thats a great grub report - I am drooling just reading it. It will be our first trip to Bonaire in February and will have time to check out these places as we are coming for a month. We have been invited to Gibis. Can you let me know where it is? Thanks.

Scott

Rum Runners IMHO has the best score in Bonaire for me on - location and quality of food.

Carey

Here is a Map, have a great time

Brian, I agree with you about Rum Runners. I think that they are often thought of as just another resort restaurant with crappy food, but that's not the case. Great view right on the ocean, watching divers come and go, at least three huge tarpon in the shallows below you, good burgers, salads, sandwiches at lunch (the Bonairean Cobb Salad with grilled fish and shrimp is dynamite), at dinner time the pizzas from the brick oven can't be beat, and their other offerings are pretty tasty too -- had some great barracuda there one night. Talk to the manager and some of the friendlier waitstaff and you will be taken care of; act like a jerky tourist and you might find your service to be a bit less agreeable.

Scott,

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quote:

Talk to the manager and some of the friendlier waitstaff and you will be taken care of; act like a jerky tourist and you might find your service to be a bit less agreeable.

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Hi Mare. Nice seeing you and Seb on island.

Yeah, that's definitely true to some extent anywhere, but I think particularly so at Rum Runners. I've seen posts here on BT and witnessed people being unhappy with service there, but I've found the service to be excellent and think that it has a lot to do with reaching out and being nice to them, and that's easy to do because the manager and the waitstaff really are very nice people.

Good to meet you all too Scott. I'm Photoshopping your profile picture right now to update it.
Are you still telling that fish story about you and the pilot having a whale of a good time?