Bahamas Archives - Hungry Travelers

Bahamas

What to buy in a Nassau grocery store

Posted on March 3, 2017June 9, 2020 by Pat

Bayside Food Store (242-323-2911) is located on Frederick Street, just steps from the souvenir shops and high-end jewelry stores on Bay Street. It's the largest supermarket in downtown Nassau. Locals stream in to pick up take-away lunches and shop for the fixings for dinner. The store has a few shelves devoted to products that represent the taste of the islands. For visitors who have come to love Bahamian hot spices and sweet tropical fruits, it's a good place to purchase a few items to bring back home. Best of all, most of the products are seasonings that pump up the flavors of a dish without a lot of effort by the cook. A couple of local companies offer a broad array of products. D'Vanya's Spices...Read More

Graycliff anchors the ages in Nassau

Posted on February 27, 2017June 9, 2020 by Pat

Houses lead big lives in the Bahamas. Graycliff (www.graycliff.com), for example, was built in Nassau in 1740 by notorious pirate John Howard Graysmith. During the American Revolution, the U.S. Navy used the house for its headquarters and garrison. In 1844, Graycliff became Nassau's first inn. Over the years, it's been owned by British nobility and by a woman close to gangster Al Capone. Its latest chapter began in 1973 when the Garzaroli family from Italy purchased the property. Today, visitors can spend the night in one of 18 guest rooms decorated in old world style. They can also watch master cigar rollers from Cuba or buy sweet confections at the on-site chocolatier. Those who choose to dine in the sunlit dining rooms can also tour...Read More

John Watling’s Distillery revives Bahamian rum

Posted on February 24, 2017June 9, 2020 by Pat

Pepin Argamasilla, co-owner of John Watling's Distillery (johnwatlings.com), comes from a family of Canadian master blenders. Yet he has his own unique way of testing each product. “I call it the hangover test,” he says. “I drink a 250 ml. bottle and see if I wake up with a hangover. I do it with everything I launch.” Argamasilla (right) and his partners opened John Watling's Distillery in 2013 to draw on their expertise from big manufacturing to create a micro-distillery with a true Bahamian spirit. They named their operation after the colorful 17th century pirate John Watling, whose treasure may still be buried on the Bahamian island of San Salvador. And they based their operation in the storied Buena Vista estate in downtown Nassau. The...Read More

77° West establishes New World flavors at Atlantis

Posted on February 20, 2017June 9, 2020 by Pat

Patti and I had barely sat down at 77° West when a server delivered a bowl of tortilla chips and four salsas to sample while we studied the menu. The combination of pico de gallo, roasted tomatoes, roasted tomatillos, and guacamole telegraphed the kitchen's culinary bent. The chefs at 77° West, the newest fine dining option at Atlantis (atlantisbahamas.com), work in an open kitchen to create dishes that fuse South American and Caribbean flavors and cuisines. My meal felt like a whirlwind tour through South America. For example, I couldn't resist the empanadas starters. The flaky turnovers are among my fast-food standbys when I'm in Spanish-speaking countries. The chefs at 77° West elevated this staple of hand-held cuisine by filling the flaky crust with duck,...Read More

Café Martinique at Atlantis dresses up humble conch

Posted on February 17, 2017June 9, 2020 by Pat

“I trained by watching other chefs,” says Lisa Rolle, who worked her way up through the kitchens of the Atlantis resort (atlantisbahamas.com). Now she's the chef de cuisine at Café Martinique, perhaps the resort's top fine dining establishment. Understated and elegant, Café Martinique nonetheless has an air of mystery and mystique befitting the fanciful world of Atlantis. A birdcage elevator carries guests to the second-floor dining room. The venue recreates the 1960s restaurant where James Bond met his eye-patch wearing arch-nemesis Emilio Largo in the 1965 film Thunderball. Today's Café Martinique is part of the culinary empire of French chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. Although Vongerichten develops the recipes, Rolle injects local flavors. “The base of a dish is local,” she says. “A lot of the items...Read More

Living the Atlantis fantasy on Paradise Island, Bahamas

Posted on February 14, 2017June 9, 2020 by Pat

It takes a certain audacity to create a resort themed to the lost city of Atlantis. Royal Towers was the first hotel built on the 171-acre property of Atlantis (atlantisbahamas.com) on Paradise Island in the Bahamas. It still embodies that fanciful vision of lost glory. Much has been written about Atlantis since it opened more than 20 years ago, but you do have to see it to believe it. It's so over-the-top that it is almost impossible not to be caught up in the tale of the drowned city first related by Plato. The sunny Bahamian weather certainly doesn't hurt, but it was the artwork that drew me in. As soon as I stepped out of a taxi, I was greeted by a gigantic fountain...Read More