A TASTE OF - THE BAHAMAS

From food trucks and innovative spirits to big-name chefs and fine dining, the Bahamas dining scene is springing some surprises

- ALICIA MILLER

THE LOCAL HANGOUT

ARAWAK CAY

The sun has slipped south of the horizon and the weekend is waning, but Arawak Cay (also known as Fish Fry), in Nassau, is just heating up. It’s Sunday night — locals’ night — and the oceanside streets are clogged with cars, the sidewalks are teeming with bodies and wafts of steam ribbon through the air. Arawak Cay, a long strip of ramshackle restaurants with clapboard exteriors, illuminated signs, faded rum ads and crackling sound systems, is gearing up for a party. At once food hall, nightclub and community meeting house, it’s where Nassau comes to socialise, dance, unwind. And feast.

“You’ll see the menus are all about the same,” my Bahamian guide Romeo tells me as he leads us through the crowds towards Frankie Gone Bananas, a cheery-looking corner spot. “But the restaurants are all different in small ways. Everyone has their favourite.” We settle at an outdoor table, festooned with a straw umbrella and just steps from a live band, and within seconds an icy local Kalik beer is in my hand.

Romeo means what he says. Some folk swear by cavernous Goldie’s Conch House — a lively place where professional-quality karaoke singers croon between rounds of crisp fritters and battered shrimp. Others prefer Oh Andros, a family-style haunt where a small patio is perfect for low-key chatter. We’ve ended up at Frankie Gone Bananas, not so much for the fizzing, al fresco atmosphere, but because Romeo tells me it has some of the finest fish in the Bahamas.