Since we got there super early, we decided to sit at the bar and have a drink and relax first. The restaurant is right on the beach and it's beautiful. It reminded me a lot of Potato Head and the other beach side restaurants in Bali. They've got a a few couches to lounge on right by the water and a fire pit as well as a swing by the bar. We got there right at happy hour and the bartender was super nice and funny. We nibbled on black bean dip and root chips at the bar which was addictive and very filling. As the bar started to fill up, we decided to take a seat at our table but we could have easily sat at the bar all night.
The menu here is Asian Latin - which is something you definitely don't see in the Caribbean at all. I was excited and skeptical to see sushi and other Asian food on the menu but it was worth a shot. The waitress said that most things on the menu were tapas/share size with a few large plates being entree sized. We were so excited to see so much variety that we totally over ordered. We got the truffle fries ($8), vegetable empanadas ($9), fried rice w/out pork belly ($12), misa rasta sushi roll ($13), ceviche tacos ($16) and tuna sashimi ($18). If the waitress hadn't stopped us, I would have tried to order the pad thai or korean rice cakes too.
The truffle fries were plentiful and very thick and crispy and not overpowering with the truffle oil. They were so filling and it felt like every time I ate a fry, they kept multiplying. The waitress even commented how we didn't eat any of them, but I felt like we were constantly eating it! The vegetable empanadas were ok - a bit bland and we probably wouldn't have ordered it again. The fried rice was nice and albeit a smidge greasy (but when is fried rice not?!) and served with sriracha and a fried egg over it. Yummy - flavor!! The ceviche tacos was 3 small hard shell tacos - one filled with salmon, one filled with snapper and another with tuna. I forget that I really don't like hard shell tacos as I usually find them to be dry and overpower the rest of the dish. It was the same thing here and the filling wasn't as much ceviche as it was raw fish with some guac and ponzu sauce. But I would take that over a piece of boring grilled fish any day. The tuna sashimi was pleasantly good - basic clean slices of tuna sashimi. It felt so refreshing to eat healthy like this because resort food is so fried or greasy so this was a nice change of pace. I didn't try the mista rasta roll which was basically a vegetarian roll with tofu, radish, cucumber, green onion and sesame seeds but it was nice that it was a viable option after the sad vegetarian experience from the other night.
While the concierge said that this was considered one of the best restaurants in the world, I wouldn't go as far as to say that but I will say that it was definitely a highlight to the trip. It made me wish I was staying on Virgin Gorda so that I could hang out there longer, but alas we had to catch the 8pm ferry back to Tortola, but we did spent a good 2 1/2 hours there which was nice. I would highly recommend this place no matter where you are staying in the BVIs for the atmosphere alone but the fact that it's Asian food makes it even better. Total bill: $71/pp with tax and tip
Photo Credit: Cocomayarestaurant.com
De Loose Mongoose Trellis Bay, Tortola 3.5 Forks
Since the Scrub Island ferry lets you off at Trellis Bay, it's easy enough to hop into one of the nearby beach bars/restaurants for a bite to eat. Apparently all the locals eat here so it was worth checking out. Whereas Cocomaya was more bougie and catered to the rich British tourists, De Loose Mongoose was definitely more casual and laid back. There was a good mix of locals and tourists which was nice.
It located all the way at the end of the bay to the left of the ferries but it's only a 10 min walk. I liked the rasta-like vibe they had here and I could see it being a nice place to chill out during the day with a few beers or rum punches. The menu is a mix of resort food like burgers and fish sandwiches but they also had other dishes like ribs, rotisserie chicken, and best of all Caribbean roti. I was tempted to get roti since it's a local dish but I opted for another local dish of pan seared cracked conch ($21) and Aarti got the vegetarian roti ($10). Unfortunately, the place also has 2 cats running around and Aarti was having a particularly bad allergic reaction to them that night so that kind of put a damper on things.
We tried to get our food to go but it was taking a while. By the time the food came out, she was feeling better so we decided to quickly eat our food so that we could catch the next ferry home. If you haven't had conch before it's kind of like escargot in terms of consistency and texture - these were dripping in a garlic oil and served with mashed potatoes (they called it chef's potatoes which I actually thought was going to be potato salad). I could have done without so much oil to the pan seared-ness of the conch but it was good local dish that you definitely can't get outside of the Caribbean. I had a few bites of Aarti's roti which was pretty good because of the curry kick to it and the actual roti was soft and chewy.
As with most places in the Caribbean, the service was a bit slow but I had a direct view of the kitchen and it was literally one man in the back making everything so I had to cut him some slack. Also, don't order the wine here. As if you didn't need to be reminded of that in the Caribbean but definitely stick with beer or cocktails here because Aarti's white wine was undrinkable. This was a nice low key dinner and given how close it is to the ferry, I could see this being a go-to option for those staying at Scrub Island who need to get out of the resort for either lunch or dinner. It's nothing mind blowing but it's close, easy and local - what else could you ask for? Total bill: $35/pp with tax and tip
Photo Credit: Bare Boats BVI
The Last Resort Bellamy Cay, Trellis Bay 4.5 Forks
I really love this place. It might be a bit hippie or cheesy but I loved that our trip ended here. We had originally wanted to go on Saturday night but they were having a charity event and it was a $75 cover. No thanks! So we went on Sunday night instead and I'm so glad we made it - I would have been really sad if we missed out on this experience.
First, it's on this tiny tiny island in between Scrub Island and Tortola. We kept seeing it on our way back and forth the two island but couldn't figure out what it was. Finally we were told it's like an eco-friendly island with its own bar, restaurant, and "museum". The fun part is that you have to take another small speed boat from Trellis Bay to this island - when you get to the ferry docks, you call them on this funky walkie talkie at the docks and then they come get you in a speed boat. But our ferry captain was so nice and called ahead for us, so that by the time we got to the docks, the guy was already waiting for us with the boat. Stepping off into the island, it reminded me a bit of Ruschmeyer's in the Hamptons but in a totally non-douchy way. It had this large open air restaurant with a backyard/garden that has a giant life sized Connect 4 and Jenga to play with. Plus it's got swings, couches and corn hole - all surrounded by the beautiful waters of the BVI.
Unfortunately when we got there it was already dark, so we couldn't really play around in the garden but we did have some really nice fancy cocktails while we walked around. The staff there are all adorable Brits who seemed to have quite the hippie life - they live on this tiny island where there isn't any tap water (they purify their own water) and the guy who picked us up on the speed boat was telling us how he works there in the summer and then travels around the world surfing during the other times of the year. Seriously, what am I doing wrong with my life?!? What's also nice about this place is that they have a live music section and normally I hate that shit but this was kind of nice to enjoy some music while sipping a cocktail in an outdoor restaurant - it was a cute 20-something kid playing the guitar, so it wasn't some loud crazy bar music but really chill and mellow. I heard they have a no Margaritaville/Jimmy Buffet policy which I love and respect.
The menu here was also surprisingly eclectic. The website calls it West Indian, North Africa, Spain, South Pacific, and South America focused food. Ok - I can see that. Everything here sounded great and I ended up getting the Swordfish and Aarti got a hodgepodge of veggie side dishes from sweet potato mash, curried coconut polenta, and Mexican corn (see Caravela - you can have decent veggie side dishes and not have it be a plate of steamed vegetables). Our waiter could not have been any nicer and sweeter and gave us the low down on the history and background of this place while we waited for our food.
The swordfish was delicious and lovely - it came with Mexican street corn made into a risotto like consistency, pickled red onion, tomato salad, and Spanish red pepper romesco sauce. Swordfish is a tricky fish to cook since it's thicker and firmer than most fishes but it was cooked just right here and with the romesco and corn mixture it wasn't dried out at all. It was really satisfying dish. Since it was our last night here, we wanted to go all out and saw another table with a fat piece of chocolate cake and ice cream. The waiter was like "umm, the ice cream is for special occasions" - which I'm assuming he meant engagements or honeymoons but he relented and brought out a huge piece of cake with a big scoop of ice cream on top of it. He kind of made it sound like he stole the ice cream out of their own personal food stash -which is possible since it sounds like everyone here lives in a hippie/commune like place. The only bummer was that he charged us for 2 desserts here at $10 each! If I had known that, I would have nixed the ice cream.
Luckily the night we were there is was super quiet and chill but I could see it getting rowdy during the day with some of the yachting crowd. But it was a great way to end our vacation and I was sad that we hadn't discovered it earlier so that we could hang out in the garden some more. It's definitely a unique place and I hope that it sticks around some more even with all these new luxury resorts popping up and stealing its thunder. Total bill: $68/pp with tax and ti
Photo Credit: Lastresortbvi.com
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