Aruba

I've been to Aruba many times but not in the last 3 years. Is there anything new I shouldn't miss. Will be going in August with our 2 20 yr. old daughters. Thanks for any input.

[phelana]

Don't know of any Javanese or Balinese food. Lots of Bami and Nasi Gorang in most of the Chinese restaurants and of course Surinames fare. I have heard it and miss about FF too once too many times and for the price of gas/taxi I wonder if it's worth it? Too bad as the setting is magical.

[pushirubiano]

Sorry, but can't agree with Phelana on El Gaucho. Although very VERY busy and a bit pricey, it's still got the best steaks on the island, flown in fresh from Argentina. The Garufa lounge opposite the restaurant is also nice for after dinner drinks.
Another that should be on the list is Le Dome (Belgian).
As for Javanese: Que Pasa in the Wilhelminastraat has good sateh.

[RI_Irish]

Marandi has moved south of the airport. It is right on the water with great views. Be sure to wear some bug spray, the food is WELL worth a few mosquito bites.

Cuba's Cooking is great. They have live music on Thursday.

I liked L.G. Steakhouse which is also downtown. I think El Gaucho is a great spot for dinner. On Saturday they have a live music.

[JAC13]

I just returned from 6 nights in Aruba. Here is my take on the food scene:

Que Pasa- I thought this place was good, not great. Our table got a pitcher of sangria that I found to be too sweet and too light on alcohol. I started w/wonderfully light tomato soup. It was simple and delicious- all that came through was the sweet tomato flavor and as far as I could tell, there was no cream. For my main course, I had a grouper that was on special (almond crusted and topped w/a layer of parm. cheese). The fish was fine but the server failed to mention that there was cheese- for me this was a problem because I found the combo. to be a bit strange. The other two people in my party who got this dish loved it though. For dessert, we tried a honey blondie that was on special and pushed by our waitress. It was absolutely horrible- tasteless, burnt and stale at the same time. I normally love anything sweet but this was really inedible- a very dissapointing way to end a meal.

Sunset Grill- This was the only place that we ate at w/a dress code (which, btw, didn't appear to be enforced). I thought the service was the best that we received on the island- formal but still friendly. The food was very good, if not amazing. The bread basket was very good- my favorites were the lavash and the cheese bread that reminded me of gougères. I also liked that they served chopped liver as well as butter. For an appetizer, we had the crab cake and scallops, which was very good but not especially memorable. For my main, I got the chilean sea bass, which was cooked very well and served with some sort of a polenta cake, which was tasteless and boring. The dessert was the best part- a chocolate/coconut souffle that was heavenly ranks up there as one of my all time favorite desserts.

Madame Janette: This was my favorite of all the restaurants that we tried in Aruba. We started with a few appetizers for the table: a sushi platter, a kobe beef salad, lobster ravioli, and crab cakes. The kobe beef salad and ravioli were the table favorites as the sushi tasted a bit fishy to us and the crab cake was def. the worst dish of the evening- mushy and drenched in sauce w/no discernable crab flavor (ful disclosure: we are from MD so we are hard to please when it comes to crab cakes). For my main, several people told us that the almond crusted grouper was a must so I tried it. I was not dissapointed- it was one of those dishes that you can't get out of your ihead. It was the hugest the piece of fish that I have ever been served, coated in a thick layer of toasted almond goodness and smothered in a cream of spinach sauce and it tasted as sinful as it sounds. Next time, I will probably share it as it was way too much for one person. Dessert was equally wonderful- we all shared a rich chocolate souffle w/a goey center, an apple turn-over, and a coconut cake. The souffle was the crowd favorite but they were all delicious.

Screaming Eagle: Very cool atmoshere that felt very "Miami"- lots of white drapes and a section of beds. The have a drink list that goes on forever and that my family enjoyed very much- some combos sounded better than they tasted, though. I think my favorite part of the meal was the amuse bouche- a wonderfully thick and rich potato/truffle soup in a shot glass served along side a potato/smoked salmon salad. For appetizers, we had ceviche, grilled calamari, a crab salad salad and a artichoke "capachio" covered w/bruleed goat cheese and some kind of nut (walnut?). The ceviche and the artichoke dish were the favorites- I found the crab salad to be too mayonaise-y and the grilled calamari were fine- nothing to write home about. For my main, I got the salmon- served w/a dill cream sauce and mashed potatoes. It was fine but overcooked and overly saucy (in the restaurants defensem I realized later that it wasn't such a great choice as salmon isn't native to Aruba). The desserts were a let-down. By the time we got to dessert, our server informed us that they were out of vanilla ice cream, which was kind of a big deal since the only alternatives that they had were fruit sorbets- not a great combo w/the brownie sundea that everyone was hoping to try. We got a vanilla yogurt mousse, a tiramisu mousse, and we decided to try the brownie sundae anyway (oddly served w/an orange sorbet). The desserts were fine- nothing special and the brownie was hard and stale-tasting and I don't think the vanilla ice cream would have really made any difference. My favorite desert item was a kiwi sorbet that were served along-side one of the mousses- amazing kiwi flavor.

Marandi: It took me all week to get this reservation but I was persistent and it paid off. It was off the beaten path and we got a little lost trying to find it, but we were so glad once we did. The place was on a dock under a palapa hut- the tables are set with candles everywhere and the effect is incredible- perfect for a romantic date night. I started soup- spinach and tomato served along side one another in one bowl. Both soups were incredibly simple and delicious, if not a little boring. For a main, I got the grouper that was on special, which was served w/a truffle cream sauce and mashed potatoes and I shared w/my mother who got a grouper that was stuffed w/a salmon mousse- both were great but fell short of Madame Janette-status. The dessert was the best part- a wonderfully flaky, not-to-sweet apple turnover served (oddly) w/a cookies and cream ice cream. The combo sounds weird but was devine. The atmosphere alone makes this place worth while but overrall the food was great as well.

Cuba's Cooking: This was a great, fun way to spend our last evening. The restaurant is so cozy and lively w/live music and dancing. We all loved the food (and mojitos) as well. To start, we got the guacamole (not my favorite guac. ever but passable), empanadas (good but a little too greasy), and a fish soup (delicious w/lots of tender pieces of fish). It was a huge menu but we all settled on dishes we ended up really liking a lot- I got a simple grilled grouper that was cooked PERFECTLY but the hit of the table was the seafood boat- grilled seafood (everything from calamari to mussles) in a light but rich seafood broth topped w/french fries- heavenly. We had black beans (not as flavorful as I would like) and fried plaintains (too greasy and not flavorful) as sides but those main dishes stood just fine on their own. Another person in our party got a pork dish that he raved about and the other two people got chicken dishes, which also got high marks. For dessert, we all shared a brownie sundae (good but I have had better) and tres leches, which was great and had an unexpected hint of coconut.

All in all, we were very impressed w/Aruba's restaurant scene. to get to (namely Papiamento, Flying Fishbones and Gasparitos) but there is always next time!

[Miss Needle]

Nice report! Just got back from Aruba last night. I was at Madame Janette's, Le Dome, Gasparito, and Sunset Grille for dinner and Mangos, Salt and Pepper, Ventanas del Mar and La Trattoria El Faro Blanco for lunch. I agree with you in that I thought Madame Janette's was the best meal of the bunch. Service was very good. It was definitely crowded. By the time we left, the line was out the door. We shared an order of crabcakes for the appetizer that wasn't very good. It was mostly filler and spice. Our gold standard is Faidley's in Balitimore. Not even close. DH had the lamb rack and I had the Chilean sea bass. The portions were so huge! The lamb rack was well cooked. DH picked all the meat off the bone. The sea bass was delicious as well but was only able to finish half of it. We received sides of potato gratin and dutch potatoes, both well prepared. Food was very rich for our taste but so good. We shared the chocolate souffle with pumpkinseed ice cream which was delicious as well. Overall, a terrific meal, and the best we've had on the island.

Sunset Grill was also good as well. It was the best bread basket we've had in Aruba. I liked the gougeres (especially as it was a bit creamy in the center). I thought the lavash was OK, but hated the rosemary bread which was like lead. Agree with you on the chicken liver spread -- we ate all of it. However, the butter tasted like freezer burn. We shared an appetizer of soft-shelled crabs which wasn't bad. We then had the surf and turf -- chose the porterhouse and 2 Brazilian lobster tails. I think we're spoiled by the Maine lobster as the Brazilian lobster just wasn't the same. I was a little bit disconcerted by the "butter" dip that never solidified. I think it was movie popcorn butter-oil. The steak was well prepared and came with a bunch of sauces. We preferred it plain. We also ordered a side of steamed asparagus. Our shared dessert of chocolate cake was great. Overall, a good choice.

Gasparito was a very interesting experience. I've never had Aruban food and was excited to try it. The location was a bit difficult to find. We were driving around for 40 minutes to find out it was only a five minute drive from our hotel. It was worth the wait. For appetizers, DH got the fish soup and I got the ravioli stuffed with kerry kerry. DH loved the fish soup. It was very brothy, very fishy and very simple. Kind of reminded me of a Korean soup my mom made with dried whiting. The ravioli was pretty flavorful as well. The corn bread/pancake we received was quite interesting. I ordered the Aruban combo which consisted of chicken keshi yena, a dried fish dish and something else that I don't remember at this point. DH got the goat stew. The goat was fabulous. My Aruban combo was good as well. Lots of cheese and all the meats had some sort of sweetness, While I don't think I would want to eat like this everyday, it's OK from time to time. It came with polenta squares cooked with coconut milk and coconut rice. Unfortunately they didn't take Amex and we had to go back to the hotel and get our Mastercard. I'm really glad that we did this, though. A must to experience Aruban food.

Le Dome was our last meal. The service was probably the most polished from all of the restaurants we were at. DH ordered the foie gras appetizer and I ordered the scallops served with crawfish and lobster sauce. They were both good but served with very heavy sauces. We prefer our seafood to be simple. I then had the tournedos rossini, again served with a heavy sauce. The meat was cooked well, but the bacon that wrapped the filet was terrible. DH ordered the rack of New Zealand lamb with the sweetbreads. We were impressed that we were able to find foie gras and sweetbreads in Aruba. We both thought it was pretty good. We then shared the dessert platter which consisted of a little bit of everything. I would highly recommend the creme brulee. It was a bit salty which brought out the sweetness very well. They had a pretty good wine list as well. It was good, but not as good as Madame Janette's.

We weren't so lucky with our lunch places. It seems that a lot of restaurants aren't open for lunch. We didn't have a lot to choose from. While it seems that Mangoes received great reviews, we had such a disappointing lunch. I ordered the Croque Monsieur which consisted of one slice of Oscar Meyer ham with a ton of processed cheese and canned pineapple on white bread. Salt and Pepper also received great reviews, but I thought the food was so-so. We did have great onion rings there, though. El Farro Blanco was just passable. The views were lovely. The best bet for lunch was Ventanas del Mar. Service was good. The setting was really peaceful, overlooking the ocean and the golf course. DH ordered the club sandwich which was well prepared. I ordered my burger medium, but received it well done. However, it was still pretty juicy. The frozen fries at Ventanas del Mar were a notch above the frozen fries served at the other lunch places. We were starting to think that all of the restaurants in Aruba used only one supplier as they were uniformly bad. Too bad we didn't get a chance to check out a Surinamese restaurant. As we were there during the New Year's, a lot of local places were closed.

Overall, the Aruba restaurant scene wasn't bad. It's not the same as Puerto Vallarta or San Juan, but much better than the Bahamas.

[writegierl18]

I agree, Puerto Rico is by far the tops in Caribbean restaurants. However, if you don't let your expectations run away with you, it is possible to enjoy some good meals in Aruba. It is, after all, an island that has to import all its food. It is not New York, Paris, Vegas, etc. Having said that, we did enjoy our dinners at Madame Janette, Flying Fishbone, Gianni's and Chalet Suisse. Remember, this is Aruba.
The vaunted grouper at Madame Janette was excellent, and I asked for the creamed spinach sauce on the side. This island is in love with the concept of drenching everything in either cream sauce, cream cheese, or gooey baked cheese (Dutch heritage). I pigged out on the bowl of marinated onions placed on the table. We had dined at Papiamento last time and enjoyed the romantic ambiance beside the pool. Ditto with Le Dome, which we will return to next time but I wanted some simpler food on this trip. The filet mignon at Chalet Suisse was "like butta," and the service quite attentive, even though I felt as though I had entered a fifties time warp. Everything there was excellent, if unexciting, but unexciting is what we wanted that evening. The garlic bread presented in the basket was delicious.
Flying Fishbone was delightful. It is the original dine-by-the-water spot and was worth it. Scratch that. I resent being asked to pay $4 for a tea bag and pot of water. But the scallops were wonderful on a bed of buttery mashed potatoes, my husband's tiger shrimp delicious, and the Dutch apple cake a la mode was to die for. Go no later than 5:30 pm, bring your camera, have a lychee martini and watch the gorgeous sunset.
I don't "get" those Brazilian/Argentinian steak restaurants that proliferate because we don't want to eat that much meat. But I guess people like that and it is good value. I guess.
If you are vacationing with a family, the best deal is the Sunday night all-you-can-eat roast beef/chicken/fish buffet at the restaurant at La Cabana. I am not a buffet fan but we did try it one night, seeking simpler food. Salad bar was excellent, roast beef, baked potato and vegetables were deliciious. I was too full to try the fish and chicken but people at the next table said they were excellent and not smothered in sauce. There was also Indonesian style fried rice but I passed, choosing to take my carb poison in the form of the baked potato. Desserts were missable but the pineapple upside down square was not bad. The other offereings were standard berry topped cheesecake, mini napoleons, etc. Coffee/tea also included and the price is a whoppingly reasonable $24.95. The ambiance leaves something to be desired but the entire La Cabana resort is undergoing renovation and spiffing up so that should be better. We did not try their other restaurant.
We did have lunch at Mangos, which was fine. Ditto Tulip, which was a bit odd but obviously more native and European in its appeal, which had its own charm. Order simple grilled something and you will be happy. They are the same ownership.
We did not dine up at the high rise resorts this time because it was too much of a crowded scene and, frankly, since we live in the NY Metro area we can go to better restaurants at home for much less financial outlay.
Next time we will try some of the newer shoreline seafood restaurants but I've got to go on a major diet first!
One thing we always enjoy on Aruba is shopping at Super Food. Go to Ling's for basic supplies if you are in a timeshare or villa with kitchen but the Dutch specialties at Super Food are wonderful, particularly the bakery. There is a Dutch yogurt that is wonderful and it is fun to try to figure out what the products are because not many labels are in English. Again, for your Bounty and Tide, go to Ling's but part of the fun of traveling is immersing oneself in another culture, isn't it?

[restaurantreporter]

Hi,
I would like to use your restaurant report in our newspaper ÄRUBA RESTAURANT REPORTER". please let me know if it's possible.
Thanks,
AR

[pof]

Don't go to Flying Fishbone. My wife had a very bad experience there. My oso buco was overcooked and small. The restaurant has a beautiful setting on the beach and overlooking the water. Nevertheless, without going into detail, I would stay away from this restaurant.El Gaucho, while not gourmet, had a very tasty charbroiled gaucho steak. They had a guitar playing and singing duo that went to each table who were quite good. While not being exotic, the seafood buffet and Italian buffet at the Marriot was quite good and service very friendly. The food tasted fresh. In addition, they have a sports bar with very good burgers and causual food. One Sunday, there were many different NFL games on various TV sets. While not an exotic island experience it was a good time and the servers were friendly.

[jmac28403]

Please advise where one can fine good Javanese or Balinese meals in Aruba. Making first visit next week. Tks

[phelana]

Having been to Aruba a lot I can say IMHO El Gaucho has seen it's day..many better choices to try.

[flipkeat]

I'll second that!! We went to Madame Janette's and found the portions huge..Couldnt finish our meals..lots of food and very very busy...certainly not small or quiet lol

[angelo04]

This list isn't complete without EL Gaucho and Chez Matilda. There's a new french place opened by someone who worked at Chez Maltilda that is alledgedly really good.

[Linda VH]

Cathy, they're not moving in the forseeable future! Yea!!! It won't be for a year or so they are now saying. The chef from there moved to a new place called "Chef's Table" located where Avallone used to be. Linda

[honeymooner]

Chef's Table is delicious - was there Thanksgiving 2006 and it was my family's favorite dinner of the week. We also went to Flying Fishbone - great atmosphere, but food was only so-so. The restaurant at the Lighthouse is also really good - Italian. I would highly recommend Papamiemto - the seating is inside and outside an old house with outside seating around the pool. Many of the entrees come grilled on a stone. Madame Jeanette is also a great outdoor spot.

[Cathy in Boston]

Some good suggestions here but one glaring omission. Marandi is also one of my favorites - they're moving locations at the end of the year, but right now they are near the airport, right on the beach so you have a lovely sunset. The food is wonderful.

Madame Janette's
Que Pasa
Gasparitos
Flying Fishbones in Savaneta (car needed)
Driftwood
Buccaneer
Black Hog Tavern for BBQ and park for the kids
Jamaican Me Crazy
King Rib (local BBQ)
Buccaneer
Cuba's Cooking for music and Mojitos

Bingo in the Palm beach area has wonderful food.
Tulips in the Eagle beach area is great.
Smokey Joes in Palm Beach area has the best ribs I have had in a long time. All are fairly new to Aruba

My all time favoriate is Madame Janetts Almond Crusted grouper. Chef Kashi is the best.

[sherry f]

Is King Ribs still open? We were there last winter and it was closed. It was a real find. Were you there this past May? If so, where did they relocate?