Good, Authentic Local Restaurants on Bonaire

[wgw04024]

No love for between two bun's? Definitely local vibe no?

 

[Doctorfish]

We ate at la Cantina last week and it was excellent. Beautiful garden setting, large selection of beers and very good food. A bit on the pricy side but worth it.

The menu is not really authentic, more like nouvelle Caribbean/Dutch. There are a lot of small plates on offer as starters which work well for lunch.

 

[arubabob1]

BobbyJans was a BIG let down Last night. I was the first person in line. 6 pm. I got a order of ribs and a order of chicken. I have eaten here in the past years and really liked it. Last night the ribs were good. The chicken was so hard and dry, I had to throw it away. I never throw food away, but this wasn't fit to eat. Maybe they had a bad night.

 

[Doctorfish]

does Bobbejan's still have the garden dining area or is it take out only?

 

[arubabob1]

All I seen was take out only.

 

[f-d-m]

We are looking for good, local, authentic restaurants on Bonaire;

Hello, We went several times especially when diving North, for the lunch, at this location in Rincon: Kos Bon So, on the main street. Good food and not expensive, staff friendly.

 

[Lorenzoid]

In Rincon, we've always liked the Rose Inn. It has been our ritual that after diving northern sites we swing through Rincon and get lunch, either at Rose Inn or, if it's not open, one of the smaller snackbar places. All over the island, the snack places are probably your best bet for eating where the locals eat. Maiky Snack has been mentioned, and it is probably the best known of these to visitors--it's relatively large by snackbar standards and always reliable. If you want goat stew, that's a likely place to find it. By the way, when I speak of "locals" I'm (perhaps unfairly) excluding the Dutch residents; Bonaire is a municipality of the Netherlands, many Dutch people have made their home on the island, and there are what we consider "local" yet Dutch delicacies that we seek out when on Bonaire. Are bitterballen local food? Yes and no, I'd say. Or for that matter, the kapsalon dish at the Doner Kebab place. Labels of "local" and "authentic" aside, good unfussy food can be found on Bonaire if you look for it.

 

[Scott from LongIsland]

Divi Divi Restaurant is my favorite local place. This place is not connected or affiliated with the Divi hotel in any way. It’s as local as you can get on Bonaire with awesome goat soup in a dixie cup and cheap beer

Divi Divi Bar & Restaurant Bonaire

 

[Bonaire11]

In Rincon, we've always liked the Rose Inn. It has been our ritual that after diving northern sites we swing through Rincon and get lunch, either at Rose Inn or, if it's not open, one of the smaller snackbar places. All over the island, the snack places are probably your best bet for eating where the locals eat. Maiky Snack has been mentioned, and it is probably the best known of these to visitors--it's relatively large by snackbar standards and always reliable. If you want goat stew, that's a likely place to find it. By the way, when I speak of "locals" I'm (perhaps unfairly) excluding the Dutch residents; Bonaire is a municipality of the Netherlands, many Dutch people have made their home on the island, and there are what we consider "local" yet Dutch delicacies that we seek out when on Bonaire. Are bitterballen local food? Yes and no, I'd say. Or for that matter, the kapsalon dish at the Doner Kebab place. Labels of "local" and "authentic" aside, good unfussy food can be found on Bonaire if you look for it.

Sadly, Rose Inn in Rincon is permanently closed - when we were in Bonaire this past Spring, we heard there were no plans to open a new place there.

 

[scubadada]

My wife and I have not been to Bonaire since our 2 weeks at the end of August in 2022. We will be back for 2 weeks in early December. As usual, we will be staying at Den Laman and diving with Dive Friends. We don't eat out that much, cook, prepare much of our food. When we eat out, we often walk rather than drive.

On our last trip we enjoyed the food truck at the circle, Pita Madre, Breeze & Bites, Eddy's, Doner Station, and ice cream from Luciano's. Anything new or changed in this area? Anybody been to Zhung Kong supermarket lately, how are they doing?