Dining in Vanuatu
Restaurants & Cafés
With its French influence, Vanuatu has made a name for itself throughout the South Pacific for its superb cuisine. Vila and Luganville are full of gourmet delights, and there are plenty of options to suit every taste and budget, including European, Asian and traditional Pacific cuisine. In and around Vila, there are some 50 eateries offering everything from succulent Santo beef steaks to traditional delicacies such as coconut crab served with chilli, garlic, coconut or curry sauces.
Other local specialties include nautou (ground pigeon), escargots (snails), rousette (flying fox or fruit bat), crevettes (prawns), poulet or chicken fish, mangrove oysters and nems (spring rolls). Tahitian raw fish salad (poissin cru) marinated in lime juice and coconut milk is another delicacy.
For those who prefer to self-cater, supermarkets carry a wide range of local and imported food, and most of the larger villages have general stores, although the choice may be limited. Local markets at both Vila, Luganville and some of the outer islands sell fresh garden-grown produce such as bananas, yams, grapefruit, tomatoes, bananas, pawpaw, coconuts, lemons and yams. These are generally the cheapest places to buy food.
In the outer islands, restaurants are scarce and often have menus limited to chicken and rice or island-style dishes such as laplap, rice and yams.
Local Fare Laplap is the country’s national dish, made by pounding taro or yam roots into a paste. The mixture is placed on taro or spinach leaves and soaked in grated coconut mixed with water. Pieces of pork, beef, chicken, fish or flying fox are added, and the mixture is tied up in leaves from the laplap plant. The small packages are then cooked in an underground oven. You can sample fragrant laplap slabs at the markets for about 150VT. Other island dishes include tuluk, a pork-filled package prepared and cooked in the same way as laplap, and nalot, a vegetable dish made from boiled or roasted taro, banana or breadfruit mixed with grated coconut and water.
For a refreshing drink, try fresh coconut juice or, for something a little stronger, you can indulge in kava, an intoxicating liquid made from pounded or ground pepper root mixed with water. This pungent and muddy drink is sometimes referred to as ‘aelan bia’ (island beer), and is an evening ritual throughout Vanuatu. There are plenty of kava bars in both Vila and Luganville, although in traditional parts of Vanuatu, women are forbidden to drink kava. If kava’s not to your liking, try the rich Tanna coffee and the locally brewed Tusker and Vanuatu bitter.
Restaurant Guide
- Tamanu on the Beach, Port Vila
- Paradise Cove Resort, Port Vila
- Mangoes Resort, Port Vila
- Sunset Bungalows, Port Vila
- Breaka's Beach Resort, Port Vila
- Chill Restaurant and Bar, Port Vila
- Waterfront Bar and Grill, Port Vila
- Benjor Beach Club, Port Vila
- El Gecko Lounge, Port Vila
- Chardys' Harbourside Bar & Bistro, Port Vila
- The Rossi Restaurant, Port Vila
- Les Alizes, Port Vila
- Seven Seas Brewery & Saloon Bar, Port Vila
- Cafe Deli, Port Vila