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Bermuda Cuisine

Condiments, savories, appetizers, main dishes and desserts

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By Keith Archibald Forbes (see About Us) exclusively for Bermuda Online

To refer by e-mail to this file use "bermuda-online.org/cuisine.htm" as your Subject

See Bermuda Restaurants for a full list of where served

Bermuda cuisine is often superb in taste and texture. But they are for those who do not have to watch their weight or calorie or cholesterol count!  

Note that "Bermuda cuisine" really means how the food is prepared or served, unlike in most other countries where it is also caught or grown or distilled or manufactured. Not many local websites will tell visitors and newcomers to note that almost all Bermuda cuisine and other cuisines are imported and that almost all food including restaurant food sold in Bermuda comes from overseas, mostly from the USA, and is resold here at prices often very appreciably more expensive than restaurants in the USA. After March, local lobster, very expensive by American standards - especially in MA, ME, CT, MD, RI and SC - is not available until at least the fall. At other times of the year, if lobster is on the menu, it will be Maine or Canadian lobster.

There are no local kosher foods. Books on Bermuda Cuisine include:

Bermuda had periodic Culinary Arts Festivals.
Cuisine 01, salmon pie
  • Ales and beers. North Rock Brewing, a micro brewery, makes ales and beers for its tavern on South Road in Smith's Parish.
  • Banana Meatloaf or Banana Scallops. Like a regular meatloaf, but with the addition of 2 beaten eggs, 1.5 cups mashed bananas and 3 strips bacon. Scallops are made with 1 egg, 1 teaspoon salt, 6 firm bananas still slightly green, 0.75 cup cornflake crumbs. Beat egg and salt. Peel and cut bananas into 1-inch pieces. Dip in egg, drain, roll in crumbs, fry in hot deep fat for about 2 minutes. Drain when brown, exceptional with garlic mayonnaise.
  • Bay grape jelly. Made from cooked berries of female bay grape trees (Coccobola uviferal) - like purple grapes. Edible but astringent, with a sweetish acid taste.  About 25 pounds of fruit will make 5 jars of jelly.  Elsewhere, known as sea grape or kino or platterleaf.
  • Bibby. A beer, from fermented palmetto (Sabal bermudiana) berries. Early colonists uprooted palmetto trees for it. No longer available
Cuisine 02, roast lamb
  • Bean soup. Two types. Black-eyed bean soup is a Bermudian (made from imported beans) and South American dish. Portuguese red bean soup, also from imported beans, is tasty but can be very spicy. Worth searching for to see if they are featured on local menus. The Portuguese from the Azores who first came to Bermuda 150 years ago brought the black-eyed bean (not grown in Bermuda) soup methodology with them. The late great American comedian and humorist Bob Hope, during his 1990 visit to Bermuda to tape his NBC Christmas Special, had some, gasped, ate avidly, grinned like a Cheshire cat and said: "Every restaurant here has a smoking and non-smoking section. The smoking section's for people who eating the Portuguese red bean soup. It won't just put hair on your chest, it'll give it a permanent. I had too much of it the other day, belched in bed and set off the sprinkler system." 
Restaurant
  • Cassava pie. An authentic original Bermuda savory recipe. It dates back to before 1612 when the first settlers from England grew the cassava root, long used by the Indians of the New World, for flour. It has 12 to 18 eggs, 10 lbs of cassava, a whole boiled chicken, 2 lbs of sugar,  2 lbs of pork, nutmeg, mace and more. Early colonists found bird's eggs and wild pigs in abundance. Nowadays, cassava is imported. Delicious but fattening, obviously of no appeal to vegetarians!
  • Cedar berry beer or wine. No longer common, made from the berries of the local cedar tree (a juniper). The cedar tree suffered an island-wide blight in the 1950s and has never fully recovered, so berries are quite scarce.
  • Cherry foods and wine. Jams, jellies, pies, sherbets, walnut bread and wine, made from local cherries that look like miniature pumpkins - ribbed Surinam variety, growing freely on many hedges.  They are red (ripening from orange red) when ripe in March to June. Originally a 19th century import from Grenada that became naturalized in Bermuda. A dessert is Flaming Surinam Cherries - served with rum and vanilla ice cream.
Cuisine 04
  • Codfish and bananas. A Bermuda variation (with the bananas) of a popular Mediterranean dish. Always with frozen salted codfish imported from Nova Scotia or USA. Served with local bananas, the fig type, a typical Bermudian Sunday breakfast, so popular it is featured at many restaurants catering to both locals and tourists. Variations include with avocado, creamed codfish and codfish cakes. 
  • Conch. Fisheries (Protected Species) Order 1978 states Queen Conch (Strombus Gigas) and Harbour Conch (Strombus Costatus) are illegal to import, an offence to purchase, possess and obtain from Bermuda waters. Thus it is no longer on any menus in Bermuda, as they once were and still are in some parts of the Caribbean 900 miles south.
Cuisine 08
  • Dark and Stormy. See under "Ginger Beer" and "Rum and Ginger Beer soda".
  • Dried Mullet Roe. An old Bermudian - St. David's Island - dish made from mullet roe and guts, served for breakfast. An acquired taste and not much in demand any more.

  • Fish chowder (a Bermuda national dish). A British dish that came over with the first colonists, not an original American dish as commonly thought. Now a Bermuda national  dish. A spicy Bermudian soup. It begins with a good stock, rich and flavorful, made from fresh local de-boned fish, with fish heads and tails used. Other ingredients include water, bacon fat, a diced pawpaw, parsley, salt and ground pepper, black rum and sherry peppers, onion, carrots, celery, bay leaves, peppercorns, cloves, canned tomatoes, thyme. 2 pounds of potatoes. Splash liberally with more rum and sherry peppers. Long, slow simmering is the key. A meal by itself or as an appetizer. It is different in content, taste and texture to any New England style fish or clam chowder. It should not be too watery or over thickened with corn starch or with too much tomato paste. The best recipe has boiled up fish carcasses. Close to it - in texture, not taste - are Maryland's crab cakes and North Carolina's she crab soup. Also common in southern and western France where the soupe de poisson - fish soup - is made in similar fashion but with smaller fish from the Mediterranean and served with rouille and croutons to give it unblemished flavor. Similar in some ways to that superb Scottish dish Cullen Skink except the latter is always made from smoked fish.

gingerbeeroriginally

Ginger Beer.  It was invented in England in the 1700s and was that nation's favorite drink by far for well over 150 years. It is still favored by many over there over all other soft drinks, in summer or winter. Before sales declined in Britain in the  1930s, the UK had more than 3,000 breweries dedicated to ginger beer. Initially, it was not a soft drink (as it is now) but an intoxicating beverage averaging a heady 11% alcohol content. In the 1800s, ginger beer became a popular export to the USA, initially from England, later from Canada also. The technological superiority at the time of English potters is primarily the reason for this. The fermented ginger beer was bottled in ornate stoneware flasks called Improved Bristol glaze, of the type shown in this graphic. This particular ginger beer shown was made in Edinburgh, Scotland. Also with stout corks and wire, they ensured that the pressure was maintained and helped to guarantee a long shelf life. (Also see Rum and Ginger Beer soda, below).
Cuisine 10
  • Hoppin' John and paw paw Montespan. (No known relationship to Montespan in France). Hoppin' John is a 17th century British dish from Bristol named after a slave and made with bacon, still popular in British regional cooking and better restaurants. Hoppin' John and paw paw Montespan, is a local variation, allegedly thought of by an 18th century French prisoner-of-war detailed in Bermuda, is a rich, savory dish of black eyed peas, top round ground beef cooked with tomatoes and paw paw, served with a generous helping of rice. Tasty! If you prefer, you can make the dishes separately. Local paw paw, almost a wild fruit these days,  is a much smaller and less sweet version of the large and sweeter and more fruity papaya of Hawaii and the Caribbean (not grown in Bermuda.
Cuisine 11
  • Honey. Bermuda honey is more expensive than the imported product from Canada and the USA, but preferred by locals. Bees were first imported on a British ship in 1616 when English colonist Robert Rich received some sent to him by his cousin Sir Nathaniel Rich. He began the local beekeeping micro-industry. In contrast, bees were not imported from England to the USA until six years later. Bees and beeswax were exported for many years in small quantities from Bermuda to USA and Caribbean. In Bermuda, bees luxuriate in a number of flowering shrubs and trees. A teaspoon of Bermuda honey taken with tea is a powerful aphrodisiac. Typically, there are two honey flows a year., a minor one in June to July and a major one in September to October. Beekeepers normally harvest honey following these flows. with most of the local honey in the fall flow. It is not generally realized that when one speaks disparagingly of the "invasive" flora of Bermuda, local bees like the invasive flora best for nectar, in particular the Mexican pepper. 

Loquat foods and liqueur. From the Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica). Introduced from the Orient by Governor Reid in 1850 as a fruit crop. It is a luxuriant tree that thrives in sheltered areas. The yellow-orange plum-like fruit ripens in the late winter or early spring. They are tart but delicious, fresh or preserved, as a relish or liqueur. Loquat liqueur is a very smooth but potent, using gin, vodka or rum as the spirit base. Loquats were imported to get local birds to stop eating expensive Bermuda citrus. Bermudians eat loquats straight off the tree, stewed, or embodied in dishes and drinks. Loquat cake is unusual. Loquat chutney has a nice piquancy as a choice condiment for cold meats. Loquat jam and ginger jam are delicious on toast or bread or mingled with peanut butter. Loquat pies make good eating, especially with a whipped cream topping.

Milk Punch. Lemons, milk and black rum.

Mussels. Mussels come from local waters and Bermudian chefs often serve them slightly curried in a thick mussel stew in a pastry shell; or as mussel fritters or steamed mussels, or mussel pie.

Onion dishes. All these are best with Bermuda grown onions. They include:

Outerbridge's Sherry peppers. If you sample Bermuda Fish Chowder during your stay, a good restaurant will offer a cruet or small bottle of this condiment from which to extract a few drops to enhance the distinctive flavor and aroma of the dish. The commercial local version of this condiment, when made by Bermudian the late Yeaton Outerbridge, his son Doug and cousin Robbie, is a special blend of sherry and peppers. It is made from a secret recipe of 17 peppers, sherry wine and a variety of herbs. Royal Navy sailors first made this dish popular, to make their rations more interesting. They used to add it to their meals to mask the taste of food gone bad – it added that bit of zest that made the meals bearable. The commercial local version is available at all local major supermarket stores. It does not seem to be used much or at all without Bermuda Fish chowder. Similar to the hot pepper sauce produced in the American Deep South, made with hot peppers, apple cider vinegar and a small amount of salt and sugar. There, it is used as a condiment with meats, fish and also with fresh vegetables from the garden.

Paw Paw Casserole. Interesting local dish.

Rum and ginger beer soda. Long before they first became popular here, Britain's Royal Navy had various excellent local and regional names for the dark rum originally from Demerara (formerly British Guinea, now Guyana) and then Barbados and ginger beer drink originally from England. In Bermuda, imported rum from the Caribbean and Guyana in South America is bottled and blended in Bermuda by Gosling's and is deemed "a Bermuda product" under local law. Rum in many different colors and strengths is available in all North American liquor stores, usually cheaper than the US$ 24 or so a liter bottle in Bermuda, so bring some with you if you are visiting and on a budget. If you come to Bermuda from the United Kingdom, you can buy a liter of Lamb's Navy Rum for about 9 pounds sterling (US$ 13.20) duty free at Heathrow or Gatwick. The Royal Navy also had its own ginger beer bottling plant at its former naval base in Bermuda and used ginger beer ingredients imported from England long before there were any civilian bottling plants for ginger beer in Bermuda. Royal Navy sailors found that ginger beer added to their daily tot of black rum was a great way to make the tipple even more satisfying. They deemed it a "Scapa Flow" as a suitable alcoholic salute to the Royal Navy base at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands of the North Atlantic, north of the northernmost mainland of Scotland, until after the end of World War 22.   Gosling's coined their own name for it. Add up to 5 parts of ginger beer for every one of rum. For extra flavor, squeeze a little fresh lime into the drink. 

In 1995, an off-duty Scottish loch keeper on the Caledonian Canal sighed in deep pleasure when offered the drink by this author and his wife, said he had not had one for years, asked for another shortly afterwards, told the author with a great smile "it wraps a hairy worm around the heart" and confirmed from his own experience and that of his father, grandfather and great-grandfather all once in the Royal Navy, all of whom referred to it as such, that it was a "Scapa Flow" - after the Scottish body of water made famous by the Royal Navy as a key anchorage, a sound. Scapa Flow is in Orkney surrounded by Mainland, Hoy and South Ronaldsay.

Ginger beer - quite different to ginger ale - is now a soft fizzy drink made for well over 100 years in the United Kingdom by many different manufacturers in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. Ginger beer soda bottled in the United Kingdom sells there for about £0.50, less one third the price of the Bermuda-bottled product. A good substitute for bottled ginger beer soda is Kelly's Jamaica Old Fashioned Ginger Beer Syrup, in a 25.2 fluid ounce or 750 ml glass bottle, selling for $4.50 in Bermuda but concentrated, best when mixed with 5 parts of carbonated or plain water. The local brands are bottled by the Barritt's and Metro bottling plants and cost from US$ 3.32 for a 2 liter plastic bottle. In North America, ginger beer is made and available in Canada, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Maryland. 

Rum and Rum swizzle. In 1860, Gosling Brothers Ltd. imported its first barrels of Caribbean rum into Bermuda. Numerous different blends were tried until one was formulated and deemed ideal, now known as Black Seal Rum. The rum of the rum swizzle, sold by Gosling's of Bermuda and available in other liquor stores, grocery stores and restaurants, is not distilled here (there are no rum distilleries in Bermuda and sugar cane, from which rum is made, is not grown commercially in Bermuda. But it is bottled and blended in Bermuda. Local bartenders have their secret recipes. Rum Swizzle ingredients include 6 ounces of black rum, 6 ounces of Demerara (Guyana) rum, 1 ounce of imported apricot brandy, juice of four local or imported limes or lemons, 1.5 ounces of local or imported honey and 4 dashes of bitters imported from Trinidad and Tobago. 

Shandy. A British style drink, popular with British expatriates. It is made from imported lager beer and ginger beer or lemonade in quantities to suit individual tastes. If you do not like ginger beer, Sprite will do. (In the UK, you can buy already-mixed shandy from all supermarkets for about 40p a 2-litre bottle). 

Shark fritters or hash. Sharks are common beyond Bermuda's reefs and are a favorite of some Bermudians, as shark fritters or shark hash.

Shrub. A drink made from Bermuda sour oranges, lemons and rum liqueur.

Snapper. Baked red snapper is a choice dish when caught in Bermuda waters.

Sweet potato pudding. Made from local sweet potatoes which are a light green compared to orange yams from overseas. It can be served with lunch or dinner. When fireworks were legal in Bermuda on November 5 - for what in the United Kingdom is still Guy Fawkes Day - it was served with cedar berry beer.

Syllabub. A monster of a dessert made with layers of guava jelly, thick cream and sherry. Yes, guavas can be grown successfully in Bermuda! Syllabub is originally English, dating back to the days of King Henry VIII, if not before.

Tea. Bermuda is said to be very British by the hundreds of thousands of American visitors annually but it is mostly prepared the American way, in tea bags - not the British way, in tea pots and with leaf tea.  Green tea - American or Asian or Indian - is said to be an anti-oxidant, good for those with a cholesterol problem.

Turbot Stew.  Another interesting local seafood dish.

Wahoo. Since 1609, this has been the name of a species of game fish still caught in local waters. It is a distinctive Bermudian dish, expensive. David Letterman and Wahoo in Nebraska made the name popular in the USA. One good dish is a wahoo salad which will serve a family of four, is nutritious, delicious and healthy. Its ingredients are two carrots, two ounces pickled ginger, a handful of dry cranberries, one bag arugula, one lemon, one lime, six to eight ounces wahoo, two tablespoons virgin olive oil, a dash of rice vinegar or cider vinegar, dash of salt and pepper, soy sauce for dipping. Thinly slice the carrots and toss in the dash of rice vinegar or cider vinegar. Put the arugula in a mixing bowl with the dash of salt and pepper and add the olive oil, cranberries, ginger and juice and a bit of zest from the lemon and lime. Toss it and plate it. Slice the fish. Add it to the plates raw, sear it for 30 seconds to a minute on each side for medium rare, or longer for personal preference.

Facilities at restaurants

Bar food restriction

Bars - not shown here unless they are also a restaurant - do not serve bar food of the type common in most bars in the UK and Ireland.

Choice of food

Varies from place to place. There are local fast food places, but no chain restaurants like in North America. Expect to pay well upwards of US$ 4.75 for a hamburger. 

Consumer Protection Act 1999

From December 1, 2000 it applies to all Bermuda properties accepting visitors or serving food to locals or visitors. Lodge any complaints with the Consumer Affairs Bureau.

Daily luncheon specials

Often good value by Bermuda standards.

Dress code

There is no legal dress code for any eating place - cafeteria, diner, snack bar, restaurant - for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Always play safe by asking ahead at the restaurants you favor. But some restaurants reserve the right at dinner especially to expect male patrons to wear decent clothes including a jacket and tie; or jacket; and women to wear an appropriate top, skirt or trousers. Casual, clean and in good taste clothes are fine for most places. What may not be allowed at all are any kind of swim suits or revealing clothing. 

Disabled  

Persons in wheelchairs or with a balance problem will find four places in the Disability website under Restaurants. Note that no restaurant in Bermuda offers all the following - disabled entrance parking, disabled exterior, disabled interior and disabled toilet - to USA-ADA standards. Only one has a toilet for the disabled.

Early Bird dinners

Good value for those willing to eat early dinners (5:30 to 6:30 pm). Offered by many restaurants.

Hours

Most restaurants catering to visitors work their employees 50 to 60 hours a week, without overtime which the Bermuda Government wants to see imposed. If they are, restaurants will be forced to hike prices to compensate. Most restaurants claim they make a loss for 8 months of the year and make it only during the busiest 4 months of the tourist season.

Imported staffing problems

Because of the delays and red tape over Work Permits affecting both newcomers and entertainers, most imported staff are from Asia, no longer European or North American and most restaurants either don't have entertainers or they are local.

Jewish guests  

No kosher food restaurants.  Contact the small Jewish Community of Bermuda at telephone (441) 291 1785 for advice on which to favor. 

Open on Sundays

All hotel-owned restaurants are, but only a few non-hotel restaurants. They are shown. 

Recipes

Please refer to one or more of the Bermuda books referred to early in this web page. Sorry, but the author is not able to supply any recipes. 

Senior's discounts

Common in North America and Europe and given to all seniors, resident or visitors, who apply and can show ID, but not given in Bermuda to visitors and hardly ever to locals.

Smoking or non-smoking 

All are non-smoking.

Special diets

There are none with vegetarian dishes only. One has some. If you are on a low sodium or low cholesterol or other restricted diets, no restaurant features them.

Sunday Brunches

Expensive in Bermuda (averaging $34 per person plus gratuities), but there's always a huge choice of buffet foods hot, cold and spicy, fish, fowl and seafood. Restaurants advertise in the Saturday print edition of The Royal Gazette daily newspaper.

Restaurant price guide

Based on a three course dinner per person, with 15 percent gratuity included but no liquor. If a place is more casual than a proper restaurant, no price is shown. Please note there are no British/United Kingdom public houses in Bermuda offering accommodation. Tea, when served, is often American, Canadian or sometimes British tea, in teabags except at hotels. Price guide shown is per person, by Bermuda Cost of Living standards.

$$$$$ Extremely expensive, over $130 $$$$ Very expensive, about US$ 100 to 130  $$$ Expensive,  80 to 100  $$ Moderate, 60 to 80 $ Under 60.

Prices are in BDA (U S) dollars

All restaurants not owned by hotels must by law by either owned or majority owned by a Bermudian. Some owners or managers shown below, if not Bermudian originally, are married to one. Opening and closing times shown below are for regular days. On Public Holidays, most non-hotel-owned restaurants will be closed. The impartial basic list below indicates whether the restaurant is at a resort hotel, small hotel, cottage colony or independent premises. Reservations are recommended for dinner. Prices are much more if they include alcoholic drinks. The major reason all beer, wine and other liquor are so expensive is because of a huge Bermuda Government import duty.

Gratuities

Most restaurants automatically add 17 percent to the bill. Be aware of paying gratuities twice. It is illegal for restaurants (and any other institution or individual) to practice double tipping. Do not just see a bill (check) and sign at the bottom. Credit card forms patrons are given to fill in are confusing. Restaurants use forms printed in the USA where the tip is not included in the bill because in the USA gratuities are regarded as voluntary, a reward for good food and service. Restaurants should always tell patrons to write in a heavy line across the tip column instead of inserting a tip, because it is already included in the bill (check).

See Bermuda Restaurants for a full list of where served

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Last Updated: September 1, 2010
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