For foodies

BARBADOS

They say: Sally Miller, author of Bajan Cooking in a Nutshell says, Barbados has a larder of raw ingredients, available year round: cassava and eddoes, yams and sweet potatoes. Most of the fruit – coconuts, avocados, breadfruit, mangoes – is organic. Try the island’s speciality, flying fish, in a cutter – that's what the call a sandwich – made with salt bread. Have the traditional lunchtime buffet at Brown Sugar, near the Garrison Savannah, or head to the Animal Flower Cave’s restaurant in the north.

We say: Barbados can make a good claim to being the Caribbean’s culinary hotspot, though with prices sky-high, your bank balance will suffer. Favourites include The Cliff, its more informal sister Cliff Beach Club, The Tides and Cin Cin by the Sea. Also consider Hugo’s in Speightstown. You can also eat out cheaply. Ostins’ stalls is an example. Try their platter of grilled local fish with macaroni pie; the Friday fish-fry party here is a scrum. You can also get good food in many bars, such as the Village Bar at Lemon Arbour.

See for yourself:

Nikki Beach Barbados (nikkibeach.com), a beach club opened last December by Port Ferdinand, with daybeds and a DJ strutting his stuff. Come for a mojito and a gawp.

Westbury New Road, north of Bridgetown harbour, has been renamed Rihanna Drive. A plaque outside identifies the bungalow she grew up in.

Virgin Holidays has opened a ‘Departure Beach’ lounge at Brownes Beach, Carlisle Bay. You check in for your flight, then chill on the beach, which has showers and changing. £25 a head, £18 children, including transfers, a meal, soft drinks. Where to stay: Beaches along the south coast have at times been plagued by piles of yucky sargassum seaweed this year. To avoid the risk, stay on the west coast, where most of the top restaurants can be found. Cobblers Cove offers some of the best hotel food on Barbados, and is within walking distance of Speightstown.