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Dining: Eating near Belmar
Bonaire Talk: Dining: Archives: Archives 2003 -2006: Archives - 2005-12-14 to 2006-03-01: Eating near Belmar
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Nurse Lynn (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #6) on Wednesday, February 15, 2006 - 4:43 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

What are some good places to eat within walking distance of the Belmar?? Will we need to dress up (jackets & Dress) anywhere on Bonaire for dinner?? Which restaurants would you recommend for Mexican Food? Local Food? Romantic Ocean View?? Thanks

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Cyn (BonaireTalk Deity - Post #16900) on Wednesday, February 15, 2006 - 5:38 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Nurse Lynn, leave the jackets and dresses at home. A casual island dress will be all you will need. Great Escape is across the street from Belmar, Cuban cuisine and great atmosphere. Click on Guacamaya for the hours and menu.

Coco Palm Gardens offers theme nights on Monday's and Thursday's. Those are really the only 2 "close" places to eat near Belmar. GE is within walking distance (across the road) and Coco Palm is on the way to Sorobon, about a half mile from Belmar.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Cyn (BonaireTalk Deity - Post #16901) on Wednesday, February 15, 2006 - 5:41 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Go here for a restaurant review from a recent Bonaire visitor.

Go here for more as well.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tish (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #930) on Wednesday, February 15, 2006 - 5:49 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Great Escape will be very convenient for you.
I guess Brigitte had better jump in here and tell us if she is open for dinner to people who are not staying at Coco Palm Garden.
If she is, she must know early in the morning that you are coming that night. And sometimes not enough people sign up and dinner is not available there. It is not a restaurant in the usual sense of that term.
Local women tend to wear long dresses to dinner. Tourists tend to wear very casual clothes. You can guess who is who based on this test. (I live on Bonaire and usually dress up. It's the only chance I get to wear my nice dresses.) :-)
You must drive to dinner to reach any other restaurant. Check out the other threads under dining for more specific information.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Cyn (BonaireTalk Deity - Post #16904) on Wednesday, February 15, 2006 - 6:02 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Tish, thanks for the reminder on the reservations at Coco Palm, Jake posted this on Monday:-):


quote:

Well, Bill & Karen had a very nice dinner with us over at Coco Palm Garden (they do a reservation-only theme buffet on Mondays and Thursdays) just now, along with Margarite, who flew in today.




I thought it was only for guests, but I guess it is open for others as well:-)

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tish (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #933) on Wednesday, February 15, 2006 - 6:21 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Cynde, I believe that might be a misunderstanding.
Three years ago Brigitte invited me as a neighbor of hers to come if I wanted to. Jake and Linda are also her neighbors.
But she stressed then that she does not run a restaurant open to the public.
Brigitte, are you there? How do you feel about others making reservations if they contact you by first thing on the day in question, Monday or Thursday?

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Cyn (BonaireTalk Deity - Post #16905) on Wednesday, February 15, 2006 - 6:28 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Tish, I've emailed Brigitte privately for more info:-)

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Cynde (Moderator) (Moderator - Post #106) on Wednesday, February 15, 2006 - 6:56 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I heard back from Brigitte at Coco Palm.

They have 4 different buffets - Monday Indian (Curry) Thursday Chinese – the following week Monday Indonesian - Thursday Surinam - and than we start all over again.

The reservations for Monday have to be made by 12 noon, the reservations for Thursdays have to be made by 6pm on the Wednesday before, so Lize knows how much to cook. If there are no reservations, there is no dinner. Also reservations are given to guests first. They have a limited number they can serve (don't know how many that is) but I am sure they would let you know if they didn't have room.

To make reservations, call 717 2108 from 8am till 6pm. Call for pricing (you will need to pay in cash).

I've emailed her to find out what time the dinners begin.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Cynde (Moderator) (Moderator - Post #108) on Wednesday, February 15, 2006 - 7:07 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

OK, Coco Palm. Bar is open at 6PM, dinner starts around 6:30. Garden closes at 9PM.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By John Gnann (BonaireTalker - Post #48) on Wednesday, February 15, 2006 - 7:33 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Nurse Lynn, as you may have gathered, the dining options within walking distance of Belmar are quite limited. It's a looong hike to town from Belmar and it wouldn't be much fun on a hot day. We have stayed at Belmar lots of times and usually alternate between staying in and cooking in the apartment and heading into playa to one of the many good restaurants. I hope that you are planning to rent a car or truck - then your dining (and diving!) option expand dramatically!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Scott Phillips (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #342) on Wednesday, February 15, 2006 - 11:42 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Regarding your questions about specific types of food and restaurants in general.
--Opinions on restaurants vary wildly. Look thru the dining topics here on BT and you'll get lots of healthy advice.
--Mexican: while you may find nachos (Lost Penguin has some good ones) or quesadillas (lots of places) on some menus, I do not think that there is currently any purely Mexican restaurant on the island. There used to be one at Harbour Village that I was not particularly impressed with.
--Local food: ah, here's a category with plenty of options. Assuming that you REALLY mean local, and want to try some of the real stuff in not particularly fancy (to say the least) environments, there are quite a few. I can put in recommendations for Antriol Catering (great conch stew, chicken stew), the Rose Inn, Maikey Snack and Gibi's house on Tuesdays for the BT dinner. Local food means things like goat stew, conch stew, chicken stew, fresh fish, pika (hot sauce), funchi (a cornmeal dish kinda like polenta) and others. Check out Ann and Tish's various reviews under the dining topic here for more local places.
--Romantic ocean view: lots of folks swear by Richards, but I'm not one of 'em. Lions Den at Buddy Dive and Rum Runners at Capt. Don's also have great views. So does the new Den Leman next to Sand Dollar. I personally think that Rum Runners is quite good, lots of variety, reasonable prices; Lion's Den usually very good, but a tad pricier; my one experience at Den Leman was very mixed in terms of food.

Attire: absolutely no formal wear, please! I can think of no place where you would feel out of place in a t-shirt, shorts and sandals; a nicer shirt and shorts for men and casual island wear for women is more common; some recommend long pants and long sleeves as protection from mosquitoes, but I'm sweating just thinking about that.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By seb (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #2592) on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 9:55 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Sweating? Get back underwater, you ain't been soaked enuf!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tish (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #938) on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 10:55 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Bring light weight slacks for eating in outdoor restaurants at night. It's cool in the evenings right now with lots of mosquitoes.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Sue Goodman (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #280) on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 1:15 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I think cool is a relative term...it's 55 degrees right now in NYC today and there are people outside in short sleeves!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jeff Stine (BonaireTalker - Post #80) on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 9:07 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

If I remember right, Franco at the Ribs Factory has Mexican food in addition to ribs. The view is great from there. When I was there last, his cook was Mexican and could make any dish that you asked for. Great food and good pricing. Jeff

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tish (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #945) on Friday, February 17, 2006 - 10:42 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

What makes the temperature difference here right now, Sue, is the combination of cooler evening temps plus strong winds. The winter wind chill feels like 60s or even high 50s in the dark, so I'm wearing slacks and long sleeves outside at night and very early mornings. Of course it's still nice and warm during the day.
Glad I'm not in NYC, but happy for you that post-blizzard you have warmer weather, Sue!

 


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