It's my understanding that the restaurant at Den Laman is now closed and will be reopening under new management beginning in August. Anyone have the lowdown on this?

I am in Bonaire staying at Den Laman and The Reef Restaurant closed on June 29th and is scheduled to reopen on August 1st. It will be run by Kurt from the Lion's Den and he will be running both restaurants. They were in there yesterday (July 5th) already cleaning and changing things. The planned name is Sunset Bar and Grill. I think that Kurt will have 2 of the best restaurant locations on Bonaire. I hope that he can make a go of it at the Den Laman location because Lion's Den always has a crowd and Den Laman had a pretty sparse dinner crowd on most nights.

Thanks for the info. We only ate dinner at Reef Restaurant once on my last trip there and I wasn't too impressed. The wahoo carpaccio appetizer had so much goop on it, you couldn't tell you were eating fish and our fish entrees were badly overcooked. On the other hand, we ate lunch there almost every day and had some terrific burgers -- the crab & gouda burger special one day was one of the all time best burgers I've ever eaten -- and decent pasta.

Likewise, on our one stay at Buddy Dive, we only tried Lion's Den once, on Lobster Night. The food was very good, albeit pricey (lobster, after all). I actually found myself wishing I had ordered something else since I don't even care for lobster that much and the rest of the menu sounded great.

I've heard nothing but praise about the Lion's Den from others who dine there almost exclusively when they travel to Bonaire (and stay at Buddy), so I hope that it's a good replacement for Den Laman. I'll find out in September, since nothing beats the convenience of eating downstairs and we'll be obligated to give a new place a try. It will have to be great to tempt me away from the excellent choices just down the road in town, however. We'll see.

I wonder if they'll be doing breakfast as well, competing with Sonja and Eddy at the Sand Dollar?

WooHoo! Great News!~ I wish Kurt the BEST! Lion's Den is my favorite place on island, now I look forward to having two fav's.

Debbie, you called this one!!! Very cool that Kurt has it now!!

Strange that there seems to be a problem with that location since there have been several ownership changes there. We have eaten there a number of times in the past and always enjoyed it. In March we ate there several times eating their pub type food, salads and etc. We recommended it to another group and they also reported favorably on it.

Since we enjoy the Lion Dive burger as well, we look forward to trying the new location for them.

Not to sound picky, but his name is Kirk..as in the Captain. Yes, it is great that the restaurant will be finally run properly. Kirk originally (6 years ago) was going to take over the old Den Laman and did manage it for a short time. He is finally returning to his roots! (Albeit slightly south of the original planting ie Green Parrot)

I THOUGHT that's what it was, but I only met him a few times in Feb. I thought maybe I didn't remember it right!!! Thanks Michael!!

My bad on the spelling and apologies to Kirk since I have talked to him in person several times recently and he had his nametag on and I also knew that it was Kirk. Must be my increasing age or maybe I'm "narced" from diving...

Gee Brian, thanks!!! Now we wont get that special treatment anymore!!LOL
BTW, Kirk, I told you, back in February, to hold a table for me for July 11th, 6:30pm...um, I'm not gonna be able to make it that nite...I'll have to get back to you. Not in Bonaire
But, when I am back, I'll be seein' ya!!!!
You too Michael!!