Hi y'all!

We have just safely returned home (Tennessee)today from Bonaire 08/01/2002. I've read all the helpful postings for dining and thought I would add my 2 cents worth.

When we travel we try to "do as the Romans" while we're there, so here are the places we dined in Bonaire with a high level of satisfaction.

In Rincon..
Verona's
We had the Conch, Goat, Piska, Sate, Chicken, Funchi and fried potatoes. All dishes were tasty and "the guy" (don't know if he was Vernona) was extremely appreciative of our business. We only lunched here. The mayo offered as a condiment was room temp so we all steered clear. But the Polar, Amstel, Coco Rico and Cokes were cold.

Liberty Bar in Kralendick,
We had dinner here, same fare pretty much but was delicious. Again, the cook was extremely appreciative of our compliments and that's nice. We're from the USA south so the funchi reminded us of home.

Maiky Snack was closed for dinner when we tried.

Chapperel was highly recommended by locals for lunch but time didn't allow us the opportunity.

We ate dinner at Den Lamen's twice and both times the meals were wonderful. We had the conch soup, catch of the day, and other fish dishes. One night my husband had steak, chicken, fish, and shrimp skewered and grilled..excellent!!! The side dishes were to die for...bean rice, plaintain and jicima..yummy. Oh BTW the margaritas were top of the line too.

Enjoy! PS Please forgive my spelling errors!

Lola,
I am glad that you enjoyed the dining in Bonaire so much. For such a small island there sure are a lot of wonderful choices to have a great meal!!!

Technically, mayonnaise does not have to be refrigerated at all-ever. The mayo was room-temp probably because it's used primarily on french fries here (and I've seen it put on corn-on-the cob, hot dogs and fried chicken too). No sense in putting a cold condiment on a hot food item, eh?

Lola, did u dive & if you did how was it?

Thanks for the info on mayo :-) Ruth. We've always been raised to keep it cold because of the raw eggs. We also don't use mayo as a condiment for fries. Ketchup and vinegar..

Rio,
We snorkeled only. It was good though. It is very nice to just be able to drive to a spot and walk right in. You can set your own pace and schedule your day to whatever mood you're in. The fish diversity is awesome, we saw so many different things. The coral is in rough shape although you do see alot of new growth in the shallows but I understand that down further it is still quite beautiful. Lots of nice sponges too. We will probably return after we get our certification...

Lola,
I agree with you about mayo, I have always heard that if you don't keep it cold you can get food poisoning. That applies as well to anything made with mayo, like potato salad.

I've heard that too, but recently read that mayo actually INHIBITS the growth of bacteria, because it is acidic. What makes you sick with warm potato salad is the eggs, not the mayo. I cringe when I go to islands and see eggs being sold unrefrigerated in supermarkets, as they are in Cozumel. However, to be on the safe side, I would steer clear of any creamy kinds of toppings that are warm as well.

Cold mayo... yugh!

Nothing like a "patatje mèt"...

Doesn't the common problem with cooked eggs, as in potato salad, occur after they are shelled?? Bird's eggs in the nest do very well until they hatch even with incubation. I think I am separating freshness from poisonous.

It used to be that the samonella was only on the outside of eggs, but a new variety developed that gets on the inside before the shell is formed. Commercial mayo is pasteurized so the eggs are cooked (not all have real eggs anymore either), so leaving it out is not any more dangerous than leaving most other foods out. If the mayo offered up as a condiment was from a jar that was kept closed, it should be fairly safe.

And it is so commonly served on Bonaire that it must be being done safely!