Are the Cayman Islands the Caribbean’s culinary capital? I visited to find out — tough gig, I know


Long before I pull up a bistro chair at Calypso Grill, a laid-back seafood restaurant with a twinkling patio peering over Morgan’s Harbour in Grand Cayman, I know what I’m having for dessert. I’ve heard the raves.

“So many people come back — from the other side of the island, from America, from England — just to have the sticky toffee pudding here,” my waitress enthuses, detailing a menu that has stayed largely the same since the spot opened in 1999.

A bijou British overseas territory, the Cayman Islands prides itself on being “the culinary capital of the Caribbean,” though not without stiff competition: More than a few rivals in the region lay claim to the same title.

So this fall, I hopped on a four-hour flight from Toronto to embark on a fact-checking mission, to see what makes the destination distinctive — beyond its snowbird-bait stretches of sand abutting turquoise waters (the famous Seven Mile Beach), vibrant coral reefs, and appeal to the affluent (this isn’t the place to go if you want all-inclusive resorts or budget travel).

Tradition calls for starting at this waterfront institution with the dessert so popular, a little road nearby was named after it: Sticky Toffee Lane. The finale arrives as two angular slabs of supple sponge cake, drenched in a pool of voluptuous sauce. It’s over the top, too much, and just enough.

How did a classic British invention end up as Cayman’s unofficial local dessert? The answer’s simple: by way of another import from England, Calypso Grill’s long-time chef, George Fowler, who won the Cayman Culinary Society’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014.

As I soon learn, Cayman cuisine is too much of a motley to boil down into neat generalizations. But a common ingredient is the wide array of outside influences shaping the culinary scene, from the flavours of Jamaica (Cayman’s neighbour to the southeast) to the countless chefs who’ve come from away.

The Cayman Islands is home to more than 70,000 people; the overwhelming majority live on Grand Cayman, and around 2,000 on Cayman Brac and Little Cayman (the little sister islands popular for snorkelling and diving). Despite such a small population, residents hail from 135 different countries, imbuing the territory with an international flavour.

Over breakfast at Ave, the Mediterranean-meets-Caribbean signature restaurant at the Kimpton Seafire Resort + Spa, I meet one of Cayman’s many expats, Massimo De Francesca, the hotel’s executive chef. “I was going to wear my Raptors hat,” he says, greeting me warmly and explaining his Toronto-born roots. De Francesca first moved to Cayman in 2004, when the island’s food scene was nascent. “It was really limited in terms of the quality of restaurants and quality of ingredients,” he recalls.

The “turning point for the island” came in 2005, De Francesca adds, with the debut of the island’s biggest hotel, the Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman. More specifically, the property’s cornerstone restaurant, Blue by Eric Ripert, brought in the star power of its namesake chef.

“It helped begin the evolution of the culinary scene,” De Francesca explains. “Just by having Eric Ripert here, it allowed other chefs to say, ‘Hey, what’s up with this island? Maybe I should go check it out.’”

A view from the Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman.

Ripert also kicked off the prestigious annual Cayman Cookout, which will return to the recently revamped Ritz-Carlton this coming Jan. 9 to 15, after a two-year pandemic pause. Drawing in a who’s who of culinary talent — this year’s luminaries include Daniel Boulud, Dominique Crenn and José Andrés, to name a few — it’s the island’s buzziest foodie festival.

Of course, Cayman cuisine is more than its fine dining, and my next stop takes me to Tomfoodery Kitchen & Bar, a fast-casual, Caribbean-inspired spot in Camana Bay, where I order my first “Cayman-style beef” — slow-cooked till tender, Scotch-bonnet-spiced and shredded, served with coconut rice and peas, and fried plantain.

The classic dish is a favourite of Tomfoodery’s Miami-born chef Thomas Tennant, who moved to Cayman in 2010. “In my opinion, we make our food a lot more for ourselves and the residents than for the tourists,” Tennant says when asked how Cayman sets itself apart in the Caribbean. “You come here and you can have almost anything, almost any cuisine.”

You can have almost anything, despite the fact that agriculture in Cayman can be challenging. The soil tends to be nutrient-scarce, the ocean air salty and the tropical sun scorching, making for inhospitable growing conditions. But the territory’s proximity to Miami means what can’t be sourced locally can still be had easily.

Ask about farm-to-table innovators, however, and islanders will inevitably direct you toward the Brasserie. Opened in 1997, the pioneering restaurant makes a point of growing their own herb and vegetable garden, getting organic eggs from their own coop, and producing honey at their own apiary.

At dinner, my coconut water mojito is garnished with fragrant, just-plucked mint and a lattice of coconut meat fresh from the restaurant’s own 205-palm plantation. My microgreens-topped grilled grouper, atop garden sweet potatoes and charred long beans, was reeled in that day on one of the restaurant’s own deep-sea fishing boats.

A scenic spot in the trendy shopping and dining district of Camana Bay.

One of my last stops in Cayman takes me to the new spot opened in June by Barrie, Ont.-raised chef Dylan Benoit, host of Food Network Canada’s “Fire Masters,” and his brother, chef Lucas Benoit. On the second floor of a nondescript office plaza, I find San Si Wu Noodle Co.’s tiny alley kitchen, alongside a smattering of outdoor tables and wooden stools.

As I try the cumin goat noodles (the meat, sourced from a local farm, braised until tender, and served atop from-scratch belt noodles) and soy-sauced chili pork dumplings, Dylan tells me that Chinese cuisine in Cayman has historically hewed to the “sweet-and-sour chicken balls” level of authenticity.

“I’ve been living here for 13 years, and anytime you wanted to go get a bowl of noodles — it just didn’t exist,” says Dylan, explaining their inspiration to start this casual joint.

Still, he’s seen the island’s food scene diversify in his time here. “When I first arrived, it was all sort of traditional Caribbean grill,” says Dylan. “Every year just gets better and better.” Those wanting an insider’s guide to local flavours — Jamaican jerk chicken, braised oxtail, even turtle stew — can book a dine-around-town experience with Dylan through his other company, Prime Food Tours.

Handmade noodles inspired by regional Chinese dishes, served up at a restaurant by a pair of Canadian brothers, opened in an under-the-radar locale in Cayman, aren’t exactly what I’d anticipated on this trip.

But with the country’s international flavour, it seems only fitting. Come with an appetite, and a taste for the unexpected.

Wing Sze Tang travelled as a guest of the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism, which did not review or approve this article.

If you go

How to get there: WestJet operates seasonal non-stop service between Toronto and Grand Cayman (about 4 hours and 10 minutes).

Where to stay: The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman revealed a major, $50-million (U.S.) revamp last year, giving their 369 guest rooms a new contemporary feel. Besides Blue by Eric Ripert, sip rare rums at the loungey Silver Palm, have sublime sushi (and fresh wasabi, grated tableside) at Taikun, or retreat to the luxe La Prairie Spa.

What else to do: Visit the National Gallery of the Cayman Islands, a little museum showcasing everything from nostalgic realist paintings to contemporary art. Stroll around Camana Bay, the trendy shopping and restaurant district, and snag a waterside table at the lovely Italian- and Peruvian-inspired Agua for dinner.

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