Arawak Cay Fish Fry, Nassau
Locals call it 'The Fish Fry', and on any given Friday evening this strip of colourful wooden shacks on the western edge of Nassau Harbour is the most joyful place in the Bahamas. It is where conch — the national obsession — is cracked, cleaned and served every way imaginable, washed down with ice-cold Kalik beer as goombay music drifts across the water.
What to Order
Start with cracked conch — the mollusc pounded thin, seasoned, battered and fried to a golden crisp — or conch salad, which is diced raw conch tossed with cucumber, tomato, scotch bonnet pepper, orange juice and lime. The salad is prepared live in front of you by vendors who wield a cleaver with theatrical speed.
Follow that with a bowl of fish stew or a whole fried snapper with peas and rice, the Bahamian staple side dish made with pigeon peas and coconut-scented long-grain rice. Several stalls also serve johnnycake, a dense, slightly sweet cornbread that is perfect for mopping up stew.
The Atmosphere and When to Go
Arawak Cay is a string of roughly 30 individually owned food shacks, each painted in tropical colours and bearing names like Oh Andros and Twin Brothers. There is no single 'best' stall — wander, look at what's cooking, follow the longest queue of locals and you will eat well.
Friday and Saturday evenings from around 6 pm are peak time, when families, office workers and the occasional tourist crowd the picnic tables as live music fills the air. Sunday afternoons are quieter and equally good for food. The cay is about a 15-minute walk west from the British Colonial Hilton along West Bay Street.
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