Where to eat in St. Lucia: green fig and saltfish, and the Friday fry

St. Lucia cooks a Creole kitchen with French, African and Caribbean in it, and the national plate is where to begin: green fig and saltfish, green banana boiled and served with salt cod cooked down with onion, pepper and herbs.

What to order

Beyond the national dish, look for bouyon, the hearty one-pot soup, callaloo, and breadfruit as the everyday starch. Bakes with cocoa tea is the classic breakfast, the tea made from local cocoa with nutmeg and cinnamon. Lambi, or conch, and fresh grilled fish are the seafood to chase. On a Friday, the move is the Gros Islet jump-up in the north, a decades-old weekly street party of grilled chicken and seafood, music and rum; the fishing village of Anse La Raye holds its own fish fry on the west coast.

The kitchens

Before you go

Go to the Friday jump-up hungry and late, when it is at its best. The number on each page is the restaurant’s own.