A variety of excellent restaurants, some run by hotels, offer good French cuisine and Creole specialities. There are several first-class restaurants in Saint-Denis. Seaside restaurants in particular serve authentic local cuisine – a mixture of African, Chinese and Indian cooking. A full range of alcoholic drinks are available.

Things to know: Licensing hours are largely unrestricted.

National specialities:
• Rougail (seafood with sauces).
• There are many unique curries – these include duck, eel and octopus curry (zourite).
• Brèdes, a delicious local vegetable rather like spinach.
• Traditional spicy Indian cuisine also appears on the menu, under the heading massalés.

National drinks:
• Drinks include Arab coffee (café Bourbon).
• Rhum arrangé (white rum with vanilla, orchids, aniseed and cinnamon) is a good local rum.
• Local beer and wine are also very good.

Tipping: Widely practised; 10% is normal.

Local handicrafts include lace and embroidery, coral jewellery and basketwork. Tamarind wood, olive wood and ironwood provide the material for furniture in the traditional ‘colonial’ style, and are used by sculptors and other craftsmen. Rum, vanilla and extracts of vetiver, geranium and ylang-ylang are also recommended purchases. In Saint-Denis, the main shopping streets are rue du Maréchal-Leclerc, rue Jean-Chatel and rue Juliette-Dodu.

Shopping hours: Mon-Sat 0830-1200 and 1430-1800, Sun 0800-1200; Mon-Sat 0730-1900, Sun 0800-1200 (department stores).