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Food and Drink
The Bahamas has a wealth of good restaurants and bars, from local beach-side food joints to upscale diners. Seafood and steaks are served with plantain, rice, fries or potatoes. Fresh fruit from the fertile Out Islands includes sweet pineapple, mango, breadfruit and papaya.
National specialities:
• Conch is on every menu, from creamy chowders and fritters to stews and salads. Order it ‘scorched’ for a ceviche-style dish served with lime juice, hot pepper, chopped tomato and onion, or ‘cracked’ for deep fried.
• Rock lobster (typically broiled, minced or used in salads).
• Land crabs (usually boiled or baked).
• Souse (a soup consisting purely of onions, water, lime juice, celery, peppers and meat).
• Guava duff (a dessert made with sieved guava pulp and served with hard sauce (a blend of butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla, and rum)).
National drinks:
• The local liqueur is Nassau Royal, a rum served neat or in coffee.
• A refreshing alcoholic drink is coconut water, sweet milk and gin.
• Kalik is the beer of the Bahamas.
• Rum punch.
Legal drinking age: 18.
Tipping: Budget for a 15% gratuity as standard, but check the bill as some hotels and restaurants include a service charge. Tip porters B$1 per bag and allow 10-15% for taxi drivers.
National specialities:
• Conch is on every menu, from creamy chowders and fritters to stews and salads. Order it ‘scorched’ for a ceviche-style dish served with lime juice, hot pepper, chopped tomato and onion, or ‘cracked’ for deep fried.
• Rock lobster (typically broiled, minced or used in salads).
• Land crabs (usually boiled or baked).
• Souse (a soup consisting purely of onions, water, lime juice, celery, peppers and meat).
• Guava duff (a dessert made with sieved guava pulp and served with hard sauce (a blend of butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla, and rum)).
National drinks:
• The local liqueur is Nassau Royal, a rum served neat or in coffee.
• A refreshing alcoholic drink is coconut water, sweet milk and gin.
• Kalik is the beer of the Bahamas.
• Rum punch.
Legal drinking age: 18.
Tipping: Budget for a 15% gratuity as standard, but check the bill as some hotels and restaurants include a service charge. Tip porters B$1 per bag and allow 10-15% for taxi drivers.
Nightlife
Most hotels contain bars, lounges and nightclubs. Live music, beach parties and discos centre on calypso and goombay bands with limbo dancing. Four casinos are spread across Cable Beach, Paradise Island and Grand Bahama (Freeport and Lucaya) with festivals and live entertainment organised locally year-round.
Shopping
In 1992, the Bahamas abolished all import duties. Popular buys include perfumes, crystal, leather, jewellery, linens, watches, cameras and china. Straw goods, ceramics, clothing, seashell jewellery, paintings and woodcarvings are made locally - look out for 'Authentically Bahamian' stamp for a quality guarantee.
Shopping hours: Mon-Sat 0830/0900-1730. Some shops open until 1900 and some open Sun 1000/1100-1600/1700.
Shopping hours: Mon-Sat 0830/0900-1730. Some shops open until 1900 and some open Sun 1000/1100-1600/1700.