Tonga Travel Guide - Going Out

Restaurants have table service, and are found mainly in hotels. Apart from hotel dining rooms, there are restaurants featuring Tongan, French, German, Italian, Japanese and Taiwanese cuisine.

National specialities:
• 'Ufi (a large white yam).
• Lu pulu (meat and onions, marinated in coconut milk, baked in taro leaves in an underground oven).
• Feke (grilled octopus or squid in coconut sauce).
• Devilled clams, 'ota (raw fish marinated in lemon juice) and lobster.
• Feasts play a major role in the Tongan lifestyle. Up to 30 different dishes may be served on a pola (a long tray of plaited coconut fronds), and will typically include suckling pig, crayfish, chicken, octopus, pork and vegetables steamed in an umu (underground oven), with a variety of tropical fruits.

Tipping: Not encouraged, but no offence is caused if services are rewarded in this way.

Nightlife is sedate, limited to music and dancing in the hotels, clubs and occasionally at the Yacht Club. Floorshows are held on some nights in the main hotels and the Tongan National Centre. Tongan feasts and entertainment are also organised.

Special purchases are hand-decorated and woven tapa cloth, woven floor coverings, Ta'ovala pandanus mats, woven pandanus baskets, 'Ali Baba' laundry baskets, polished coconut-shell goblets and ashtrays, model outrigger canoes, ornaments, brooches, earrings, rings and silver-inlaid knives. Tongan stamps and coins are collectors' items; complete sets are on sale at the philatelic section of the Tongan Treasury. There are duty-free shops on Tongatapu and Vava'u. A government tax of 5% is added to all bills for goods and services.

Shopping hours: Mon-Fri 0800-1700, Sat 0800-1200.