Aruba Eats

Hi any recommendations for good local cusine in Aruba

I will be going to Aruba in February and was hoping to get some ideas. Any local / island / street / authentic cuisine would be most appreciated. Here's an old link on Aruba:

Cookies & Milk

Thank you

Below is a link for some places to eat. You may have to google search each place on your own, the links on the page dont seem to work now.
http://www.onlyaruba.com/night/rest/rest.htm
I would for sure check this joint out >> http://www.gasparito.com/content/view/46/55/
Let us know how its goes!

Hi I go to Aruba every Feb.3 wks We have a timeshare @ Playa Linda http://www.playalinda.com
Bingo's is good great burgers . There is a rib place across from PL its ok . The hotels are aweful at best . The food in Aruba is men z mens . Its a winter resort that has fantastic weather awesome beaches so thats the main reason we go there to get out of the lousy Feb weather in NY . 20 yrs ago when we first went there it was almost deserted its become a lot more commercial . Up by the light house there are still wild goats wondering around , there used to be donkeys . There are casinos etc we cook in & grill a lot . Its fun to go out but the food isnt going to blow you away . It is what it is . One place in mind that I like is Swiss Chalet .
Regards
Roy Kennedy

One of my favorite restaurants is in Aruba. It is Nos Cunucu, which in Papiamento (the local dialect) means "the farm." Nos Cunucu is a little off the beaten path, in a traditional Aruban home. The setting is open air, with chickens and goats making it feel a lot like a farm, indeed. It does local cuisine only, which isn't very sophisticated but is very, very good. I'd tell you how to get there if I could remember, but local cabbies all seem to know it. It's a lot more popular with the locals than the tourist crowds.

When we went, it was early evening and the sun was still up. The place was empty except for us and a few staff who didn't speak English (we managed to communicate just fine, though). The meal was wonderful, and as the sun went down as we lingered, it started to fill up with locals. Before too long there was singing and dancing and quite a great time was being had.

any update on Aruba Eats?

We are heading to Aruba the first week of January, will of course report back.

For some reason, having a tough time finding out about any rijstaffel meals.

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kdahlquist wrote:One of my favorite restaurants is in Aruba. It is Nos Cunucu, which in Papiamento (the local dialect) means "the farm." Nos Cunucu is a little off the beaten path, in a traditional Aruban home. The setting is open air, with chickens and goats making it feel a lot like a farm, indeed. It does local cuisine only, which isn't very sophisticated but is very, very good. I'd tell you how to get there if I could remember, but local cabbies all seem to know it. It's a lot more popular with the locals than the tourist crowds.

sounds interesting, in searching I found a couple of data points:
Address: Tanki Leendert 145A Phone: (297) 582-7122

Most reading mentions authentic Aruban dishes like savory goat stew and keshi yena, a hollowed-out cheese rind stuffed with chicken, raisins and vegetables
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Sweet Willie wrote:

kdahlquist wrote:One of my favorite restaurants is in Aruba. It is Nos Cunucu, which in Papiamento (the local dialect) means "the farm." Nos Cunucu is a little off the beaten path, in a traditional Aruban home. The setting is open air, with chickens and goats making it feel a lot like a farm, indeed. It does local cuisine only, which isn't very sophisticated but is very, very good. I'd tell you how to get there if I could remember, but local cabbies all seem to know it. It's a lot more popular with the locals than the tourist crowds.

sounds interesting, in searching I found a couple of data points:
Address: Tanki Leendert 145A Phone: (297) 582-7122

Most reading mentions authentic Aruban dishes like savory goat stew and keshi yena, a hollowed-out cheese rind stuffed with chicken, raisins and vegetables
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upon further research, I think the poster kdahlquist is referring to Old Cunucu House, this is now on our "for sure" list for dining. Found a video on youtube about the restaurant, pretty sure this is how NOT to make a restaurant video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-TyITuVLV8

I still am unable to find out if there are any restaurants that serve rijstaffel.

Sweet Willie wrote:I still am unable to find out if there are any restaurants that serve rijstaffel.

Update, the concierge of our hotel sent an email stating that rijsttafel is served at both Kowloon Aruba and Universal Restaurant.

If this is at all like the rijsttafel we've had in Amsterdam, Sint Maarten & elsewhere, we will be in for a treat!
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Mrs Willie & I had such a great time on Aruba two years ago, we booked another trip for this December. Posting some notes from our prior trip.

Old Canuku House - shabby chic atmosphere, excellent evening/food. http://www.theoldcunucuhouse.com/ Enjoyed the Keeshi yena -
Gouda cheese and chicken baked with onions, peppers, celery, Green olives, raisins and cashew nuts

Wacky Wahoo's: terrific fish/seafood

Linda's Dutch Pancakes - GREAT breakfast but we went early, place is packed from mid morning on.

Tandor the Indian Grill - good Indian when/if tired of Island food, tandoori lamb chops were great.

Indo - Indonesian Cuisine - https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_ ... Aruba.html


really must make reservations for Old Canuku & Wacky Wahoo's as they are both very popular restaurants (but well worth the time to go, Excellent food).

Linda's gets packed if you are trying to go mid/late morning, so we go early

Indo is a local's place, there are some tourists but mostly locals getting take out. Great Indonesian food (not easy to find in the U.S.)

Tandor like most any Indian place you can normally get into w/o a reservation.

Heard good things about 2 Fools & a Bull: http://2foolsandabull.com/ Will likely try in December.

Willie

We were there last summer and had really great meals at Papillion, Wacky Wahoo's and Quinta del Carmen. The latter setting being in the private backyard of an old mansion.
Thought 2 Fools was overpriced for what we got and Flying Fishbone was just OK.

Got horrible sand flea bites eating @ Barefoot on the Beach (and the food was meh).

Salt & Pepper and Scott's Brats lunch were a nice respite while shopping.

stoutisgoodfood wrote:We were there last summer and had really great meals at Papillion....

do you mean Papiamento? http://papiamentoaruba.com
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No, although we had looked at that as well. Papillon is in Palm Beach right across from the Hyatt (easy walk from the Marriott where we stayed). Set back from the street, there's a nightly pop up market in the small square in front of it. Was the only place that we went back to a second time.
http://www.papillonaruba.com/

stoutisgoodfood wrote:No, although we had looked at that as well. Papillon is in Palm Beach right across from the Hyatt (easy walk from the Marriott where we stayed). Set back from the street....

thanks for clarification. Can't believe we missed seeing Papillon as we stayed very close (was Radisson, now a Hilton property)

stoutisgoodfood wrote: Papillon is in Palm Beach right across from the Hyatt (easy walk from the Marriott where we stayed).
http://www.papillonaruba.com/

on Aruba now, actually Papillon is across from Hilton (formerly Radisson) which is the property we are staying.

Had dinner at Papillon the other night.

Starters:
Smoked Shrimp in jellied soy W/herbs

Tuna Duo - yellowtail tartare and tataki with mild horseradish

Mains:
Rack of lamb with herbed crust

Fresh caught red snapper with mild Creole topping over asparagus and mushroom risotto

All above were terrific except for rack of lamb. The lamb itself was packed full of flavor and cooked perfectly, downfall was the herbed crust, just too much of it and not really crusty.

Sweet Willie wrote:Old Canuku House - shabby chic atmosphere, excellent evening/food. http://www.theoldcunucuhouse.com/ Enjoyed the Keeshi yena -
Gouda cheese and chicken baked with onions, peppers, celery, Green olives, raisins and cashew nuts

Wacky Wahoo's: terrific fish/seafood

really must make reservations for Old Canuku & Wacky Wahoo's as they are both very popular restaurants (but well worth the time to go, Excellent food)

on our way to Old Canuku a couple nights ago, we stopped by Wacky Wahoo in order to make a reservation, seems they only take phone reservations via phone from 3-5:30pm. Was fortunate enough to snag a reservation for last night. While waiting at Wacky Wahoo bar last night, every walk in was being met with the greeting "thanks for stopping by but we have no reservations prior to 9:30pm until after Jan 3"

Last night's dinner was worth the extra effort.

Starters:
Aruba fish soup - slight tomato based fish soup

Sliced conch & calamari on top of island rice pilaf

Mains:
Grilled octopus with Creole sauce

There were 4 fresh catches of the day: wahoo, grouper, snapper, barracuda. Mrs Willie opted for the grouper, grilled.

Everything was stunning, it is easy to understand why Wacky Wahoo is packed night after night.

We also went back to Old Canuku House, we were again fortunate enough to get a reservation just prior to 3 very large groups.

Starters:
Aruba beef soup

Ceviche

Beef soup was very good, nice chunks of beef. Ceviche was just OK, octopus was incredibly tough.

Mains:
I again had the Keeshi Yena which was again delicious.

Mrs Willie opted for the roasted goat, great choice.

Salt & Pepper http://www.saltandpepperaruba.com/
We went for lunch, split a ceviche for a starter (just ok, not great). Judi had a club sandwich (not bad) and I the chicken shorma (which was EXCELLENT)