Eating and Drinking in Bonaire

For such a small island, Bonaire has more dining options than you would expect. Once we were free from quarantine and could roam the island, we satisfied our cravings for barbecue, sandwiches, seafood, satays, cheese and chocolate! We did have 3 months, after all! With all that experience, here are my recommendations for eating and drinking in Bonaire.

About Eating and Drinking in Bonaire

Though we were there during the pandemic, most restaurants served take-out, and many had dine-in options with social distancing and other restrictions. Many times, we provided names and emails for contact tracing. Prices are in US dollars, and costs are comparable to what you would pay in the U.S. or Canada, but some items are less expensive. Most places are in or near downtown Kralendjik, but a few are further afield. This map lays out all the places mentioned in the post.

Gio’s and Luciano Ice Cream

Ice cream is a luxury to most cruisers! Many cruisers don’t even have space for it on board. We are lucky to have a full freezer but we don’t often have ice cream in it because markets are rarely close to transport ice cream from bus to dinghy to boat fast enough to keep it from melting. So when there’s a gelato shop – or two – on land – we sample the flavors.

Eating and drinking in Bonaire should include at least one stop for ice cream. When we were in downtown Kralendjik, we bopped back and forth between two main spots but the tiny town has multiple places for ice cream, way more than we ever saw on the entire island of Antigua.

We liked both Gio’s and Luciano ice cream in Kralendijk, but Gio’s had double the flavors, so we visited that one more often. Trust me, even if you don’t live on a boat you will like this ice cream. It’s fresh, creamy and tastes natural. If it’s passionfruit gelato, you taste the passionfruit. And, a generous scoop is only $2!

The Best Eating and Drinking in Bonaire Was At Chef’s

We ate our best meal in the Caribbean on Brian’s birthday at Chef’s Bonaire. You get multiple courses all made on the spot, while you are seated facing the kitchen and served by the chefs. We had tempura lionfish, oysters, steak and more and it was all delicious and made with the finest ingredients. The chefs will sub out foods based on allergies and other restrictions. It’s a splurge, but Chef’s is the best place for eating and drinking in Bonaire. They are dedicated to making a special meal for every guest.

Van Den Tweel

There are a lot of supermarkets and grocery stores on Bonaire. We have been to bigger islands that get by with 1/10th of the markets as Bonaire. Even if we had to go to three places, we usually found what we wanted. Our favorite supermarket is Van den Tweel. It’s a modern European supermarket with delicious assorted fresh bread, loads of cheese and charcuterie, the best pastries we found on the island, and pretty good produce and everything else.

Tip: For cruisers without a vehicle, there's a local lady who offers a shuttle service to the Van Den Tweel a couple of evenings a week for $10 round trip. It's a good deal if you are buying more groceries than you can carry and she gives you at least an hour to shop. Bus leaves from the marina and info is on the Bonaire Cruisers Facebook page.

Bon Cheese Glorious Cheese

As a Dutch island, Bonaire is serious about its cheese. Not to drag on Antigua (much) but we missed cheese during lockdown. While Van Den Tweel made us very happy, it isn’t even the best place on the island for cheese!

A few weeks into our stay in Bonaire, a fellow cruiser directed us to Bon Cheese and made our summer! Back home in Ontario we pay exorbitant prices for cheese, and in Antigua sometimes you couldn’t even find it, so the three hunks of good Dutch aged cheese – with truffles even – for $10USD at Bon Cheese was something to celebrate!

Bobbejan’s Barbecue

This backyard barbecue joint in Kralendijk is only open on the weekends and is much loved by both locals and tourists! Bobbijan’s was only open for take-out because of Covid, but their barbecue meat travels well! We tried their ribs, chicken and satays and all were delicious, and reasonably priced. The $20 combo meal gives you a little bit of all of the above and is enough for two people with leftovers. As you can tell, we ate it too fast to take photos.

Pizza and Beer at Diver’s Diner

Beer is cheap in Bonaire, with Coronas going for $2 in some places, including Diver’s Diner. The casual outdoor spot serves typical pub fare like wings and chicken fingers, and on Sundays pizza is half price. Cruisers are welcome, but it’s full of locals too. And the beer is cold and cheap and everybody is friendly.

Burgers at Breeze ‘n Bites

After quarantine, we were so happy to eat out. I was tired of cooking after 2 1/2 weeks on the boat. For our first meal, we went for burger night at Breeze ‘n Bites and it was good! We liked the $9 burgers so much – Blue cheese or bacon cheese were both good – that we went back another Thursday. The chef is so nice too, he came and checked that we were all happy with our food and we could barely answer him our mouths were so full!

Fresh Veggies from Bon Tera

We shopped at a lot of farmers markets in the Eastern Caribbean. Every major town had a farmers market, from Nevis where we bought homemade hot sauce to Grenada where they have a separate market even for spices. Bonaire is made of coral and doesn’t have farms, except Bon Tera, which is a greenhouse growing veggies and herbs.

It’s a long and rough drive to Bon Tera, and they’re only open a few hours a week to the public but it’s worth it! Sometimes you can buy a full paper bag of veggies like peppers, beans, greens, spinach and cucumbers for $10. Amazing! Or buy them a la carte. If you can’t make it all the way out to the “farm ,” Van den Tweel sells some of the Bon Tera product.

Crepes at La Creperie

We only went once and kep meaning to return because the savory smoked salmon crepe at La Creperie was really good. And big! I kept saying I was glad we split one because I hate to waste food.

Ocean Oasis, Our Safety Stop

We visited Ocean Oasis beach club a few times during our dive adventures in the south. You can go there and lounge on the beach chairs and enjoy the vibe over delicious food and drinks. It’s a refined relaxing beach bar with addictive truffle fries and great seafood.

Breakfast and Lunch at Between 2 Buns

An easy walk from the marina, Between 2 Buns is a great choice for breakfast or lunch in Bonaire. With friendly staff, good food, and affordable prices, it’s no wonder the place is always filled with locals. Even when they’re busy, the service is excellent and you never have to wait.

Döner Station

I was happy to find Middle Eastern street food in Bonaire and Döner Station served it up hot and fresh. We got merguez sausages and chicken shwarma and it was fast, tasty and inexpensive. Don’t be put off by the basic storefront because the food is good, there’s comfortable shaded seating in front, and it’s a short walk from the marina.

Traditional Stew in Rincon

If you go to the National Park or anywhere near it, you will drive through Rincon. And unless you pack food, you will need to stop for lunch. We tried two different places in the town for the traditional goat stew, a very flavorful dish! They also serve chicken, fish and other local dishes.

First, we went to Posada Para Mira, which has beautiful views and a nice airy room. The next time, we tried The Rose Inn. We thought the food was better – and cheaper – at The Rose Inn, but the room was hot and buggy and minimal ambience. So I would probably pick Posada Para Mira if I was only going to Rincon once. The stew came with beans & rice and plantains or salad.

Indian Food Finally!

I wanted to get Indian the entire time we were in Bonaire and finally went on our last day after my visit to the doctor for my ear problem. GoGreen Indian was quiet – just us and one other table in the courtyard dining area – but the servers were so friendly and helpful and the food was fresh and delicious. We had naan bread, samosas and butter chicken and there was nothing left.

The Brewery

Probably the only place on the island where the beer isn’t cheap, The Bonaire Brewery is a cute spot in downtown Kralendijk serving food and craft beer. Most of the beer for sale is European imports available at the supermarket, except for their own Bonaire Blonde, which is pretty good and a nice change from Caribbean beers.

The couple times we went to the brewery, we sat out front to avoid crowds and get some breeze, and we only went in the evenings, not the heat of the day. The food consists of fish and chips and other pub fare and is a bit pricy so we never ordered food. We just drank beer and it’s worth a visit for the Blonde. You can play games there – we saw a variety of classic board games for use inside.

A Place for Darts

Near the end of our stay in Bonaire, we found a great bar with pool tables and a dartboard. The signs made it seem like an Indonesian restaurant, downstairs from the sushi place, but Salatiga is a bar. The owner and bartender are very friendly and we played darts for the first time in ages, so long that the first game lasted a few beers each! We improved and returned and they even remembered us (it wasn’t very busy in the bar or Bonaire).

Looking Back at Eating and Drinking in Bonaire

Looking back, it seems like we went out a lot while we were in Bonaire. Part of this was the excitement of dining out after quarantine and months of lockdown in Antigua, and part was how good the selection is, and some was that our stove was broken for a little while so we definitely ate breakfast out more often than usual! I hope you enjoyed my list – it turns out to be 17 places for eating and drinking in Bonaire.