December 2024
Catherine’s Café – Pigeon Beach
Catherine’s Café has been down in Pigeon Beach for a good 10 years now but we also remember when it used to be over on Antigua Slipway. We come every year, sometimes twice. It’s a great place, you do need to book at weekends as it’s always busy for lunch, especially peak season.
The great thing about it is you can go simple for a salad or a sandwich or you can go all in for a 3 course lunch with lobsters, tuna, catch of the day, served a variety of ways.
Catherine’s is where I normally have my birthday lunch as it’s just before the charter show. It’s become a favourite place, easy to get to, great staff, they tend to be the same every year and consistently good food, good atmosphere.
The lobster and chips is probably the firm favourite!!
The Hut – Little Jumby
Sister restaurant to The Hut on the Isle of Wight, UK, opened November 2024.
This is more of an occasion restaurant, you get transported to the island by boat! The setting is beautiful, you can rent cabanas for the day, sadly these weren’t quite finished when we were there but it was all coming together. Our first visit we skipped the starter and went all in for the surf and turf with a tomahawk steak!
We were then lucky enough to go back with friends after the charter show, we sat at the bar and the bartender created us some great cocktails and we then moved to our table by the beach. I had the conch to start, I’ve not had conch for 20+ years as I wasn’t a fan but this dish changed everything!! For my main I went for a salad and added some fish.
Staff were very attentive, it’s was still in its early days and we picked quiet lunchtimes, I think come the weekend and in season it will be packed and a real party atmosphere. The staff are all geared up for it and ready to party.
The Reef – Green Island
I don’t know if I should share this as I feel this is something I want to keep as our secret, this place, location, food, was incredible.
Another location when you can only arrive by boat and nestled amongst the trees on the beach, it has a wonderful relaxing atmosphere, again we sat at the bar, chatted to the bartender who was sharing with us little secrets to his recipes. We eventually left him in peace and sat at our table.
The Reef is part of the exclusive Mill Reef Club so at certain times of year it’s only open to residents, and is run by Riccardo, who back in the day owned out favourite Antiguan Restaurant Harmony Hall, so we had high expectations and they delivered, from my homemade mozarella, to the homemade lobster tortellini, for our main course we then shared the tuna served on salt rock! As we all had to leave space for The Browns Bay Banana, this was also a Harmony Hall dessert and something we always reminisce, to look at it it’s not beautiful but on my goodness, banana deep fried in puff pastry covered in cinnamon sugar and served with toffee and vanilla ice cream. It’s amazing and it still was 15 years laters!
I’ve already said it’s where we’re going for my birthday lunch next year! But I also know we’ll still go to Catherine’s after the show….
