St. Maarten the Veganastic Way!

Ms Veganastic gets KO by this tiny island...

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I guess to many it has not come as a surprise that I have found a delicious selection of vegan food while traveling. However, on an island where I spent 18 years of my life and only remember eating delicious meat dishes and seafood, would this vegan be able to find food and not be tempted by the aroma of BBQ ribs, potato salad and the array of fresh seafood? Well, there was only one way to find out...Visit the island and start my vegan foodie journey.

My first vegan food hunt landed me at the old but gold restaurant, White Swan located in Simpson Bay. White Swan is a Chinese restaurant that caters to both non-vegetarian and vegetarian diets. Most of their vegetarian options are also vegan friendly. Below is their delicious fried rice, fried noodles, potatoes with peanut sauce and vegetable curry.

On my next food hunt I found myself at Dinghy Dock Sailors Bar also located in Simpson Bay having what they call the Veggie Veggie Burger. This burger was basically a juicy bean burger, with hummus in replacement of the mayonnaise topped with lettuce, tomatoes, onions and peppers. It was truly an amazing burger.

Growing up, I loved eating roti. Roti traditionally, is a flatbread made with dhal and flour that is used to tightly wrap a meat curry stew. It is something that a lot of West Indians enjoy eating. However, after becoming vegetarian, I had not had one and thus I was so excited to see a vegan friendly roti after 15 years. If you are ever in Philipsburg, make your way to Cindy Roti & Local Food. It is worth it! Their roti has so much flavor and I love how four simple ingredients; potato, chickpeas, carrots and peppers mixed so beautifully with the curried stew.

My love for sushi led me to Wasabi Charlie in Cole Bay. This place is a must visit if you love Japanese food as much as I do. They have a large selection of vegan options and as you can tell from the picture the food smelt and looked so good that I completely forgot to take a picture of it before eating.

Maya Indian Restaurant was a place I visited a few times on my visit here in St. Maarten. It seemed like a lot of the people I knew liked to come here. The lady w ho takes the orders is very helpful and was able to suggest items on the menu that I would be able to eat. I was so impressed that both her and the chef googled the word vegan to ensure they understood what it meant before preparing my meal. So if you are looking for a vegan friendly Indian restaurant when you are on the island, Maya's is the place to go.

Avantika, was another restaurant that I visited on the island. Here I checked out their vegan Thai options. The food was good, but it was very different from the Thai flavors that I am used to in South East Asia. So I would not say that this place has authentic Thai food, but it has good vegan options that fill the tummy.

Sheika's was a restaurant that my dad introduced to me years ago, but I had forgotten about this place till I started to crave island food. One day as I was walking the streets of Philpsburg, I stumbled upon Sheika's again. To my surprise they had a lot of vegetarian and vegan options. On this day they had steamed yam, jerk pumpkin, fried vegetables with herb served on a bed of quinoa and chickpeas. It was delicious.

In search of some more Thai flavors, I found myself at a restaurant called Thai Savanh'. I really loved the flavors of their food. It felt like Thai food but with its own unique Caribbean twist. Here I had spring rolls, red vegetable curry and fried rice.

The only place that I did not get to check out which everyone on the island said I needed to, was Ital Shack. I was told that they serve some amazing local vegan food, juices, patties and soup. Now, although I did not get a chance to check it out for myself, seeing that 20 people, meat eaters I must add, told me to visit this restaurant, and the fact that it is all over tripadvisor, I knew I had to mention it. So if you are there and they are open, check it out and let me know if they live up to all their positive reviews.

Three weeks on this island made me gain some weight. There are tons of vegan options here. Even supermarkets like Carrefour have vegan items like sauages, yoghurt, ice cream, burgers, bread and biscuits. So if you are ever on this friendly island, I can assure you that you will be fed. Till my next trip, keep it simple but most importantly, keep it veganastic!

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