It is easy to eat well in Barbados. And for the purposes of this post, by “well” I mean, expensively. It is also easy to eat well, plenty of fresh fish etc and locally grown fruit and veg but that isn’t really what people know Barbados for.
Everybody who comes to Barbados has heard of The Cliff. Plenty of people who haven’t been here have heard of it. It is “up there” with the most amazing restaurants in the world, regularly appearing in the top five. Their website is here: The Cliff and you will see that it is about £90 for a two course meal.
We were lucky enough to eat there on our honeymoon as part of our wedding present from my parents but haven’t been back as it doesn’t fit in with our family holiday budget.
We did, however, treat the children to dinner at Tides last year and hope to go again this week. That will form a blog post of its own.
But where is one of our favourite places to eat? Well it couldn’t be further from either of those restaurants. And as far as I am concerned the food, for what it is, is fantastic.
It doesn’t even have a website (except for this Facebook page: Chris’ Ribs and if you drove past it you wouldn’t stop. It looks like a battered old wooden shed attached to a shop. But the joy of having friends here, and family that visit often, is that they recommend places that us tourists wouldn’t look at twice.
Off the beaten track and nowhere near the sea, it is in a tiny village called Rock Dundo and is known as “Chris’ Ribs” and it is THE place to go on a Friday night to my mind.
It can’t be more than 25′ long, with just four tables inside and one outside. Chairs are white plastic patio style chairs and you can forget any idea of table clothes or napkins. Walls are adorned with scarves from various English football teams. Local men (for it is always men, I don’t know where all the women are) sit at the bar discussing world events. It has been known to get very heated if the topic for discussion is cricket. The more rum that is drunk the louder it gets*
The carpark is a field next door so when it rains, well you get muddy.
We went last week and were about to ask for a menu when Chris came over and simply asked “ribs, chicken or fish”? That is it. No starters, no salads, no vegetarian option, no desert.
No need to ask how they are cooked. There is no choice.
Not only that but there is no jus / foam / something drizzled / reductions / or crusts etc.
You can choose between a side dish of rice / fries or macaroni pie.
For me it is always the ribs. I have never seen barbecued ribs like it. They are enormous. With fries. Fries as Mr B says “like my gran used to make”. You know the ones. Thinly cut but all slightly different shapes, cooked in fat that isn’t quite hot enough so there is slight sogginess to them but they are hot and taste fantastic.
There is no standing on ceremony in this place. You get stuck in. You get barbecue sauce all over your face whilst drinking beer from a bottle. Noisly sucking your fingers at the end of the meal before pushing away a pile of bones.
For me, it is the best place to eat on the island.
*remind me to tell you what happens when you ask for a rum and Coke over here.
Chris’s ribs; simply the best. They only do rum by the bottle too. Rum and Ginger Beer, now that’s my idea of a good night out.