looking for new restaurants to try

[Bonebal]

going on our 5th year in a row vacation to Aruba. What is everbody reccomending for restaurants to try this year

[Andrea J.]

I love COOKS on Willememastraat 1 block before ElGaucho. delicious international cuisine moderate pricing, smart casual dress

Also love B55 down beyond the airport (near the old drive in theater) very causual....flip flops and tees and shorts. very inexpensive international cuisine.

[nikko]

of course madame janette's....other than that i absolutely loved the smoked scallop salad(and i am NOT a huge salad person) at yemanja. we had a wonderful meal there!

[Pegmeister]

I absolutely love trying different restaurants when on vacation, but staying at an AI we generally only go off resort 2 or 3 times. This past trip in November I was shopping downtown and noted a number of places that had been on my list to try, Cubas Cookin; QuePasa and Casa Tua so when I was done shopping I rounded up DH from the Paddock and we did a little crawl. Empanadas at Cubas Cookin; Amstel Bright at QuePasa and jamon ham & machego and wine at Cas Tua; along with a few other brief stops. It was a great way to at least get a sample of the various places and we met a lot of nice people. For the March trip we plan to take this approach in the High Rise area, possible stops being Bavaria; Bingo Cafe and Smokey Joes. Of course, I'm open to suggestions from the forum, and we will also have the mandatory visit to Madame Janettes.

[~Amy~®]

If money is no object and you want a "food experience/event", then you have to go to Carte Blanche. It's worth every penny! Had an incredible dinner there last week.

Other usual favorites for us: Passions, Screaming Eagle, Bingo's, Amadeus, MJ's, Cuba's Cookin', Yemanja......

[jaw]

Would suggest Gostoso, Amadeus, and definitely Mirandi.

[Pegmeister]

I'm curious to hear more about Carte Blanche. Is it really a Chef "surprise" menu or do you have more input as to the menu choices? Also wondering if there is a dress code.

[~Amy~®]

Originally Posted by Pegmeister

I'm curious to hear more about Carte Blanche. Is it really a Chef "surprise" menu or do you have more input as to the menu choices? Also wondering if there is a dress code.

\

No dress code.

You can choose 4 or 5 courses with or without wine pairings (they also have a wine list to choose from and a full bar.) They use the best, freshest ingredients for every course and the flavors and presentation are amazing! They also do an awesome job to cater to your tastes by inquiring in advance about any likes/dislikes. But it is mostly "chef's surprise" since he caters his menu to the fresh ingredients he's able to get. The couple from England sitting next to us were vegetarians so their courses were completely different from ours.

Some of the items we had included an oyster shooter, cerviche, foie gras, and lamb chops. We also went with the wine pairings and they were spot on - complimented each course very nicely.

[taxidriver]

Try the BAREFOOT restaurant, last week i brought 3 times people to that restaurant and they give me good reviews about it.

[Windy]

Our favorites are
Mirandi's
Papiamento's
Suisse Chalet
Flying Fishbone
Barefoot on our list to try next time!
Still havent' been to MJ's -- next visit!