Bonaire "Snack Bars"

[normdog]

I never see any talk about the little snack bars around the island. They seem like a great place to stop for a quick lunch between dives but I have a few questions:

1. Are tourist/divers welcome?
2. Any favorite places?
3. Any particular items you like to order?
4. Do they tend to have clean/sanitary cooking conditions?

I did find a website that list all of them www.snacksbonaire.nl

Thanks for the info - looking forward to our second trip to Bonaire in Dec!

 

[divesergeant]

Normdog,

We've ben to Bonaire a umber of times butnever sampled form these snack bars. We've done the food trucks, but not these.

Maybe try asking on BonaireTalk.com. It might yield some good comments.

 

[coldwaterlloyd]

I tried lots of the small snack bar / cafes , they were real good . Some of the chinese food was the best ever
enjoy

 

[Lorenzoid]

I never see any talk about the little snack bars around the island. They seem like a great place to stop for a quick lunch between dives but I have a few questions:

1. Are tourist/divers welcome?
2. Any favorite places?
3. Any particular items you like to order?
4. Do they tend to have clean/sanitary cooking conditions?

I did find a website that list all of them www.snacksbonaire.nl

Thanks for the info - looking forward to our second trip to Bonaire in Dec!

1. Why would you even think a customer might not be welcome? I'm sure such a place exists, but nowhere in the world I have traveled have I yet come across a hole-in-the-wall that seemed truly annoyed by foreign visitors. Sure, there are places where the staff is busy and doesn't want some tourist yahoo slowing things down by asking a lot of questions. But even in that case, I'm not thinking the Caribbean--I'm thinking more like Paris ... or New York. Things are slow on Bonaire--they're in no hurry. If you simply order something like any other customer without making a fuss, you're just another customer.

2. My wife and I like Maiky Snack, but that's just because we aren't as familiar with others--I suppose Maiky was the first one we read about. Thanks for finding that list! I just sent it to my wife, who reads Dutch.

3. We order whatever looks like something we don't see often at home in the US. Goat stew, for example. I have heard rumors of iguana being offered on occasion, but never seen it on the menu. I would order pastechi if they have them, but those are often hard to find, too.

4. Who knows. If the place is busy, and other customers are not getting sick, you probably won't either. A place doesn't stay in business by getting customers sick. If you're really concerned, don't order anything with uncooked vegetables such as lettuce, but I can't recall anything like that on the menus of these places anyway--the food is basic fried food, soups and stews, sides like rice and beans, etc. "Fresh" and "Bonaire" don't usually go together. Fresh vegetables are treats. It's a desert island.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Hey @normdog , I hope my tone on question 1 wasn't offensive. Now that I have had a chance to read that website, I see it refers to the snack bars as places where mostly locals hang out. Indeed that is true, but with the Internet it's not like people like us--visiting divers interested in a little local flavor--don't know about them and visit them. I love these places.

The other thing that struck me on that web site is the statement that these places are centered around drinking cold, cheap beer. That is true. Some offer more in the way of food options than others, but now that I think about it, it really is more about where locals go for a cheap, cold beer. Admittedly my wife and I don't return to Bonaire as often as we'd like, so we are hardly experts on these places. We always seek them out, though, and I am sure we order a cold beer with our snack. The food offerings, though, were not especially memorable. Goat stew is all that really comes to mind--and fried stuff. Sorry I can't be of more help.

 

[normdog]

Hey Lorenzoid - No offense taken. I just wondered why with the thousands of threads here I had never seen them discussed. Thought maybe there was something I should know. Kind of like some of the "taverns" on Cozumel - some welcome women and some really don't. We did eat in one on our first trip and I remember it being pretty good but we were the only people there around noon.

I think we will try a couple more on our next trip as we found getting food around the South dive sites a little difficult. We did do one of the food trucks but the lines were long and they were out of food the first day we tried to eat there.

Looking forward to December!

 

[diversteve]

+1 for Maiky Snack - the only one listed on Tourism Bonaire's website. Bonaire Dining - Bonaire Official Tourism Site

 

[Lorenzoid]

Hey Lorenzoid - No offense taken. I just wondered why with the thousands of threads here I had never seen them discussed. Thought maybe there was something I should know. . . .

+1 for Maiky Snack - the only one listed on Tourism Bonaire's website. Bonaire Dining - Bonaire Official Tourism Site

Maybe the reason we don't see them discussed more is explained to some extent by the first two items I see listed on the menu pic on that Maiky Snack FB page Steve linked to: goat stew (kabritu) and tripe stew (mondongo). There are a hundred posts on SB raving about the food truck with the tuna sashimi, ceviche, burgers, the fancy restaurants like At Sea, and places with familiar foods like pizza and barbecue. Driving off the main drag to some seedy snack shop where the three plastic tables are already occupied by locals drinking beer to eat a little goat or tripe soup is not everyone's idea of how to spend their lunchtime.

 

[darook]

Not really a snack bar but a great place for lunch is Rumba. Nice folks, great food and a view of the sea just across the street.

 

[Scott from LongIsland]

The snacks are awesome. Seek them out if you want local food and non-tourist prices. I am a big fan of Divi Divi Bar/Snack. Not to be confused with the Divi hotel. Their soups are awesome and the specials always rock. Mariachi night is a blast.

Divi Divi Bar & Restaurant Bonaire

Hong bar is okay for cheep beer but not much else. It won't be $4 for a bright though

As mentioned above Maicky Snack is great as is the Rose Inn. I am a big fan of doing a drift of La Dania's Leap > Karpata, lunch at Rose Inn and then Candyland, Tailor Made. To me, that is the perfect day on Bonaire. Maybe top it off with a beer at the lookout point on the way back to town.

Here is a list of a lot of them.
Snacks Bonaire - Alle snacks op Bonaire