Restaurants are about more than just food. 

When we go out to eat, we aren’t doing so because we have to — we do it because we want to. 

Because restaurants make our lives more interesting. They break up the monotony, they teach us, they bring us together — and they make us happy. 

And for those who didn’t realize it before, this past year has reminded us of just how integral a role the restaurant and hospitality industry plays for us, how much we need it. 

That’s particularly true when traveling. 

Visiting a place and eating in its restaurants teaches us so much about its culture, its people and the things people care about. 

The massive disruption to the global travel industry did not spare the Caribbean, and it forced the region’s restaurants to immediately adapt to new realities. 

Happily, they’ve done that — and, all across the Caribbean, travelers can dine safely, securely and comfortably. 

This is the eighth annual edition of what began in 2013 as a landmark list of the 50 best restaurants in the Caribbean and remains the leading annual celebration of restaurants region-wide. 

While we’ve focused this year on destinations that are open to visitors (and with restaurant sectors that are open), our evaluating criteria remain the same: we focus on the three pillars that define the restaurant experience: food, service and ambience. 

And this year we’ve added a fourth — every restaurant on the list must at least give diners the option of eating outdoors or in an open-air space. 

Let’s not forget that this industry only exists because of the risk-takers, entrepreneurs and adventurers who choose to open restaurants – and serve the food, drink and hospitality that helps enrich our daily lives. 

So let’s celebrate them and our favorite places to eat. And when you next come back to the Caribbean, make sure you pay them a visit. 

Here are the best restaurants in the Caribbean for 2021. 

Brass Boer, Bonaire The husband-and-wife team of Jonnie and Therese Boer have been behind the three-Michelin-star De Librije restaurant in Holland for nearly three decades, and Brass Boer, their first Caribbean endeavor, is a masterwork, with inspired, out-of-this-world gastronomic creations both continental and Caribbean and everywhere in between. It’s yet another sign of Bonaire’s growing stature as a regional culinary powerhouse.

The post The 50 Best Restaurants in the Caribbean – 2021 appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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A new lifestyle hotel is coming to the heart of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, and now more details have been revealed on the Preferred Hotels property. 

It’s called Palacio Provincial, and the 43-room hotel will be set in an historic building in San Juan’s charming historic district. 

The property will be opening its doors on Jan. 14, according its Web site. 

“A new life has been breathed into this stunning, restored property and will bring first-class hospitality for travelers to the wonderful Puerto Rico and Old San Juan destinations,” said Alfredo Arroyo. “Our vision brings guests an elevation of the vibrant culture found in our iconic neighborhood, offering a distinctive local and luxury experience.”

The hotel is set in an early 19th-century building that long housed a diplomatic residence. 

“Through its halls walked the most distinguished congressmen, thinkers and artists, whose lives are reflected throughout the building’s newest transformation. Perfectly marrying the antiquity of the structure with modern cosmopolitan style, guests will be transformed to another past time while feeling like they haven’t left the present,” the property said in a statement. 

The rooms all have high ceilings, locally-curated artwork, views of Old San Juan’s streetscapes and, thanks to a partnership with Aroma360, the option of having custom scents. 

Amenities will include a rooftop pool; a library space, a daily happy hour called Forty-Three x Fort-Three, with a different cocktail each night on the rooftop terrace; an open-air dining concept called Consular Restaurant and Bar; several courtyards and “intimate event spaces.”

For more, visit Palacio Provincial.

The post Puerto Rico’s Palacio Provincial Hotel Set for January Debut appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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The right beach, the right chair, the right drink.

It may sound simple, but, like the greatest cocktails, you only need a few ingredients.

In a time when travel has been significantly disrupted, this is the kind of experience we all dream about: the tropical idyll — an afternoon at a Caribbean beach bar, the thing we all think about when we’re stuck at home, moored behind a desk, or surrounded by wintry air.

For those who are traveling right now, these beach bars are the perfect Caribbean venture: outdoors, socially-distanced, breezy.

For those who aren’t traveling, think of them as your to-do list for when the world returns to normal.

Either way, it’s worth celebrating these Caribbean institutions and the people who’ve worked to build them.

Here are the best Caribbean beach bars for 2021.

Karibuni, St Martin There may be no more memorable beach bar experience in the entire Caribbean than an afternoon at Pinel Island, the intoxicating little cay just off the coast of the “mainland” in St Martin. You take a one-minute ferry boat and reach Karibuni, the beach bar that belongs to the St Martin hotel by the same name. Plainly, this is what it’s all about — a Crusoe-chic beach bar that will make you feel like you’ve somehow landed on a desert island — one that just so happens to have marvelously fresh seafood and the best cocktails of the French Caribbean. A true bucket-list experience.  

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