chunkymonkey
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 27, 2009
Nassau Bahamas Day Part 1: Tru Bahamian Food Tour part 1
It was a beautiful morning the day we docked at Nassau. Since DH and I have already been to Bahamas before and even stayed at the Atlantis, we decided to do something different. I had booked Steve and I a food tour called Bites of Nassau Food Tour by Tru Bahamian, which is a 3.5 hour walking tour that took us to both culinary and historical sites around downtown Nassau. We saw the reviews on Tripadvisor and thought it would be fun to do. I normally don't do tours unless it involves eating or drinking
Everyone else didn't really have a plan, especially since Steve's dad is limited in walking for long periods of time, therefore a walking tour wouldn't be ideal for him. They decided to take a look at some of the offerings at the Port Adventures desk later.
Our tour didn't leave until 11am and we had docked by 8am. We used the morning to just chill and have some breakfast at Cabanas as usual. We always got a table by the window so we could have a nice view. Today there were many other ships docked in Nassau as well.
At around 9:45 or so we decided to leave the ship and walk around Nassau before our tour was to begin. So we made our way down the gangway and out onto the dock. There are some very nice views of Atlantis near the dock area.
Nothing beats a Disney ship though!
The area right at port to enter the city is packed with many vendors and some restaurants.
We walked by what looked like the city hall. I love how buildings in the Bahamas are pink and pastel-colored. We walked around and enjoyed the sights of the downtown area.
Found a Starbucks! It was packed, lol.
I always like to notice what special offerings Starbucks in different countries have. Here they had a guava yogurt frappe and a coconut almond coffee. Interesting! I didn't get it as I got my usual latte.
The buildings around the main drag are littered with jewelry shops, and designer duty free. Everyone is trying to get you to come into their store. Remember to look at the map from the ship...there are some coupons in there, and I scored a free silver bracelet from a jewelry store! They just gave it to me and i didn't even have to buy anything.
Our tour was set to meet at a church which is just off of the main drag. It's around the corner from this ice cream parlor:
Here was the meeting point of our tour:
We checked in and met our lovely guide, Alanna. She was really very good, very informative and passionate about her culture and food in the Bahamas. She handed us a tour map with the locations we were stopping at.
After everyone was checked in, we walked a few blocks away to our first stop, Bahamian Cooking Restaurant. We pretty much had the whole place to ourselves since I guess it was rather early for lunch.
Some interesting things about the restaurant, the curtains are handmade on another Bahamian island, I think Eleuthera...and the masks you see behind me in the picture below are used in the annual Junkanoo parade which is a big celebration the day after Christmas.
I met someone else from the DisBoards here! It's funny because we had both responded to a thread on the cruise line forum about this particular tour. We had a great chat, it's fun to meet other Dis-ers!!
Alanna explained the different foods we would be trying. Here's what we ate:
The ubiquitous conch fritters, a Caribbean staple. Tender chunks of conch are put in a batter and dropped into hot oil. This version was really tasty, with great seasoning in the batter, served hot with a spicy mayo style dipping sauce.
Next we had a plate of steam chicken (basically stewed chicken), rice n peas, mac n cheese, coleslaw, and fried plantains:
It was delicious! The chicken was tender and falling off the bone. The rice and peas are definitely more flavorful than others that I've had, and the mac n cheese is made differently than in the US...has a more denser shape, and not swimming in sauce. It is made with evaporated milk and eggs as well as cheese which binds it all together. If you've ever had noodle kugel, it has the same structure as that.
While we were eating Alanna told us some more interesting history of the food and of the Bahamas.
Before we departed, we got a cup of refreshing cold switcha which is a Bahamian limeade. It was really good and perfect for the hot weather!
We then walked over to our next destination, the 5-star Graycliff Hotel. In between we passed by some buildings of interest which Alanna pointed out along the way.
Beautiful flowers in the Bahamas!
I love this doorway:
After a 10 minute walk, we were at the Graycliff. It's a Bahamian institution for fine dining and 4-star service.
Historical old world interior:
Beautiful room in the Graycliff - so pretty for afternoon tea.
The mozaic-tile pool at the Graycliff looked so inviting...it was a really hot day in Nassau! Wish swimming was part of the tour!
Our destination was the specialty cigar humidor:
They handroll cigars here. Pretty neat!
The humidor/bar area had a seating section for us to do our tasting. We had a choice of Bahamian beer, called Sands, or a special ice tea made with local flowers.
DH and I chose the beer. It's designed to be a refreshing beer, perfect for hot days like today.
Next stop was the famous Graycliff Chocolatier. One of the chefs from Top Chef Desserts is the head chocolatier here.
Our tasting here consisted of a green key-lime chocolate, and the colorful salted caramel chocolate. All chocolates are hand made and hand painted. They were so beautiful.
Key lime white chocolate. This was very good!
The salted caramel was my favorite. It was salty-caramel-y goodness...I loved it!
We hung out enjoying the a/c for a little longer before we moved on to our next stop. Note that since the tour follows a schedule, depending on how much time we had at each stop, you could make purchases if you wish, however it is not guaranteed. You could always come back after your tour is over but it may mean a bit of a walk since the tour doesn't start and end at the same spot.
Coming up, more Bites of Nassau!
It was a beautiful morning the day we docked at Nassau. Since DH and I have already been to Bahamas before and even stayed at the Atlantis, we decided to do something different. I had booked Steve and I a food tour called Bites of Nassau Food Tour by Tru Bahamian, which is a 3.5 hour walking tour that took us to both culinary and historical sites around downtown Nassau. We saw the reviews on Tripadvisor and thought it would be fun to do. I normally don't do tours unless it involves eating or drinking
Everyone else didn't really have a plan, especially since Steve's dad is limited in walking for long periods of time, therefore a walking tour wouldn't be ideal for him. They decided to take a look at some of the offerings at the Port Adventures desk later.
Our tour didn't leave until 11am and we had docked by 8am. We used the morning to just chill and have some breakfast at Cabanas as usual. We always got a table by the window so we could have a nice view. Today there were many other ships docked in Nassau as well.
At around 9:45 or so we decided to leave the ship and walk around Nassau before our tour was to begin. So we made our way down the gangway and out onto the dock. There are some very nice views of Atlantis near the dock area.
Nothing beats a Disney ship though!
The area right at port to enter the city is packed with many vendors and some restaurants.
We walked by what looked like the city hall. I love how buildings in the Bahamas are pink and pastel-colored. We walked around and enjoyed the sights of the downtown area.
Found a Starbucks! It was packed, lol.
I always like to notice what special offerings Starbucks in different countries have. Here they had a guava yogurt frappe and a coconut almond coffee. Interesting! I didn't get it as I got my usual latte.
The buildings around the main drag are littered with jewelry shops, and designer duty free. Everyone is trying to get you to come into their store. Remember to look at the map from the ship...there are some coupons in there, and I scored a free silver bracelet from a jewelry store! They just gave it to me and i didn't even have to buy anything.
Our tour was set to meet at a church which is just off of the main drag. It's around the corner from this ice cream parlor:
Here was the meeting point of our tour:
We checked in and met our lovely guide, Alanna. She was really very good, very informative and passionate about her culture and food in the Bahamas. She handed us a tour map with the locations we were stopping at.
After everyone was checked in, we walked a few blocks away to our first stop, Bahamian Cooking Restaurant. We pretty much had the whole place to ourselves since I guess it was rather early for lunch.
Some interesting things about the restaurant, the curtains are handmade on another Bahamian island, I think Eleuthera...and the masks you see behind me in the picture below are used in the annual Junkanoo parade which is a big celebration the day after Christmas.
I met someone else from the DisBoards here! It's funny because we had both responded to a thread on the cruise line forum about this particular tour. We had a great chat, it's fun to meet other Dis-ers!!
Alanna explained the different foods we would be trying. Here's what we ate:
The ubiquitous conch fritters, a Caribbean staple. Tender chunks of conch are put in a batter and dropped into hot oil. This version was really tasty, with great seasoning in the batter, served hot with a spicy mayo style dipping sauce.
Next we had a plate of steam chicken (basically stewed chicken), rice n peas, mac n cheese, coleslaw, and fried plantains:
It was delicious! The chicken was tender and falling off the bone. The rice and peas are definitely more flavorful than others that I've had, and the mac n cheese is made differently than in the US...has a more denser shape, and not swimming in sauce. It is made with evaporated milk and eggs as well as cheese which binds it all together. If you've ever had noodle kugel, it has the same structure as that.
While we were eating Alanna told us some more interesting history of the food and of the Bahamas.
Before we departed, we got a cup of refreshing cold switcha which is a Bahamian limeade. It was really good and perfect for the hot weather!
We then walked over to our next destination, the 5-star Graycliff Hotel. In between we passed by some buildings of interest which Alanna pointed out along the way.
Beautiful flowers in the Bahamas!
I love this doorway:
After a 10 minute walk, we were at the Graycliff. It's a Bahamian institution for fine dining and 4-star service.
Historical old world interior:
Beautiful room in the Graycliff - so pretty for afternoon tea.
The mozaic-tile pool at the Graycliff looked so inviting...it was a really hot day in Nassau! Wish swimming was part of the tour!
Our destination was the specialty cigar humidor:
They handroll cigars here. Pretty neat!
The humidor/bar area had a seating section for us to do our tasting. We had a choice of Bahamian beer, called Sands, or a special ice tea made with local flowers.
DH and I chose the beer. It's designed to be a refreshing beer, perfect for hot days like today.
Next stop was the famous Graycliff Chocolatier. One of the chefs from Top Chef Desserts is the head chocolatier here.
Our tasting here consisted of a green key-lime chocolate, and the colorful salted caramel chocolate. All chocolates are hand made and hand painted. They were so beautiful.
Key lime white chocolate. This was very good!
The salted caramel was my favorite. It was salty-caramel-y goodness...I loved it!
We hung out enjoying the a/c for a little longer before we moved on to our next stop. Note that since the tour follows a schedule, depending on how much time we had at each stop, you could make purchases if you wish, however it is not guaranteed. You could always come back after your tour is over but it may mean a bit of a walk since the tour doesn't start and end at the same spot.
Coming up, more Bites of Nassau!
Last edited:
! At first we were looking at cruises on the Dream, so I was considering "the bites of Nassau" tour.
