New Vegan Options in St Maarten

Since moving to Vancouver, St Maarten is a lot harder to get to than Toronto, with no quick direct flights.Â Although i’m luckyÂ to get other destination weddings, this is the first time I had been to the island since we left. I have a great friend on the island, and stayed with her for a few days before and after the wedding, exploring the islandÂ andÂ finding new vegan treats and restaurants! I have a lot of people asking me about vegan options on the island, so I thought it would be beneficial to write a post about the new and old favourite vegan restaurants, vegan grocery stores and vegan chefs on the island.Â

Unfortunately a lot of streets don’t have names in St Maarten, or numbers on the buildings. Even the streets that do have names and numbers,Â no one knows what they are so some of these restaurants are hard to find, but if you’re in the right area and ask a local you shouldn’t have any problems!

Favourite Vegan Restaurants on St Maarten:Â

My absolute favourite vegan restaurant on the island, the owners grow their own food in their backyard, and everything is full vegan. At first glance this restaurant looks like someones house and we drove by it a few times before actually going in. Not open late, this place serves one meal in the morning, and one from afternoon to dinner. Â Â Anthony Bourdain did a lovely feature on this restaurant in his No Reservations show. Â Â Â

A favourite restaurant of mine was Panlaan, Thai on the Bay in Simpson Bay – they always had lots of fresh vegan options. The newest thai restaurant Advantika seems to have a similar, if not the exact same menu as Panlaan (rumours have it it’s the same owner). Â My favourite dishes here are the eggplant stir fry with fresh basil and rice, and the pineapple stir fry. The spring rolls and fried tofu appetizers are amazing as well!Â

When I used to live in Â Simpson Bay Â Yacht Club, we would Â frequent Byblos weekly. They haveÂ the best hummus in the world, and plenty of vegan options including a appetizer trio which is a fav! Their falafel plate is delicious as well.Â

This little shack is hidden away in Simpson Bay, right on the main road by the beach and it’s owner run. Open late, there is often a line up at this flavourful food hut. The falafel pita andÂ plate is delicious and they often have vegan soup.

When we lived on St Maarten, the Pizza Gallery used to have, on occasion, Â raw vegan lunches, which were hosted by the daughters of the owners. They have vegan pizza and other items on the menu.Â

This place doesn’t have many options except smoothies, but I felt I should mention it as it’s a favourite among Vegetarians. Â None of their bakery items are vegan andÂ while the salads are ok, you have to get them without cheese and TBH I’ve had better. Â

The BoathouseÂ

The Boathouse in Simpson Bay has (or had as restaurants often change their menu) an extensive vegan seafood menu. The last time I was there I had a fantastic vegan fried fish dish and shrimp! Yum!

This little cafe is tucked away in Sandy Grounds near the Cinema. Full of vegan options, I was blown away by the flavours of their simple falafel dish, and yes that’s a vegan tzatziki sauce!Â

Vegan Chefs on St MaartenÂ

St Maarten has a fantastic local chef, Taymer Mason. Taymer’s cookbook and blog, Caribbean Vegan has amazing vegan fish, smoothies, bread, and classical Caribbean food veganized.Â Â My favourite meal is the bread plant bread, it’s unreal and so yummy!

Another cookbook written in St Maarten is Every Day Happy Herbivore, written by Lindsay S Nixon while living in St Maarten. Living on the island a few years ago, the grocery stores were limited with their vegan options and Lindsay used a lot ofÂ available foods in her cookbook. It’s great for anyone living in a country without access to common vegan substitutes, or handy North American foods. Â

Vegan Grocery StoresÂ

Grand Marche Â and Carrefour have vegan options, including Daiya Cheese, vegan cheese slices, vegUSA vegan meats – shrimp, fish, chicken, beef, and tons more in the frozen section. The health food store in Simpson Bay (Nature’s Discount)Â also has vegan ice cream and treats and vegan pate in the health food store in MarigotÂ (I believe it’s the German Gourmet Market). As most health food stores are called Health Food Stores and not listed on many directories, and when/if they are they often are closed at weird times (especially on the french side), don’t exist anymore or the location is different than the one shown. Really, the best way to find something is to ask. And don’t expect fast internet, or any internet at all on the island, it’s SOOOO SLOOOWW!Â