Local Restaurants in Aruba: Where Arubans Actually Eat

The restaurant strip on Palm Beach is good, and expensive, and full of people who flew in on the same plane as you. Arubans eat elsewhere. This is the list of local restaurants in Aruba that Ghislaine gives guests who ask where she goes. Prices are approximate and hours change, so check Instagram or call before you drive.

Breakfast: pastechi and coffee

The Aruban breakfast is a pastechi, a fried pastry filled with cheese (the default), chicken, beef or tuna, with a sweet coffee or a Balashi. The Pastechi House on Caya Betico Croes in Noord has been doing this for decades: a window, a line of people in work clothes, and pastechi at roughly $2 to $3 each. Order two kaas (cheese) and one carni (beef) and eat them in the car like everyone else.

Any snack bar with “snack” in the name does the same thing. The ones attached to gas stations are not a joke; locals rate them.

Lunch: fish on a pier

Zeerover, Savaneta. The one every local names first. Boats land the catch at the pier, the kitchen fries it to order, and you buy by weight at the window: fish, shrimp, or both, with funchi, plantain and pan bati on the side. Prices are local, a plate for two with drinks lands somewhere around $25 to $35. Cash only. Kitchen open 11 am to 9 pm, closed Mondays. Weekends there is a line; weekday lunch is calm.

Twenty five minutes from Palm Beach. Combine it with Mangel Halto or Baby Beach.

The best local restaurants in Aruba: the cunucu kitchens

The Old Cunucu House, Noord. A 150 year old farmhouse five minutes from Palm Beach serving the full Aruban menu: keshi yena, stoba (goat or beef stew), fresh fish with creole sauce, funchi and pan bati. Mains in the $20 to $35 range. This is where Aruban families go for a birthday.

Gasparito, Noord. Same category, slightly more polished, with local art on the walls. Keshi yena is the order.

Papiamento Restaurant, Noord. A cunucu house with tables around a pool, run by the same family for forty years. More expensive than the first two and more of a dinner out, but the kitchen is local and the fish is from the island.

Kamini’s Kitchen, San Nicolas. Small, family run, Indo Caribbean. Curries, roti and fish, under $20 a plate. Lunch hours, call ahead.

O’Niel Caribbean Kitchen, San Nicolas. Trinidad meets Aruba on the main street, which is the story of San Nicolas on a plate. Oxtail, curry goat, pelau.

Ribs, beer and a TV: Local Store

Local Store, on the road behind Palm Beach in Noord. A bar with picnic tables, a chalkboard menu, pork ribs by the half rack, mahi sandwiches, and a crowd that is half Aruban and half repeat visitors who found it years ago. It is the closest thing to a local hangout within walking distance of the high rises. Expect music, expect to share a table.

Chinese snack bars

Every Aruban neighbourhood has a Chinese snack bar and they are a genuine institution: fried rice, chop suey, bami, fish with vegetables, plus pastechi and the local sandwiches, open late, cheap, cash. They are not fancy and they are not trying to be. Ask Ghislaine for the one nearest your home; there is always one within five minutes.

Food trucks

After 7 pm the food trucks open along the main roads in Noord, Tanki Leendert and Oranjestad: churrasco, chicken, hot dogs with everything, and the Aruban batido (fruit shake). A plate is $8 to $12. The row near the Super Food Plaza roundabout in Noord is the easiest for guests to find.

Fish, the direct route

The fishermen sell from the trucks along L.G. Smith Boulevard near the Oranjestad harbour in the mornings and sometimes along the road in Savaneta. If you have a kitchen (you do), buy a red snapper or a wahoo steak, ask them to clean it, and grill it on the terrace. Our homes have grills and Ghislaine can point you to the fish trucks that are out that day.

Where to shop for the kitchen

Super Food Plaza in Noord is the big one: a Dutch style supermarket with a good bakery, cheese counter, a proper wine aisle and local products. Ling & Sons near Oranjestad is the other full supermarket. Both are 5 to 10 minutes from our homes. Dutch guests, yes, there is hagelslag and Gouda.

A few rules for eating like a local

• Tuesday evening, Bon Bini Festival at Fort Zoutman in Oranjestad: local food stalls, music, dancing. Small entry fee, touristy but genuinely run by locals.
• Balashi is the island beer, brewed with desalinated water, which is a fact people will tell you unprompted.
• A service charge of 10 to 15 percent is often on the bill. Look before you tip on top.
• Cash. Many local places, including Zeerover, do not take cards. Florins and US dollars both work almost everywhere.
• Sunday. A lot of local kitchens close. Plan your Sunday lunch on Saturday.

Stay nearby

The Old Cunucu House, the Pastechi House, Local Store and Super Food Plaza are all within 10 minutes of every one of our homes. Ocean View 2BR on the Palm Beach strip is a 10 minute walk from Local Store. The Hideout Dream Big Suite and Hideout Happiness Suite near Eagle Beach and Oasis Hideaway in Gold Coast each have a full kitchen and a grill for the fish you bring home. See all four at /stays/.

Questions people ask

What is the national dish of Aruba?

There is no official one, but keshi yena (a hollowed Gouda cheese stuffed with spiced chicken) is the usual answer. Fresh fish with funchi (cornmeal polenta) and pan bati (a sweet flatbread) is what people actually eat most.

What is a pastechi?

A fried half moon pastry filled with cheese, chicken, beef or fish. Arubans eat them for breakfast with coffee. Around $2 to $3 each at any snack bar or the Pastechi House in Noord.

Is Zeerover worth the drive?

Yes. Fresh fish fried to order on a fishing pier in Savaneta, sold by weight, cash only, closed Mondays. It is 25 minutes from Palm Beach and most guests say it was the best meal of the trip.

Do restaurants in Aruba add a service charge?

Many add 10 to 15 percent service to the bill. Check before tipping twice. Prices in tourist areas are in US dollars; local places may list in florins (1 USD is about 1.79 AWG).