Totally Tropical Antigua

By midday, the slabs in St John's fish market in the capital of Antigua are almost empty and most of the day's exotic catch of wahoo, parrot fish and snapper has already been sold. Leroy Hodge, sous chef of the Carlisle Bay hotel and our culinary guide for the day, waxes lyrical about the local speciality of conch water and insists that we try some before we leave for the airport that evening.

He eagerly phones the hotel's kitchen to instruct them to prepare some for our return, while I weigh up the chances of our minibus overturning after hitting one of the many deep potholes on the road back to the south of the island. My visit to the island, to discover the local cuisine, began in an altogether less challenging way. After enduring a slow-motion version of passport control and customs in the stuffy, overgrown garden shed of VC Bird International Airport, I went straight to the Sunday afternoon "jump up" at The Lookout in Shirley Heights. Once a strategically important military fortification built during the Napoleonic wars, it now reverberates to the sounds of a steel band rather than cannon fire.

With Montserrat and Guadeloupe visible in the distance, I sipped on the local Wadadli lager and drank in the stunning views of green hillsides plunging down to the yacht-filled English Harbour hundreds of feet below. A first-time visitor to the Caribbean, I was mesmerised by the white sand, azure sea and palm-tree perfection of Antigua's south coast.

But I was keen to get off the beach and discover culinary Antigua. With little of the island given over to arable land, pastures or crops, Antigua depends on supplies shipped in weekly from Miami to feed the local and tourist population. However, Barnaby Jones, Carlisle Bay's Jamaican-born head chef, uses as much local produce as a variable supply chain allows and has agreed to introduce me to a few of his favourite suppliers.

As we stride through the nearby Claremont Farm alongside Canadian owner Grant Joyce, the hot sun on our backs, I try in vain to keep up with his detailed explanation of why black pineapple is considered such a delicacy. I discover that it's rarely grown commercially as it yields a crop a fraction the size of the more common varieties.

When he peels and slices the golden flesh of a just-picked fruit (the skin of which darkens when it's ripe, hence the name) and offers me a chunk, it's the sweetest, juiciest pineapple I've ever tasted.

A short ride along Fig Tree Drive between the island's two highest points, Signal Hill and Boggy Peak, brings us to the village of Swete and Sister Glo's house. Antigua's born-again boiled fruit baron, Glo has been making organic jams and jellies in her domestic kitchen for more than a decade. Sister Glo is tending an industrial-sized vat of guava jam. "I'm in my bathroom and the spirit just gives me ideas of what to do," Sister Glo tells me when I ask her where her recipes come from. The kitchen and gardens turn out to be a treasure trove of obscure fruit and vegetables. The grapefruit-like shaddock is used to make marmalade, while the West Indian cherries that will become jam have an oddly artificial flavour that remind me of the sour cherry boiled sweets I ate as a child.

Sister Glo holds out a bowl of knobbly, cactus-like plants for me to smell. I recoil as I get a lung full of rancid cheese. They're noni and are used to make a popular medicinal drink. With a song, a prayer and a jar of gooseberry jam we head for Falmouth Harbour. Archie the fisherman hauls a basket on to the jetty, pulls out two huge Caribbean rock lobsters and tells us tales of rum-fuelled fishing trips.

The scene in St John's makes for a stark and depressing contrast, with cruise ships the size of a city block offloading daytrippers. We head for the more refined retail experience at the nearby Radcliffe Quay and stop at Mama Lolly's for a lunch of sweet potato dumplings with salt cod.

Back at Carlisle Bay, there's just time for one last taste of Antigua. I sit in the lobby and hungrily spoon down a delicious seafood chowder. It takes my mind off my very real reluctance to leave. Barnaby stops to say goodbye and asks: "So, how are you enjoying the conch water?"

THE COMPACT GUIDE

HOW TO GET THERE

Andy Lynes travelled as a guest of ITC Classics (01244 355527; itcclassics.co.uk). It offers seven nights at Carlisle Bay in a beach or ocean suite on a b&b basis from £2,394 per person, based on two sharing, including return flights from Heathrow and private transfers. It also offers a gourmet guide to island.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Antigua & Barbuda Tourism (020-7258 3826; antigua-barbuda.org). Also see foodanddrink-caribbean.com

1. The Lookout

If you get really hungry you might be tempted by the bog-standard barbecue fare on offer, but the real point of a visit to the Sunday Jump Up is the rum punch, steel band and commanding island views.

CONTACT: (001 268 460 1785), Shirley Heights, Nelson's Dockyard National Parks, All Saints.

2. Sweet-T's

Cool down at this colourful ice cream parlour and snack stand with grown-up milk shakes such as the jamocho made with chocolate and coconut ice cream mixed with Kahlua. Or, try a Bailey's delight - rum and raisin ice cream fortified with a shot of local Cavalier liqueur.

CONTACT: (001 268 460 1854) Falmouth Main Road, Falmouth Village, St Paul's.

3. Indigo on the Beach

The menu at this stylish beach-side restaurant often includes the Antiguan speciality of pepperpot, a stew of okra, aubergine and peppers. Or sample some local leaf vegetable callaloo flavoured with salt beef and served with cornmeal and okra dumplings known as fungee.

CONTACT: (001 268 484 0000; carlisle-bay.com), Carlisle Bay, Old Road, St Mary's.

4. Mr Brown's

There's no sign on the door at this most casual of bars; just look for the light next to the entrance gates of the Carlisle Bay hotel. Join owner and former Dagenham car plant worker Mr Brown for a glass of the local five-year-old English Harbour rum and he'll pass the bottle over for you to pour your own measure.

CONTACT: Old Road, St Mary's (There is no telephone.)

5. OJ's Bar & Restaurant

There's live jazz on Sunday afternoons, but the big draw at this beach-front restaurant and bar is the simply prepared, fresh local seafood. Order the whole grilled snapper or the lobster salad and drink in the views.

CONTACT: Crabbe Hill Beach, St Mary's (001 268 460 0184).

6. Mama Lolly's

Stop by at this al fresco vegetarian café for a healthy mango and wheatgrass smoothie and some traditional Caribbean cooking, including steamed green bananas.

CONTACT: (001 268 562 1552), 9E Radcliffe Quay, St John's.

7. Public Market

A true locals' market with enough unusual fruit and vegetables to get every true foodie's heart beating faster, including smooth, yellow-skinned passion fruits, prickly green sour sops, mild seasoning peppers and cone-shaped sugar apples.

CONTACT: (001 268 462 1070) Market Street, St John's.

8. James Carr Bakery

After a night clubbing, join the early morning queue at the door of this 50-year-old bakery for hot sweet bread straight from the wood-fired oven. Eat with plenty of butter and tinned Tastee Cheese just like the locals, but don't forget the shop's strictly enforced "no shirt, no service" rule.

CONTACT: Thames Street, St John's (no telephone).

9. Chicken Stop

Make sure you leave enough time before your flight home to stop for a final roadside feast. It may not be service with a smile here, but it's worth braving the scowls for a quarter of juicy rotisserie chicken slathered with Antigua's most famous spicy condiment, Susie's Hot Sauce.

CONTACT: Old Airport Road (no telephone).

10. The Pavilion

This colonial-style luxury restaurant is part of Texan billionaire Allen Stanford's upmarket development near the airport, which includes the Stanford Cricket Ground, Sticky Wicket restaurant and Antigua Athletic Club. With a cellar packed with 9,000 bottles, you are sure to find the right wine to match your Kurobuta pork chop with sweet potato spoon bread, Arbol chilli caramel glaze and pignoli fig jam.

CONTACT: (001 268 480 6800; thepavilionantigua.com), 7 Pavilion Drive, Coolidge.

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