Dining in Fiji offers a multi-ethnic culinary experience. Whether dining at your hotel, island resort or “in town”, you’ll find a palate of flavors from India, China, Korea, Japan, Europe and America as well as the best of Australia, New Zealand and the freshest from our South Pacific waters. Restaurants run the gamut from 5-Star international to 24 hour air-conditioned coffee shops. And yes, for those who crave the familiar tastes of home we have a McDonald’s and a Kentucky Fried Chicken!
And, world renowned Australian beef and New Zealand lamb as well as fresh local seafood can be found in most hotels and restaurants as can the specialties of Fiji’s cooking heritage. Indian culture also contributes many delicious signature dishes, among them the “roti parcel” featuring Indian curry wrapped in the Fijian version of a pancake.
The restaurant and culinary revolution in America over the past 15 years has not gone unnoticed in Fiji. Hotels, resorts and independent dining establishments constantly vie to create culinary masterpieces, to push the envelope so to speak and create a culinary experience that is not only satisfying but constantly evolving. Most also offer specific culinary themed nights including the ‘magiti’ an opulent culturally-based Fijian feast accompanied by the traditional “meke”, an exhilarating song and dance experience. And the “when in Rome philosophy” reaches a zenith with beach or poolside BBQ’s that one would expect in a tropical island paradise.
Of course, a holiday in Fiji is incomplete if you haven’t experienced Fiji’s best known and most popular outdoor cooking experience – the ‘lovo’. Using an underground oven of smoldering rocks, Fijians cook a variety of foods wrapped in banana leaves. Covered with earth and coming out after several hours of “slow” cooking with a faintly smoky flavor, lovos produce succulent, tender meats, chicken, seafood, and the centerpiece of the feast, a whole suckling pig.
And with the explosion of fine dining all across Fiji has come, as it has in North America, a growing appreciation for wine lists of distinction with a natural emphasis on superior wines from our neighboring trading partners – wonderful reds (Shiraz and Cabs) from Australia and whites (Sauvignon Blancs) from New Zealand.
