Local food to try while visiting Bonaire – pastechi
Taste something new on your next trip to Bonaire. A tasty local food to try while visiting Bonaire is the Pastechi. These half-moon shaped fried dough pockets come filled with your choice of gouda cheese, ham and cheese, salt fish, tuna fish, ground beef, chicken as well as some vegetable or vegetarian options. Some of the chicken and beef pastechi include raisins.
Where to buy Pastechi
Pastechi, available at Van Den Tweel grocery store at the front counter and also at many of the smaller local shops such as Zhung Kong supermarket. Many shops sell pastechi that are made by locals and sold directly at the cash register out of tins brought in fresh daily. In our opinion the best pastechis come from The Flamingo Airport restaurant Techno Bar. So if you don’t get to try them during your trip, absolutely stop by the Techno Bar after checking in for your flight home. Sit in the air-conditioned Techno Bar before going to the departure gate area or take some pastechi on the plane for one last Bonairian lunch to go!
Pastechi at the supermarket
Van Den Tweel Supermarket also offers the option to eat-in. Try your pastechi with a cold beer or coffee at the supermarket while you people watch. Pastechis make the perfect, not-so-healthy snack, especially loved by kids but adults won’t complain. Warehouse Bonaire, another large supermarket, sells Pastechi in the bread section. Buy them to take home or bring to the beach for an easy lunch during a day out exploring Bonaire.
Other snack food and fast food from Bonaire
Other local food to try while visiting Bonaire includes fried Dutch treats. The most popular, frikandel, made with fried skinless bite-size sausage is an old fashioned Dutch comfort food. Frkenedel usually comes with curry ketchup and mayonnaise.
Other snacks typically served alongside frikandel and also considered Dutch comfort food are bitterballen and kroketten. (The “en” at the end makes Dutch words plural but we think bitterballen sounds tastier than bitter balls… so will leave it at that). More on what we really think about Frikandel and these Dutch snacks in another post but suffice it to say we recommend sticking with pastechi! If you want to try the other Dutch snacks we recommend tasting them with a real live Dutch person who can explain why, why, why. And barring that – wash them down with a few beers. Enjoy!
