The landscape of Anguilla is flat and scrubby, but the waters are a luminous turquoise and the restaurants top-notch, perhaps due to Anguilla's proximity to the French islands of St. Martin and St. Barths. Staying at the Viceroy gave us a chance to revisit two favorite restaurants on Meads Bay. [Editor's note: Anguilla was devastated by Hurricane Irma in 2017, and the following two restaurants were heavily damaged. Both are in the process of rebuilding, however, so please keep checking the sites below for updates.]
If you ever think of chucking it all to open a beach bar, be sure to read “A Trip to the Beach,” Bob and Melinda Blanchard’s tale of their lives as Vermont-based entrepreneurs who did just that in 1994. I have enjoyed innumerable happy evenings in Blanchards. The more formal dinner venue offers great shrimp and lobster cakes, and delicious blackened snapper on polenta, while the Beach Shack next door, which debuted in 2011, is ideal for an informal lunch. I greatly enjoyed my black beans and rice followed by an excellent rendition of a grilled Cubano sandwich with roasted pork, ham, Swiss cheese and a zippy
chipotle mayo. (Check here for rebuilding updates.)
This restaurant has moved to the Frangipani Beach Resort on Meads Bay from its original home on Forest Bay because of uncertainty over a development project. I have always been a fan, my preferred meal being the seafood spring rolls with refreshing ponzu dipping sauce, and Anguillan grilled crayfish (little cousins to the spiny lobster). (Check here for rebuilding updates.)
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