As expected from a small Caribbean island, we ate our fair share of seafood on Caye Caulker. Fresh fish, lobster, shrimp, and conch were available at nearly every restaurant we walked past, making the decision of where to eat both easy (anywhere!) and difficult (but where?!) at the same time. Since we were visiting during low season, there were a number of restaurants that were closed and therefore our selections were somewhat limited, but we had no problems finding a good meal while on the island. This list doesn’t include everywhere we ate, but covers a lot of it!

---

Breakfasts

We ate breakfast out about half the time we were in Caye Caulker; the other half was eaten at home since we had a kitchen in which to cook. We tried four different places for breakfast while on the island.

Errolyn’s House of Fry Jacks

Our very first morning on the island, we wanted to try a fry jack – a Belizean specialty. A fry jack is essentially a piece of dough that is lightly fried. Some restaurants give these on the side of the plate instead of toast but others stuff them and it is considered a full meal. Errolyn’s House of Fry Jacks is located on Middle Street, near the soccer field. It’s a small pink building where you walk up and order your fry jacks, then sit on a stool or picnic table to eat them. The fry jacks are stuffed with a variety of fillings, but since we went for breakfast, we tried them with eggs, cheese, and either chicken or ham (since we ate there twice). They were hot and filling, but also a bit heavy since you are eating fried dough for breakfast!

Amor y Café

Ran by a Dutch couple who have settled on the island, Amor y Café is a bright blue café serving breakfast and a limited lunch. All of the food is healthy and they offer fresh juices as well. Since this was on Front Street on our way to the dive shop, we ate here a few times in the morning before going scuba diving. It was the perfect place to get something healthy in our stomachs before going out in the water for a few hours. I ordered the mixed juice each time – a blended drink made with a few different types of fruit. Jon’s sweet tooth dictated he order an English muffin spread with Nutella and bananas, while I stuck with a more traditional scrambled eggs and toast. This was a great place to get a quick and healthy breakfast to start our day!

Meldy’s Restaurant

Located on Middle Street between our laundromat and Errolyn’s House of Fry Jacks, we passed by Meldy’s a handful of times at the beginning of our stay. Each time, I would mention to Jon that I wanted to try to eat there, primarily because the name reminded me of my good friend Melodie! Finally, toward the end of our time on the island, we went for breakfast. It was so good that we went back on our last day and ordered the exact same food! Fresh juice was available here as well and I drank the watermelon each visit. Our first visit, Jon tried the sour sop juice (sour sop is a sweet local fruit) which was delicious, but sadly it was not available our second visit. I ordered an omlette with bacon and vegetables, accompanied with a fry jack and spicy beans. Jon went for the Belizean breakfast – a traditional breakfast available throughout the country of Belize. His plate consisted of stewed chicken (similar to a curry but not quite as spicy), fry jacks, and beans. We each loved our dishes and wish we had eaten there prior to the end of our trip!

Axios Sun Coffee & Muffin Company

We stopped here to try a different restaurant one morning and discovered their coffee! It seems obvious that a coffee shop would have good coffee, but after many mornings of drinking instant NesCafe at our apartment, having some freshly brewed coffee was a treat. We wanted a quick breakfast so each ordered a ham and cheese bagel sandwich, which came warm and was a nice and fast meal. We tried to go back here three different times while on the island, but each time was closed for various reasons so never made it past our first visit.

---

Lunch

We really didn’t eat much lunch while on Caye Caulker; we found that two meals was usually enough to keep us full throughout the day. When we did get hungry, we would have a snack of some sort and then wait for dinner to eat a proper meal. The couple times we did have lunch, we either had nachos at the Lazy Lizard or something small at the sports bar (both of which are covered in the ‘Happy Hour’ section).

---

Happy Hour

We didn’t venture too many places for happy hour, especially since some of the locations were closed for low season. However, we did find a couple of favorites!

Sip n Dip

The Sip n Dip is a bar located on a pier, with a handful of chairs scattered out on the pier and beautiful views over the sea. We went here once for happy hour and loved the views of the water and looking back on the island, but every other time we tried to go, it was closed.

Lazy Lizard

The Lazy Lizard became our “go to” spot for happy hour, primarily because it was always open! They offered a 2-for-1 special on all rum drinks, so we sampled a few before quickly finding our favorites. We usually tried to sit on the second story, to have a better view and also because it was a bit more secluded and quiet. The bar is located on the north tip of the island, right on The Split (where the island split into two during a hurricane years ago). From here, we watched a handful of sunsets and saw kids jumping off a swing rope on the other part of the island. It’s also worth mentioning, the nachos here were delicious and we shared these a few different times!

Barrier Reef Sports Bar

I’m including the sports bar in the ‘happy hour’ category, although in reality we ate here during different parts of the day. From brunch on Sundays with football, to a quick snack as we were running errands in town, and a trivia night that ended with standing on our chairs during Freebird, we frequented the sports bar a number of times during our stay. As one of the only places on the island with Belikin on draft, as opposed to a bottle, the bar offered a surprisingly large menu with variety depending on what we felt like eating that day.

---

Dinner

Dinner was usually the focal point of our conversations each day, first deciding whether to eat out or at home, and second on where to eat if we were going out. Seafood was prevalent on the menus of all restaurants on the island and we definitely took advantage of the offerings!

Fantasy Dining

For our first night on the island, we had arrived after it was dark and therefore weren’t familiar with where to go. We biked into town and chose the first restaurant that we found that was open, which happened to be Fantasy Dining. We ordered a couple of Belikins and each selected something off the menu. I was craving a salad after five weeks in Mexico, so ordered a lobster Caesar salad, while Jon chose the shrimp kebobs. We loved our meals so much that we ordered the exact same thing when we returned the following night with Sean and Lauren, our neighbors who were on their honeymoon. It was a great introduction to the seafood to be found on the island!

The Place with the Unknown Name (Because I Forgot to Write it Down)

After our first day of scuba certification class, we were tired! We had finished just as it was starting to get dark, so wanted to have some dinner before heading home to relax. We randomly selected a restaurant (whose name I can’t recall and can’t find online, unfortunately), and ordered off their specials board outside. We both asked for the coconut shrimp, fried with a mango salsa to accompany it. The shrimp was moist and savory and the rice and salad that came with it rounded out the meal perfectly. Had we not been so tired, we may have lingered over another drink or dessert, but we headed home to bed shortly after finishing our meal!

Wish Willy’s

Our most memorable meal during our two weeks on Caye Caulker was at Wish Willy’s. In doing research, I had heard of it but we hadn’t seen the restaurant while biking around the island. After a bit of investigation (and following the sign with an arrow), we found it down a side street. It isn’t really a restaurant, but is a few tables and a grill set up in someone’s yard. They heat up the grill as it starts getting dark out and then serve when the food is ready. There’s no menu, but they will give a few options based on whatever is fresh that day. Jon and I both asked for the lobster and were not disappointed! The lobster and vegetables were grilled to perfection and we both agreed that we could have eaten another plate of food! The casual atmosphere, with picnic tables, coolers full of beer, a grill, and some reggae music, made it feel more like we had been invited to a BBQ at a friend’s house rather than a formal meal at a restaurant. While we only ate here once, we both still talk about the meal and the time we had at Wish Willy’s! Of all the places we ate, this stands out as one of our favorites.

Roy’s Blue Water Grill

Our meal at Roy’s was made memorable because we managed to make a friend; a cat came to our table to say hello and then stayed throughout our meal since Jon kept feeding him pieces of fish! Despite the small servings set aside for the cat, there was still plenty left for us to eat. We started with shrimp ceviche and then moved on to our main courses. Jon enjoyed the snapper with lobster and I loved the lobster fillet with shrimp. We both had garlic potatoes and a salad on the side. After so much to eat, I couldn’t finish my meal so Jon got to enjoy it the next night as leftovers!

Rose’s Grill and Bar

We wanted to try somewhere different for our last dinner on the island, so Jon suggested Rose’s. This menu was a bit different than most others; there was a table set up at the front of the restaurant with the offerings of the day. We had our choice of chicken or shrimp kebobs, red snapper, or lobster. They were all sitting on ice and after we selected which we would like, the server took them directly to the man at the grill for him to start cooking. All options came with the same sides of mashed potatoes and vegetables, so there wasn’t much left for us to do other than wait for the food to arrive! When it did, we weren’t disappointed – the lobster, as it had been everywhere, was delicious! This lobster was served whole, so we got to taste other parts of the animal instead of just the tail.

Home-Cooked Breakfasts and Dinners

I would be remiss if I didn’t give a big “THANK YOU” to my master chef husband, Jon. Having a kitchen for two weeks enabled us (and by us, I mean him) to cook some meals ourselves, either on days we didn’t want to go out or when we were trying to save a little money. There was a somewhat limited supply of groceries on the island, but there were a handful of things we were able to make during our stay: French toast, omelets, spaghetti and penne pasta, and my all-time favorite, cheese and crackers with wine. It was nice to be able to stay inside on rainy days and just relax at home if we didn’t feel like biking to town and sitting at a restaurant to eat.