Bora Bora restaurants, dining and cuisine reflects how different cultures & traditions have impacted on Bora Bora. This contributed to the islands a mixture of local cooking, French cuisine, Italian flair & to a lesser extent Japanese influences.
Fish remains the staple diet for Tahitians. Poisson cru is an extremely popular dish with both locals & tourists & consisting of raw fish marinated in lime-juice then mixed with coconut milk. This is often served in a salad of finely cut cucumber, onion, tomato & capsicum. It is YUMMY a saw Bora Bora listed as the number 1 destination world-wide for ‘Cuisine’ in the influential September 2014 international Hotels Price Index.
The former President of French Polynesia, Gaston Tong Sang, prepares a freshly caught parrot-fish over a fire of heated coral on Bora Bora’s sacred Motu Tapu:
Maa Tahiti – the Traditional Tahitian Feast
Maa Tahiti is the traditional Tahitian food for feasts (tamaaraa) & eaten by many every Sunday. It is cooked in a himaa – an oven made by digging a large hole in the ground into which stones are piled & heated by fire. The food is wrapped in banana leaves and placed on the hot stones then covered by a blanket of purau & banana leaves. The leaves are covered in hession sacks & finally dirt around the sides before being baked for several hours. Dishes include;
- Chicken & pork with sweet potatoes
- Breadfruit
- Tarot
- fafa (a type of spinach)
- po’e (a sweet fruit – usually individually papaya, banana, tarot & pumpkin – puree mixed with starch, sugar & coconut milk)
- fei (a type of banana).
The food is served with;
- miti hue (lightly fermented coconut milk)
- miti haari (coconut milk diluted with water & lime)
- taioro (thick fermented coconut milk).
Local fruits such as papaya, mangoe, pineapple, grapefruit & banana adorn the table. Meals are eaten with the fingers & accompanied by fafaru – fresh fish dipped in sea water fermented for days with fish & prawn heads. Yes, you can smell it for miles!
Restaurant or Snack
Generally speaking, a “Snack” serves easy to prepare, straight-forward meals in a relatively relaxed atmosphere. A “Restaurant” is a more formal setting & provides a dining experience serving plates that are more complex to prepare.
GUIDES & REVIEWS FOR BORA BORA RESTAURANTS
Bora Bora Insider posts an annual Bora Bora Restaurant – Ratings & Guide .
In addition Bora Bora Insider reviews in detail ALL restaurants concerned – check out the reports at Review of Restaurants in Matira and/or Review of Restaurants in Vaitape.
The following restaurants in the Matira area been reviewed:
- VILLLA MAHANA
- BLOODY MARY’S
- SNACK MATIRA
- RESTAURANT MATIRA BEACH
- NOA NOA – LE MOANA
- RESTAURANT FARE MANUIA
- TAMAA MATAI
- SALADS SANWICHES PATISSERIE
- THE CREPERIE
- RESTAURANT HOTEL MAITAI
- SOFITEL MARARA
Reviews have also been written for the following restaurants in Vaitape:
- ST JAMES RESTAURANT
- PANDA D’OR
- MAI KAI RESTAURANT
- BORA BORA YACHT CLUB
ABOUT
The writer owned & operated a number of hotels in Australia each of which included various restaurant facilities. The writer’s wife is a qualified Cordon Bleu (Paris). She trained with the only member of the Acadamie Francaise in Australia at the time & operated her own restaurant in central Sydney. Two other collaborators, one born in Hong Kong, the other in Japan & both of whom have extensive experience in restaurant operation & management make up the review team.
More info: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurants-g311415-zfp58-Bora_Bora_Society_Islands.html