Touted by colleagues as one who can throw down in the kitchen, J Wray & Nephew export trade director Mark Nelson was expectedly gung-ho when Thursday Life suggested we venture into Gros Islet for a taste of traditional food. It could not have been better scripted as last Sunday was St Lucia’s Independence Day.

Hailing a cab along the Rodney Bay boulevard lined with tourist shops, fine dining restaurants, and bar haunts, we heeded recommendations from locals to check out Golden Taste Restaurant ensconced in the seaside community.

It’s with good reason the restaurant maintains such favourable word of mouth as the food is excellent and the service efficiently delivered with genuine warmth. The after-church set, the tourists and regular Sunday diners too are all here.

Ahead of Nelson’s late morning meal, drinks are in order, and of course, he makes it a Campari cocktail. Our waitress Carla Edgar suggests a pairing with the locally made brew, Piton. Nelson is a fan at first sip. He scans the menu board and settles on an order of Grilled Dorado — dolphin, a house favourite — served with mashed St Christophine (cho-cho in Jamaica), yam, plantains, mac and cheese, corn on the cob, and seasoned rice.

He is thoroughly impressed and considers his meal among the best he’s enjoyed during the five-day working trip.

Next, we decide to walk along the Gros Islet shoreline where swimsuit- and board short- clad locals are gathered, doing their own barbecued meals, packed meals, and enjoying dips in the surf.

A short distance into our walk, there’s a noticeable throng encircling a tent where pots are a-cooking on the flames. Naturally curious, we find a local family who have been mainstays on the beach on Sunday selling local foods such as crab cakes, tuna and saltfish dhals (deep-fried tarts mixed with curried chick peas), and bakes (a variation of Jamaican fried dumplings).

Nelson orders the saltfish dhal and a balao fish, and another Campari cocktail — this time, combining the red liquor with a cooler-sourced natural juice, ‘Golden Apple’ (June Plum in Jamaica). His verdict: a pleasant, refreshing mix!

— Omar Tomlinson

We crossed paths with Bob Hastilow, an Isle of Man native, who has been resident in St Lucia now for 18 years. Hastilow, a member of the St Lucian Animal Protection Society, purchases a bag of bakes every Sunday to feed ducks on the island, and has faithfully been purchasing the fried baked goodie along the beach for several years.

FUN FACT! — Hastilow shared with us that he booked the iconic Beatles band for a performance at the Shantasea in Sutton Coldfield in the early 1960s, just as they were becoming worldwide music phenomenon.