The best restaurants New Caledonia

Timetable

Most restaurants are open from Monday to Saturday from 11am and often close between 2pm and 6:30pm. Beware, we eat early in New Caledonia! On Sundays, be prepared, especially if you are leaving Noumea (and going to the open country or the North!). Don't hesitate to ask the tourist offices or your hotel to find out which restaurants are open.

Budget & Tips

In general, restaurants are expensive on the island! Especially alcohol which can quickly make the bill rise. Count on average 30 € per meal in affordable restaurants. Outside Noumea, go for fish, often local, which generally offers very good value for money.

The Gourmet Passport. The Passeport Gourmand allows you to benefit from discounts in about 60 restaurants and hotels, as well as 70 leisure activities. They are sold for 15,000 CFP and are valid for two to six people. For more information: www.passeportgourmand.nc

The local way

The lobster ! A luxury product but one that you will often find on the menu here.
Don't miss the typical dish of the island, the bougna, a dish made of vegetables, fish or meat and yam cooked in coconut milk. Everything is grouped together and surrounded by banana leaves then placed on the embers which are covered with earth.

Deer, dogfish, notou (large pigeon), snail from the Isle of Pines, mangrove crab, grey shrimp, lobster, mangrove fish from the lagoon or from the open sea, yam, water taro, cassava, coconut, plantain, tropical fruits... these are the ingredients found in Caledonian cuisine.

To be avoided

Be careful if you catch your fish, not to catch the scratch. It is a food poisoning due to the ingestion of fish from the lagoon, which fed on a coral contaminated by an algae. In fact, corals are killed by various phenomena (pollution, rise in water temperature...) and are colonized by algae, themselves harboring harmful toxins. These corals and algae can be ingested by some fish in the lagoon, and the toxins go up the food chain to humans. The side effects are easy to guess: itching and tingling sensations. Prefer fish from the open sea and for those from the lagoon, ask for information.