Places to eat in Mauritius

La Ravanne is a wonderful half outdoor half indoor restaurant a stone throw away from the dinarobin hotel. Wonderful food, great wine list and very nice service. Very beautiful setting under the bare starlight sky, overlooking a lagoon and watching small fishingboats go by. Live music and local dance(Sea) performances are showed often and there's a gorgeus waiter at the restaurant called Bruno :)
Expensive but nice. If you wan't you can take a boat for free from the restaurant to the Les Paradis or to the Dinarobin. Try the lamb, it's delicious

Favorite Dish: Lamb was fabulousl, but all seafood is prepared very well, yummy yummy!!

Le Chamarel was easily the best restaurant I visited in Mauritius. The food was excellent and the view was simply out of this world. The restaurant is located a couple of kilometers from the waterfalls and the colored earth of Chamarel. IMHO no visit to those attractions is complete without lunch at this place.

Favorite Dish: The spare ribs were awesome. A huge portion that I simply had to finish as they were so good.

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If you want to try typical Mauritian food this is a great place to go. We visited at lunchtime as part of a day trip to Port Louis and Eurika House. It is in an area called Moka.
You enter the restaurant through beautiful gardens and the owner welcomes you onto the outdoor terrace overlooking the garden where you can order drinks before your meal.
The food is a selection of starters and main courses that you can mix together.
Starters were fried aubergine and cheese straws with chilli dip. Main courses were locally made spicy pork sausages, rice, lentils cabbage “shu shu” and chicken with shredded papaya. The desert was papaya with prune and crispy coconut cake. All the food was lovely and we could order small carafes of red or white wine to go with it. Coffee and local orange rum were served to finish.
It is very much a family run restaurant, you feel as though you are eating in somebody’s garden, with the family dog running around and the children chasing it. A lovely experience of local cuisine.
The owners only speak French.
The cost is about Rs600
There is a small shop selling local foods and gifts in the restaurant.

L’Archipel is the main restaurant at Constance Le Prince Maurice Hotel. The location is nice, it is open on two sides overlooking the beach and the sea and the swimming pool with blinds that can be drawn when it is windy or raining.
The food here is not my favourite kind. Although the quality is good the style is very modern French with lots of cream and eggs and silly modifications made to the food for the sake of it. For example foam! Ugh.
It is quite a large restaurant but the service is quite good.
L’Archipel is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner each day. Breakfast is very good. You can have the many dishes from the hot and cold buffet or order specially cooked dishes.
We were on half board rate at the hotel so I don’t know the exact prices except that it will be expensive!
We ate lunch in the bar and it came to £75 for 2 main courses and 2 beers.
Personally I much preferred to eat in Le Barachois (see separate tip) the floating seafood restaurant.

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Le Barachois is the floating restaurant at Constance Le Prince Maurice hotel and is set in a stunning location floating on the lagoon. You access the restaurant through the hotel gardens then walk across a series of boarded walkways with lit lookout points along the way where you can stop and watch the fish swimming in the water below. The restaurant itself is a series of small floating covered platforms and if it is not busy you can generally get one of the best tables which are the ones by the edge of the water. Floodlights illuminate the area of water next to each floating platform so you can watch the fish swimming around while you wait for your food.
As expected from a floating restaurant the menu is mainly fish and seafood with the occasional meat dish. The fish is mostly local and freshly caught each day served in Mauritian or European style. The desserts are presented on a trolley with the dish of the day and often something containing a lot of chocolate!
The wine selection is quite good with a variety of South African wines, which are always preferable to the French ones.
Staff are lovely here and because it is only small, are very attentive and friendly. Our waiter pointed out the reef shark that occasionally visited the area around the restaurant and always remembered our preferences for wine.
If you are thinking of staying at the Prince Maurice or just visiting for a meal this restaurant is much much better than the main restaurant L’Archipel.
Le Barachois is only open for dinner between 7.30 and 10.3pm.
We were on half board basis so I don't know the costs but I'm sure it's very expensive - but worth it!

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On our way back from Ile aux Aigrettes we asked our driver to take us to a traditional Creole restaurant for lunch, as we had eaten only at our hotel so far. He took us to La Belle Kreole and it was an excellent choice on all levels – great food, lovely location and friendly staff.
It is situated by a river and we sat at a table in the garden enjoying the view, the pretty birds flying about and a cold beer while we waited for our food.
We ordered the local taster menu which gave us a lot of food but allowed us to try lots of different dishes. The starter was called TamTam which was a potato dish, a stew and a fish croquet with spicy sauces on the side. We had a selection of main dishes – Sauteed fish, wild boar hash, chicken and shrimp curry with rice, mango and aubergine. For pudding we tried the banana flambé which was the best I have ever tasted (sorry mum!) served with home made ice cream. After that we had coffee and local rum which I think was spiced with vanilla and cinnamon. The cost was €19 each. Highly recommended if you are in the area of Mahebourg.

Favorite Dish: Banana Flambe was superb! And I'm not much of a pudding eater normally.

This restaurant is located on the waterfront in Grand Baie. Get a table overlooking the beach, have a dodo cocktail and some fish and watch a performance of Sega dancing.

Sega dancing is very soulful and sexy with a lot of hip movement. Only the brightest and most colourful costumes are good enough to dance the Sega. The skirts are long, ruffled and cut very wide to allow for the spinning movements. Dating back to the 18th century when conditions of work for the African slaves were miserable, slaves would numb their unhappiness drinking arrack (from sugarcane), sing and dance the night away to the rhythmic beats of the séga. Instruments accompanying the dance are the guitar, triangle, and ravanne.

Cafe De La Plage is a nice, relaxing setting. You can also stop in for a drink and snack while enjoying life on the water going by.

Seeing a performance of Sega dancing is a must see in Mauritius!

Stop at a superstore (i.e. Jumbo) and head to the bakery. If you arrive just before dinnertime you will see a dozen locals lined up waiting for the fresh, hot baguettes. They are wonderful!! Buy two because you'll eat one before you make it to the check out counter. Pick up some cheese, jams, cold meats and have a delicious dinner. These were our best meals in Mauritius. (Pick up some chocolate croissants for breakfast, too.)