Best restaurants in Seychelles

Top ChoiceRestaurants in East Coast

At Takamaka Bay, La Grande Maison is the home kitchen of Christelle Verheyden, arguably the country's most talented chef. The atmosphere, in a restored and airy colonial home, is a fine backdrop for Verheyden's exquisite tastes built around the best local (often organic) ingredients and fine-dining sensibility. Verheyden is also a sommelier: the wines are as excellent as the cooking.

Top ChoiceRestaurants in La Digue

Surrounded by water features and ocean views, this elegant open-air restaurant within Le Domaine de L'Orangeraie Resort & Spa offers fine dining, a cool setting and attentive service. It's particularly atmospheric in the evening. Lunch dishes range from succulent ceviche and Thai curries to pizza and burgers, while dinner serves up perfectly prepared seafood and meat dishes with both Creole and international flavours.

Top ChoiceRestaurants in La Digue

Small, but perfectly formed, the elevated deck of this open-air dining room overlooks the ocean and provides a romantic setting for a dinner that won't disappoint. The red snapper fillet topped with a banana sauce (its signature dish) bursts with sweet flavours, as does the 'Trio of Fish' (tuna, jobfish and red snapper) with candied orange. Reservations are a must.

Top ChoiceRestaurants in Victoria

Marie-Antoinette isn't just a restaurant, it's an experience, especially at dinner. It occupies a beautiful, wood-and-iron colonial Seychellois mansion. Bring an empty stomach – the menu (set menu of the day) includes battered parrotfish and aubergine fritters, grilled fish, tuna steak, chicken curry, fish stew, rice and salad, and hasn't changed since the 1970s. It's off the road to Beau Vallon.

Top ChoiceRestaurants in Praslin

Praslin's most stylish restaurant is in the Le Duc de Praslin hotel. Flickering candles, colourful paintings, swaying palms, a breezy terrace and the sound of waves washing the beach will rekindle even the faintest romantic flame. The food is refined; flavourful Seychellois favourites are whipped into eye-pleasing concoctions such as red-snapper fillet in passionfruit sauce or marinated chicken with tropical fruits.

Top ChoiceRestaurants in West Coast

This delightful spot weds cafe-cool to excellent cooking. The centrepiece is local seafood: octopus straight from the lagoon, baked red snapper in banana leaf, seafood platters and Creole curries, including the rarely seen crab curry. Throw in great salads (such as palm heart), local tapas, cool cocktails and beautiful beach views and it adds up to our favourite west-coast venue.

Restaurants in Praslin

Tourist trap or front-row seat for paradise? Both perhaps. With such a location – the palm-thatched canopy is right on the beach at gorgeous Anse Lazio – tables are in high demand: ring ahead if you want your feet in the sand. Try the sautéed crab with garlic, the fabulous grilled prawns or the grilled catch of the day.

Restaurants in Praslin

Praslin's prime ice-cream parlour does some interesting flavours such as crème caramel, as well as a mean coppa tropicale; takeaway scoop sizes could be larger. It also whips up pasta, pizza and various snacks at lunchtime, while dinner is a more formal affair, with dishes such as pan-roasted chicken with cinnamon, pork spare ribs and crab curry.

Top ChoiceRestaurants in Beau Vallon & the North Coast

The views here, next to Bliss hotel, are rather special and there's a real classy-but-casual atmosphere; they haven't tried to cram in too many tables, for example. The menu offers a mix of seafood (fish Parmigiana or whole grilled fish) and Mediterranean dishes (Italian-style meatballs, home-made lasagne and chicken gyros). Bring your swimmers and plan to be here at sunset.

Top ChoiceRestaurants in East Coast

One of the east coast's best seaside restaurants, stylish and breezy Kafe Kreol combines beachside charm, good service and terrific food; the octopus curry is outstanding, the tuna is cooked just right and the pizzas are excellent. Try local Slow Turtle Cider, or locally made Shark's ice cream, then wander down to the beach to cap off a near-perfect afternoon.

Top ChoiceRestaurants in West Coast

For fresh fish, grilled just the way it should be, Oscars is a terrific choice. There's grouper, sailfish, marlin and red snapper, but the best order is yellow-fin tuna seared, served rare and marinated in the house concoction of herbs and spices. Sidle up to the bar or, better still, occupy one of the garden tables with terrific coastal views.

Top ChoiceRestaurants in Praslin

The approach to seafood is all about freshness and interfering as little as possible with the ingredients: just the way we like it. A few Creole inflections liven things up a little, but we really like the grilled prawns or fish. And somehow it all tastes better at the outdoor tables on the rocks overlooking the beach and beyond.

Restaurants in West Coast

Now here's something different. Maria, the Seychellois spouse of artist Antonio Filippin, runs this quirky restaurant beside her husband's studio. The cavernous interior is discombobulating, with granite tabletops and concrete walls sprayed with paint. Food-wise, it majors on fish and meat dishes, grilled at your table on a stone plate. Skip the pancakes.

Top ChoiceRestaurants in Praslin

Charismatic Edwin and his Belgian spouse have for years prepared a spectacular Creole buffet at dinner. Closed for a major renovation when we visited, they assured us it would soon return in all its glory. Expect fine hors d'oeuvre (the avocado salad is to die for), followed by sizzling meat and expertly grilled fish (usually red snapper, jack and job).

Top ChoiceRestaurants in Praslin

Considered one of the best restaurants in Grand Anse, this place concocts Creole classics, copious sandwiches and tasty pizzas that you can enjoy in an atmospheric garden terrace complete with wrought-iron furnishings. Dishes are classy, from linguini with clams to grilled Charlois striploin or French black mussels in white wine. If only it had beach frontage, life would be perfect.

Restaurants in Beau Vallon & the North Coast

An old favourite of visitors and locals alike, this restaurant specialises in quality Italian homemade pasta (the gnocchi della casa tastes particularly good, despite the dated decor) and good seafood amid the low-lit ambience on the breezy terrace overlooking the sea. The tiramisu will finish you off sweetly. It's at the end of the coast road near Danzil.

Restaurants in La Digue

Within Le Domaine de L'Orangeraie Resort, this buffet restaurant sits strikingly on the water's edge. Each night has a different theme, whether Creole, Indian, Mediterranean, Asian, BBQ or simply seafood. The breakfast spread is the best on the island and is certainly worth the splurge if you're feeling hungry.

Top ChoiceRestaurants in Praslin

You can see this place from the coastal road thanks to its distinctive position in a secluded hillside property with pretty coastal views. Tables are widely spaced and the menu has a lightness of touch missing from many of its peers. The meat or seafood dishes are all heartily recommended, but we especially like the seafood platter. Great value.

Top ChoiceRestaurants in La Digue

This beachfront-roadside shack may be on the casual side, but it serves up some of the finest meals on the island. The octopus curry and tuna steak with coconut sauce are both particularly divine. Feel free to rock up for breakfast (omelettes and fresh juices and smoothies) or lunch, but you'll need to book in for dinner by 3pm. Cash only.

Restaurants in Beau Vallon & the North Coast

On an open-sided elevated platform above the beach at the Coral Strand Hotel, Coral Asia does excellent sushi. We especially love the sashimi and nigiri platter that includes 10 sashimi and nigiri for a very reasonable Rs 385. Service can be hit or miss, but you'll enjoy the views while waiting for food.