Million Air Winter 2023/24

After preparing our ingredients under the shade of a large mango tree, Iroy shows us how to layer them in a traditional clay pot before placing it on an open fi re. The dish bursts with fl avor, even without prohibited taste enhancers of fats and salt, taking Joo by surprise with its complex mix of herbs and spices. We try ital food again later that week when we break for lunch at the buzzy Natural Vybz bar in the village of Barnes Ghaut, during a plant-themed Village Food Tour with horticulturist Lyle Williams. Along with the friendly locals we meet along the way, he introduces us to lychee-like guinep — which Joo declares her new favorite fruit — plus bittersweet moringa, heady soursop and pungent antioxidant noni (“great for boosting the immune system,” shares Williams). And we keep on discovering. From the delicious crispy tannia and sweet potato fritters served with a mango raita at Gillian Smith’s hugely atmospheric Bananas restaurant, and the expertly barbecued lobster tail with thyme butter served in a 300-year-old candlelit sugar mill at the historic Montpelier Plantation at the foot of Nevis Peak, to the slow cooked, crunchy-skinned pig roast at Hermitage Plantation, served bu ff et-style. Our highlight, though, was Karen Belle’s Passion Bar & Grill in Cox Village, where we tried the tenderest salt

fi sh scooped up with freshly baked coconut Johnny cakes. “Always look for the softer fi sh, and change the soaking water in the morning,” Belle advises Joo. Plus, a special shout-out to Sunshine’s Beach Bar & Grill on Pinney’s Beach, a favorite of Jay-Z and Oprah, with newly elevated cooking but still with that barefoot beach party vibe, helped in large part by its signature Killer Bee cocktail, a revved-up rum punch with a recipe that the eponymous Sunshine will take to his grave. The culinary tour is as packed as you want it to be, though we chose the full schedule; it still gave us plenty of timeto fl op, whether in the sea or in the spa (don’t miss Four Seasons’ signature Nevisian massage, which starts with a coconut foot bath), fi nishing the trip as we started by chilling pre- and post- fl ight in St Kitt’s slick private air terminal Kayan Jet, rested but richer for the people we met, the new foods we tasted, and the culture we absorbed. “We arrived as tourists, but we’re leaving as locals,” ponders Joo, deftly dispatching a small mango, nibbling thetopo ff before sucking out the intensely sweet, velvety fruit, while simultaneously jettisoning the kernel, as instructed. Bankie would approve. By Fiona Sims

From $11,656 per person. Contact reservations@nevissuntours.com, +1 869 469 1299, nevissuntours.com

Ras Iroy prepares plantain for lunch

Photos Christian Horan Photography, Fiona Sims