Prices are per person for a 3-course meal, excluding drinks, service, and sales tax.

Restaurants on New Providence (Nassau, Paradise Island, and Cable Beach) and Grand Bahama (Freeport and Lucaya) range from Indian and Chinese to upscale French and Italian, as well as native Bahamian cuisine. One night you might be munching conch fritters and panfried grouper at an out-of-the-way local spot, and the next you might be savoring a Grand Marnier soufflé in a fancy French bistro. On the Out Islands, Bahamian food predominates, but international fare is gaining ground, particularly at resorts.

Most Bahamian cuisine looks to the sea, which provides a cornucopia of fresh products. Meat, on the other hand, is often imported and consequently expensive. The islands' signature seafood is the conch (pronounced "konk"). Conch meat turns up in a variety of incarnations, including cracked conch, conch salad, conch chowder, conch fritters, even conch burgers. You can find stands selling fresh conch salad throughout the islands.

You'll find fish, especially grouper, on almost every menu. The Bahamian specialty is boiled fish with tomatoes and spices. Bahamian lobster, clawless and somewhat toothier than its cousins from Maine, is another delicious option. At lunch and dinner, your entrée will likely be flanked by a generous mound of peas 'n' rice, potato salad, coleslaw, baked macaroni and cheese, or fried plantains. Some other local specialties, easier to find in the Out Islands, include turtle steak, wild boar, mutton, okra soup, and "peas soup" and dough (dumplings).

Salads and other greens are scanty on most local menus, but fruit -- including mangoes, pineapples, breadfruit, tangerines, and papayas -- is abundant. Bring your meal to a sweet close with guava duff, benny cake, or coconut jimmy.