Veritasty Goes to Bermuda!

It's about that (only) time of year that the team at Veritasty gets to go on vacation!

Earlier this month, we went on a cruise on the Norwegian Breakaway to Bermuda.  Have you guys ever been to Bermuda??  I was moderately excited before we left, but I ended up loving it!!

Bermuda is a British Territory out in the Atlantic Ocean.  I, along with a few people I've talked to, had the misconception that the island was somewhere in the Caribbean, but nope - Bermuda is 600 miles due east of Virginia.  Its culture, though, is a mix of British, Caribbean, and American...and you see that reflected in its food too.

Our first day in Bermuda was the super-duper active day...biking the Bermuda Railway Trail!  We biked about 13.7 km (from the Dockyards to Gibbs Lighthouse) first thing in the morning and we were starving by lunchtime.  The Henry VIII Restaurant, a funny looking Caribbean/English pub with a crimson facade and white balustrades, called out to us.  We ordered fish & chips and nachos to stave off the intense haaaaangrrrrr that overcame us.  The fish was very tender and sweet with a crisp crust that was not too greasy or breading-y.  The nachos were pretty standard, but I was beginning to doubt why we ordered Tex-Mex food in Bermuda.

Day two was dedicated to spelunking!  Bermuda has a few caves with incredible cave formations.  Climbing into the earth to view all those stalactites and stalagmites got us hungry, so we went around the corner from the Crystal & Fantasy Caves to the famous Swizzle Inn.  

The Swizzle Inn was the birthplace of the drink called the rum swizzle.  Our waiter brought us an innocuous-looking pitcher of orange liquid that basically looked like orange juice and rum (and kind of tastes like it too), but the small glass packs a punch!  Swizzle Inn, Swagger Out as they say.  I had a coronation chicken wrap (a British chopped chicken salad) and Alex ordered...BBQ chicken nachos?!  Again with the nachos!  We went to Bermuda, not a sports bar in suburbia!  However, according to staff at the caves as well as locals and American ex-pats dining at the Swizzle Inn, the BBQ chicken nachos were definitely THE dish to have.  A pile of nacho fixin's maybe a foot and a half high precariously maneuvered its way to our table.  Authentically Bermudian?  Maybe.  Spectacular and delicious?  Yes!

Third and final day was spent exploring Hamilton, the tiny capital city.  We had lunch at the Hog Penny Pub near Front Street.  We shared a fish soup, wahoo fish bites (a fish native to tropical and subtropical waters), and a lamb burger.  The fish soup was very nice, perhaps better for a chilly fall evening, but well balanced and savory without being fishy.  I didn't love the wahoo bites for the fish meat was a little too dry and stringy, more like very overcooked chicken fingers.  I did, however, love the lamb burger: a lamb patty with spicy spicy harissa and feta cheese.  

So maybe Bermuda will never be the most diverse culinary capital of the world, but it happened to be just the place to get my English pub food fix, with a side order of neat-o nachos!