Set on Takamaka beach in southwest Mahé, Chez Batista makes for one of the island’s more rustic outdoor dining experiences with thatched roofing and sand-covered floors. While the restaurant does serve a la carte lunch and dinner Monday through Saturday, come for the popular Creole buffet on Sundays between 1 and 3 p.m. when locals and tourists rub elbows over a crash course in Seychellois Creole cuisine. Expect a hodgepodge of curries (fish, bat, you name it), grilled fish and meats, chutneys (shark, papaya, salted fish), rougail saucisse (sausage in tomato sauce), and a few desserts such as la daube banane (banana or plantain cooked in spiced coconut milk). Come with an insatiable appetite because you’ll need it. Once you’ve had your fill, grab a SeyBrew, stumble down onto the breathtaking beach just below the deck, and lie down until it’s time to eat again.

There’s never actually an inopportune time to dine at Kannel, but if push came to shove, go for a poolside, three-cocktail lunch to capitalize on the daily Petite Anse Fish Counter (a lunch-only offering). At the counter, guests choose their catch of the day, how they want their fish cooked (grilled is the move), and select an array of accompaniments (the Creole rice is non-negotiable). Get some bouyon blan — a traditional Seychellois fish soup made at Kannel with red snapper, tomato, bilimbi (a small, sour cucumber-like plant), kalbas (calabash gourd), and pumpkin sprouts — and the salad palmis (finely sliced heart of coconut palm) for the table too, and then pencil in an afternoon siesta. If lunch doesn’t fit your itinerary, visit for the weekly Kreol night, the hot ticket among well-to-do locals and tourists: Most of the week, dinner is typical Mediterranean fare, but on Mondays the kitchen mixes in local Seychellois cuisine, the Sesel Libres (Cuba Libres with local dark spiced rum) start flowing, and the music gets bumping.

It’s understandable to have reservations about the quality of Italian food so far from the European source. But even pizza snobs from Naples or New York will agree Muse’s crispy wood-fired pizzas are objectively delicious. The flowy, indoor-outdoor venue is located in the heart of the Mango House resort. Go for a casual lunch on the mezzanine, perched above turquoise waters, and order a casual capricciosa pizza (ham, baby artichoke, olives, chile) with a glass of wine from the short daytime menu. For the full experience, go for dinner, which might begin with red snapper carpaccio brightened with passionfruit. Then look for burrata, mouthwateringly milky atop the black truffle and burrata pizza and in the burrata Pugliese salad. Fresh pastas are ever-changing, but servers will nudge you towards the signature spaghetti arrabbiata — and you should listen to them. There’s not a bad dish, or cocktail for that matter, in the house, making it easy to mistake the Indian Ocean for the Adriatic.

Part of the Laïla hotel across the street, Kafe Kreol in Anse Royale is a family-friendly beachside haven that serves a hodgepodge of Seychellois Creole and Italian food. Pastas are made fresh daily, like the spaghetti vongole (which gets the chef’s kiss), while mango adds a twist to octopus salad, a refreshing Seychellois staple. In true Seychelles style, the atmosphere is super relaxed, which makes Kafe Kreol a good choice if you’re coming off the beach in your flip-flops or after hiking one of the island’s many spectacular trails. Once you finish your meal, order a fresh coconut, pop that straw in there, and head down to the beach to digest with your toes in the sand.

La Plaine St André is the spiritual home — as in the center of spirits drinking — of Seychelles. After tasting some Takamaka rums and popping into the distillery on the property where the rums are produced, stroll through the lush medicinal garden filled with vanilla, cinnamon, and an array of other useful tropical botanicals, before winding down with some modern Seychellois Creole bites at the resident food truck. Fish cakes — made with local job fish, potatoes, apples, and mangoes — are complete comfort food, while the crispy fish tacos with green papaya and chile pickle can spice up an afternoon. The specials are always worth entertaining, but if you see rougail saucisse (which has become a mainstay after rave reviews), it’s not a suggestion but a requirement; order two because few renditions of the classic sausages in Creole tomato gravy can rival that of chef Darren Roberts. Mix with locals on Friday nights, when La Plaine St André hosts a weekly party filled with live music, crushable rum cocktails, and food all around.

It’s easy to miss this unassuming takeaway while driving through Au Cap on the east coast of Mahé, but if you’re hungry in the area around midday when it opens, keep your eyes peeled. Julianas Villas Café is the perfect spot for a quick bite of soul food and about as close to a home-cooked Seychellois meal as one can get. Menu items rotate daily, so arrive with an open mind. Delicacies such as shark skin chutney and kari bernik (limpets stewed in coconut milk with eggplant and local masala) have featured on the menu in the past, but are swiftly gobbled up by in-the-know locals who swing by for lunch. Don’t overlook more common comforts such as rougail saucisse (a rich tomato stew made with sausages and aromatic spices), octopus curry, satini pwason (salted fish), or the array of coconut curries.

Ask any local where to have a takeaway in the Seychelles and they’ll almost certainly recommend Jules. Considered to be the best on the island, this casual eatery is never without a line when it opens for lunch. The menu rotates daily and features Seychellois staples — kari koko, shark chutney, and the like — but also sprinkles in dishes such as goat stew, oxtail in red wine braise, and Indian butter chicken. The eatery is a convenient 10 minute walk up the road from the airport, so there’s really no excuse to miss Jules on your way in or out of the country — a fine first or last impression.

Del Place is the restaurant on the lips of every local who knows good food when they taste it. Go on a Saturday when the dress code is “chic, glamor, elegant,” the music is live and vibey, and the bartenders and servers make drinks and finish dishes next to the candlelit tables. Del Place’s signature dish is the red snapper, which is cooked in banana leaf and served with an aromatic coconut-lemongrass sauce that will make you want to drench every dish with the liquid gold. Servers also flambé fresh shrimp (crevettes) with local rum, which is a spectacle not to be missed.

As the oldest restaurant in the Seychelles, Marie Antoinette, housed in a colonial mansion in the capital Victoria, has been an institution since 1974. The kitchen has deliberately left the menu of Seychellois Creole classics unchanged since the ’70s, so eating here is like taking a step back in time. Marie Antoinette is famous for its traditional preparations of fruit bat (also known as rousette), whether it’s in a curry or cooked in red wine, but crowd-pleasers such as eggplant fritters and breadfruit croquettes are must-haves (and don’t forget the chile sauce). If there’s another local dish you couldn’t find anywhere else, you should be able to find it here.

La Belle Tortue, the quaint hotel where Eva’s Table operates, is a secluded paradise on Silhouette Island just north of Mahé. While three daily ferries do serve Silhouette, dinner at Eva’s Table will require you stay overnight (unless you make private travel arrangements). Chef Benjamin Cassé prepares a four-course menu every day based on the freshest produce available from the market.

This Italian restaurant at Le Repaire, a boutique hotel on the majestic La Digue island, offers a unique fusion of Seychellois Creole and Italian food, which doesn’t initially seem like it should work. And yet, lamb chops in a sauce made with local rum, fresh cream, and spices over-delivers, while the tagliatelle with Indian Ocean fish ragu offers a master class in mixing flavors (the lasagne with mouthwatering bechamel sauce is also excellent). There are a ton of pizzas for those keen on sharing and aperitivo cocktails you can take down to the beach.

For those planning a trip to Praslin island, a meal at Les Rochers is non-negotiable. The beachside, family-run restaurant, built with locally sourced granite stones and a roof thatched with latanier palm leaves, has it all: an outcrop of boulders for an epic photo op, exceptional seafood in large portions (including a sublime crab curry), and beach tables where you can enjoy it all with your toes in the sand. Though the restaurant is hidden just off the main coastal road on the east side of the island, it’s worth the excursion for one of the most memorable dining experiences in Seychelles.

Located on the idyllic Félicité Island, a remote island off the east coast of Mahé, Ocean Kitchen could justify a day trip for maverick food lovers, but it’s mostly frequented by seafaring yachters in need of an invigorating lunch or guests at the Six Senses Zil Pasyon hotel where the restaurant is located. Arriving by helicopter, as guests can do, may not be in the cards for the average diner, but get there however you can to enjoy the tranquil oceanside space tucked among granite boulders. The food is as fresh as it comes; the restaurant sources seafood from local fishermen who are committed to sustainable practices and local organic fruit and vegetables from producers on the islands. Dinner each night features a different theme to keep the captive hotel audience entertained. Mondays are for the chef’s special Creole dinner, which gives diners a true sense of place, but Tuesday’s Indian Ocean Barbecue and Sunday’s Flavours of India also tick the boxes for those eager to fill themselves up with spice-laden dishes from the region.

Nestled into the Constance Lemuria resort on blissful Praslin Island, Diva was designed by French interior designer Marc Hertrich, who augmented the concept of a traditional French dining room with nautical and tropical features, such as deep-purple sea urchin light fixtures and fabric-studded chairs that resemble turtle shells. Diva boasts the largest wine selection in the country with an overwhelming 22,000 bottles to choose from (pour one out for the overburdened sommelier who has to manage them all), meaning you can enjoy your steak tartare or wagyu beef with an earthy, Burgundian pinot noir. Guests can book a food pairing experience in the wine room that’s worth splurging on. If the tropical environs somehow spark the urge for a dram, the whiskey selection at the Diva Bar is quite the feat as well.