Recommended for its authentic island cuisine is A Taste of the Island (West St.; tel. 649/946-2112). Also recommended for its stellar platters of fried chicken (no less than the Washington Post raved about it) is the Poop Deck, a wooden shack on Front Street (no phone). Don't miss the Wednesday- and Sunday-night poolside barbecues at the Birdcage, in the Osprey Beach Hotel on Duke Street. The restaurant is also open for dinner (tel. 649/946-2666). At press time, the Water's Edge restaurant, overlooking the water on Duke Street, was closed and up for sale.
Dining in Margaritaville -- Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville in the Grand Turk Cruise Center is an impressive sight, as well it should be: It's the largest stand-alone Margaritaville in the entire Caribbean. The colorful, vintage-Bermudian-style restaurant is bordered by a large, lagoon-like pool with a swim-up bar, slide, and infinity edge. Currently the cruise center is only open on those days when ships come in (3-4 days a week), but that's soon to change. Contact the cruise center at tel. 649/946-1040 for information about the restaurant hours and opening times.
You may not want to kill time at the Grand Turk airport -- but given certain local airlines' island-time mentality, you may be forced to. Here's a silver lining, however: the airport restaurant. The Cockpit Lounge has surprisingly good island food (it feeds a lot of government officials traveling to and from Cockburn Town), including cracked conch, fish and fries, garlic shrimp, and more (tel. 649/946-1095; open Mon-Sat 6am-9pm, Sun 6am-8:30pm; main courses $10-$20/£5-£10, sandwiches and burgers $4-$9/£2-£4.50, salads $5-$15/£2.50-£7.50). The restaurant also offers Internet access.
Shopping for Self-Catering -- Many resorts and rented villas have full kitchens for self-catering. You can get all your basic provisions (food, drinks, snacks, toiletries, even fishing gear) at Cee's Superstore (Pond Rd.; tel. 649/946-2995). Dot's Food Fair (Hospital Rd.; tel. 649/946-2324), located in the old town center, also offers a grocery/basic provisions store as well as a boutique with toiletries, books, clothes, you name it. Buy fresh fish straight off the dock on Front Street when fishermen come in at the end of the day. Liquor, beer, and wine can be bought at any grocery or convenience store (except on Sun) or at Dot's Liquors (yes, the very same Dot of Dot's Food Fair), across from the Red Salina on Pond Street.
