Ile Maurice, Mauritius Hotels and City Guide

Ile Maurice - Eating Out

Local Cuisine and Customs

Mauritian food is a delicious culinary experience, being a compôte of Creole, Chinese, French, Indian and African cuisine, heavily influenced by aromatic spices. Very hot Creole curry is a staple made with fish, chicken or beef and served with rice. Tomatoes, onions, ginger, garlic and chilli feature high on the list of ingredients for Creole cuisine.

Seafood is readily available, served in the form of fish, shrimps, prawns, langoustines and oysters. Creole rougailles, Indian briyanis, vindaloos and curries, Chinese sweet-and-sour dishes, French crab soup, bouillabaisse, coq au vin and daubes of venison and wild boar are all part and parcel of Mauritian cuisine, along with lashings of fresh fruit and vegetables grown on the island.

Desserts to finish off a meal include banana fritters, custard tarts, baked custard, bread pudding, pancakes and more. Rum goes back to the days when sugar-cane was introduced to the island by the Dutch when arrack, the forerunner to rum, was made. Rum is widely drunk on the island.

Tipping Advice

As a service charge is usually included in restaurant bills, tips are not expected. However, if you have received very good service, a tip of 15% would be appreciated by waitrons. This also applies to taxi drivers. Your hotel will advise you on how much to tip chambermaids and porters.

Hotels in Ile Maurice, Mauritius