6 Best Restaurants in Seychelles

If you're craving something different, this Thai restaurant at the Banyan Tree Hotel is a treat. In a simply elegant dining room of crimson hues and graced with sea views to gorgeous Anse Intendance, Saffron serves up delicious and authentic Thai food, including a seafood glass noodle salad, a fabulous red curry duck with lychees, and delicately steamed red snapper in a chili lime sauce. The Thai chef and availability of locally grown Thai produce are no doubt behind the authentic flavors.

A popular toes-in-the-sand, small, family-run, open-air restaurant on one of Mahé's most beautiful beaches, the café serves delicious Creole dishes with an emphasis on seafood, and some meat-and-fries options. The café does a hopping lunch business and can remain busy through dinner (last order at 7.30pm). Meals are served family style (big platters of whatever you've ordered to suit your numbers), and casual is king. Service is known to be erratic, so order ahead of your hunger if you've built up an appetite swimming and sunning all day long.

This large and lively open-air institution across the street from popular Beau Vallon beach serves a tasty Creole buffet with more than 20 dishes every night, casual lunches, and breakfasts daily. The choice of salads is great, with flavorful renditions of the mango, papaya, and starfruit dishes that you may have become familiar with from other buffets. A chef grills fresh fish and chicken to order, and the curries are also delicious. It's an all-you-can-eat prix fixe, so come hungry. Plans of adding a sushi bar to this casual beach earty are in the works.

Located on lovely Anse Lazio beach, this outdoor establishment is open for lunch only, but serves delicious grilled seafood and Creole specialties right on the water's edge. Order grilled lobster, fish, scallops, or mussels Seychellois from the à la carte menu (all served with rice, salad, and lentils). A large open-air structure of thatch and wood, the restaurant's best tables are in the sand under umbrellas. Outside of lunch hours, juices, milkshakes, beer, and ice cream are available.

Located on a covered white-washed deck at the harbor's edge, casually sophisticated Le Combava is a beautifully designed oasis offering a classically international lunch and dinner menu. Lunch items include delicious and generous portions of salads, burgers, pizzas, and mains from spaghetti bolognaise to seared swordfish. In the evening the choices go more upmarket, with starters like a lobster medallion served with risotto and vanilla emulsion or foie gras mousse with figs, and mains such as grilled beef fillet or duck confit. The beach chic seaside setting makes it a romantic evening treat.

A wonderful new addition to La Digue's dining options, this friendly Italian restaurant on Anse Reunion serves excellent food in a tranquil garden setting. Wood-fired pizzas will hit the spot, as do the delicious pastas and risottos. Fish lovers are in for a treat, as the chef makes a point of using local fish and octopus, and the fish of the day with lime and cointreau or panfried with white wine and capers are recommended. Dinner guests should come early and enjoy a sunset looking out to neighboring Praslin island.