What To Eat In Vanuatu (Local Foods I’d Actually Look For)

Vanuatu food is much better than a lot of Port Vila restaurant menus make it look.

That is the slightly annoying thing. The islands grow root crops, coconuts, tropical fruit, leafy greens, coffee, cacao, beef, fish and more kava than anyone with taste buds strictly needs. Then you arrive in Port Vila and half the tourist menus are still trying to sell you a burger, a pizza, and something deep-fried with chips.

The good food is there. You just have to aim at it. This guide is the food and drink I would actually look for in Vanuatu, plus the realistic places a visitor can try it without needing someone’s auntie to invite you to a village feast. Though, honestly, that is probably still the best version.

If you want full meal recommendations, start with my Port Vila restaurant guide. For coffee specifically, use the Port Vila cafes guide. This post is more about the food itself: what to look for, what to skip, and what actually tastes like Vanuatu.

The Short Version

If you only chase one food experience in Vanuatu, eat proper Ni-Vanuatu food at Kai Vanua, then go to the Port Vila market for laplap, tuluk or simboro.

The dishes I would prioritise are laplap, tuluk, simboro, island cabbage in coconut cream, fresh fish with coconut, Vanuatu beef, tropical fruit, and kava. Add Tanna Coffee and 83 Islands rum if you want the local-producer version rather than just cooked meals.

Do not feel bad if you do not find everything. Traditional food in Vanuatu is still tied to homes, markets, villages, nakamals and special occasions, not neat restaurant menus written for tourists. For the easiest first-day shortcut, I would book the Port Vila food tour. It usually combines market stops, lunch and kava, which is a better introduction than wandering along the waterfront guessing which menu is least beige.

1. Laplap

Laplap is the national dish, and it is the one food name you will hear over and over in Vanuatu.

At its simplest, it is grated root crop – taro, yam, manioc or breadfruit – cooked with coconut cream, often with island cabbage and sometimes chicken, pork, beef, octopus or fish. The best version is wrapped and cooked slowly in an earth oven, which is why good laplap has that soft, smoky, heavy, coconut-rich thing going on.

Is it elegant? Not really. Is it the dish that explains Vanuatu food better than anything else? Absolutely. Root crops, coconut, leaves, fire, time, everyone eating from something that took actual effort.

The Port Vila City Market is the easiest place to start, because the official market listing includes cooked food such as laplap and tuluk. Go earlier rather than late, ask what is available, and do not expect a polished menu board with tasting notes. This is not that kind of lunch.

Tip: If you are nervous ordering at the market, ask someone which stall they would eat at. Vanuatu is not a bargaining culture in the same way as parts of Asia, so shop around if you want, but do not start haggling with the market ladies like a pest.

2. Tuluk

Tuluk is the market snack I would actively hunt down. It is compact, filling, cheap, and much easier to eat on the move than laplap.

The usual version is grated cassava wrapped around spiced meat, often beef or pork, then steamed or baked in banana leaf. The outside is dense and slightly chewy, the middle is savoury, and the whole thing makes sense as soon as you are hungry between swims, kava, errands or whatever slightly disorganised Efate day you have created for yourself.

It is street food in the real sense: made in batches, wrapped up, easy to carry, and exactly the sort of thing you want in your hand when lunch is still a vague future concept. Look for it at markets, road stalls and sometimes near nakamals.

Do not expect it to look exciting. A lot of the best island food is beige, wrapped, steamed, and quietly more useful than pretty.

3. Simboro

Simboro is the one I would try if you want something local but a little lighter than laplap.

It is usually made by rolling grated root vegetables or coconut inside taro leaves, island cabbage or similar greens, then cooking it in coconut cream. The result sits somewhere between a dumpling, a parcel, and a very Pacific answer to comfort food.

The best thing about simboro is that it shows how central greens and coconut are to the food here. It is not flashy, but it is exactly the kind of dish that gets lost when travellers only eat at resort restaurants.

Again, start with the market or Kai Vanua. If you see it, order it. If you do not, do not turn the day into a detective mission. Vanuatu already has enough logistics.

This is also where island cabbage in coconut cream fits in. It might turn up inside laplap, rolled into simboro, or sitting beside fish, meat or root crops. It is not usually the dish with the biggest sign above it, but once you notice it, you start seeing the backbone of local food everywhere.

The photo above is just the Kai Vanua setting, not the food itself, but I am keeping it here because this is the restaurant I would use when you want someone else to do the decoding for you. Vanuatu should have more places serving these ingredients proudly. Kai Vanua actually does it.

4. Fresh Fish With Coconut

Fresh fish with coconut cream is the Vanuatu seafood dish I would choose before most resort fish curries.

The basic idea is simple: reef fish, tuna or whatever is fresh, cooked or served with coconut milk/cream, lime, onion, greens, rice, breadfruit or root crops. You will see versions described as baked fish in coconut cream, fish in lolo, coconut fish curry, or just the fish special.

The quality depends completely on where you eat it. A good version tastes fresh, clean, creamy and like Vanuatu. A tired version tastes like someone poured coconut milk over a hotel buffet and hoped for the best.

I would look for it at Kai Vanua, the market, a local food tour lunch, or a coastal spot that actually moves fresh fish. I would not automatically order it at every waterfront restaurant just because the view is doing most of the marketing.

5. Vanuatu Beef

Vanuatu beef is one of the easiest food recommendations to give, because even people who are not chasing local food will probably enjoy it.

The beef is widely talked up as grass-fed, local and genuinely good, and this is one of the times the tourism line is not just hot air. If you eat meat, make time for one good beef meal.

My pick in Port Vila is Stonegrill, because the setting is good, the harbour view is classy, and the price makes more sense than it should when you compare it with average pub food elsewhere in town. The hot-stone thing is a little gimmicky, but also genuinely fun.

If you do not eat meat, skip this without guilt. Vanuatu has enough coconut, greens, fish and root crops that you do not need to force the steak just because everyone tells you to.

6. Coconut Crab

Coconut crab is the one I would treat carefully.

Yes, it is a real Vanuatu delicacy. Yes, it is enormous and fascinating and the kind of thing that sounds like it should sit near the top of every ‘foods to try’ list. But coconut crabs are also slow-growing and regulated in Vanuatu, with a 9 cm minimum size rule, bans on egg-bearing females, provincial quotas and closed seasons.

So my advice is not ‘hunt this down at all costs’. If a reputable restaurant has legal, in-season coconut crab and you are comfortable with the price, try it. If it feels shady, cheap, vague or like someone is pulling it from somewhere they should not, leave it alone.

Heads up: Do not buy coconut crab from random roadside offers unless you are confident it is legal and in season. Under Vanuatu’s coconut crab rules, undersized crabs and egg-bearing females are off limits, and some areas have quotas or closed seasons. This is one delicacy where being a responsible traveller is more important than ticking off a food list.

7. Tropical Fruit And Market Snacks

This is the easiest food win in Vanuatu: go to the market and buy fruit.

Papaya, banana, pineapple, grapefruit, coconuts, passionfruit, island peanuts, roasted nuts, cassava chips, little cakes, whatever is fresh and sitting there looking better than another packet of supermarket biscuits. You do not need to overthink this part.

This is also the cheapest way to make Vanuatu feel less like a resort bubble. Buy a bag of fruit, grab a coconut, sit somewhere with shade, and suddenly lunch does not need to become another expensive production. Small wins, but useful ones.

The market also helps you understand the rest of the food. You see the root crops, the greens, the coconuts, the aunties selling cooked food, the produce that quietly holds the whole cuisine together. It is a better introduction than any resort buffet.

Bring cash, go earlier in the day, and ask politely. That solves about 80% of travel food problems in Vanuatu.

8. Kava

Kava is not food, but leaving it out of a Vanuatu food guide would be ridiculous.

Vanuatu kava is stronger and earthier than what many travellers expect, partly because fresh root is commonly used rather than dried powder. It looks like muddy water, tastes like peppery dirt, and makes your mouth go a bit numb before the calm rolls in.

I would start at Kava Lounge if you are a tourist and want a low-stress first shell. It is not the deepest nakamal experience, but it is approachable, the kava is good, and Kai Vanua is basically next door when you need food after making the inevitable kava face.

Once you understand the rhythm, you can try a more local nakamal. Just go respectfully, keep it simple, and do not treat it like a novelty shot bar. It is not that.

9. Tanna Coffee

Tanna Coffee is worth trying because the beans come from a neighbouring island rather than some anonymous international supply chain.

Coffee is not especially cheap in Port Vila – most espresso-style coffees seem to sit around 350-550 vatu, with about 450 vatu feeling like the standard – but it is much easier to accept when the beans are actually from Vanuatu. As a kiwi, I am legally required to notice this sort of thing.

If coffee is a big part of your day, I have a full Port Vila cafe guide, but the short version is simple: use Tanna Coffee as a roastery stop on a west-side driving day rather than trekking out there only because you need caffeine.

10. 83 Islands Rum

83 Islands Distillery is the local rum stop I would make time for, especially if you are already building a proper Efate loop day.

They make rum, gin and local infusions, but rum is the reason it belongs in this food-and-drink guide. It is not traditional village food, obviously, but it is a good example of Vanuatu ingredients being turned into something a bit more modern.

You can do the 83 Islands Distillery tasting on its own. I also cover it in more detail in my Port Vila and Efate things-to-do guide, because it makes more sense as an activity than a quick drink.

What I Would Not Chase Too Hard

• Poisson cru: delicious when done well, but it is more of a wider Pacific/French-island crossover than the Vanuatu dish I would build the day around.
• Generic coconut curry: order it if it looks good, but do not assume coconut plus fish automatically means a great local meal.
• Random resort ‘local night’ buffets: sometimes fun, sometimes very tired. I would rather eat at Kai Vanua or the market.
• Coconut crab at any price: try it only when it is clearly legal, reputable and in season.

Final Verdict

The best food in Vanuatu is not hiding in fancy menus. It is in root crops, coconut cream, greens, fish, beef, market snacks, kava, and the local producers trying to make something proudly Ni-Vanuatu rather than another tourist burger.

My ideal food plan would be simple: book the Port Vila food tour early, eat at Kai Vanua, buy tuluk or laplap from the market, have one Vanuatu beef dinner, drink kava once, and save room for Tanna Coffee or 83 Islands rum.

Do that and Vanuatu starts tasting like itself. Which is sort of the whole point.