Restaurant Month, set for October, officially launched Wednesday night with a sun-drenched event at the Kimpton Seafire Beach Deck.
Troy Leacock, president of the Cayman Islands Tourism Association, told the assembled chefs, sommeliers and restaurant owners that this year’s event would be “bigger and better” than previous years, with more than 45 restaurants already signed up, “and more being signed up every day”.
The month-long event has usually been aimed at encouraging local residents to try new restaurants in the quiet month of October. This year, Leacock said, thanks to first-time sponsor Mastercard, the event was “shifting gears into promoting Restaurant Month internationally and boosting the reputation of the Cayman Islands as the culinary capital of the Caribbean”.
Leacock told Cayman Compass that he wanted the event to become a draw for the Cayman Islands as a destination in a similar way as music, sports and festivals.
“With this, Taste of Cayman, the Cayman Cookout and so on, we’re starting to build a really strong culinary calendar here,” he said. “We have a very diverse restaurant scene, a strong tourism economy and probably more restaurants per head than many other places in the region.”
Mastercard representative Jacky Korn told Cayman Compass that the Cayman Islands cuisine stands out in the Caribbean.
“You have a very broad culinary offering, which has really been improving over the years,” he said. “Every time I visit, there’s always something new and better emerging here in the restaurant scene.”
Speaking at the event, Director of Tourism Rosa Harris said she remembered when the month was first launched.
“I was a junior member on the management team – that’s how long it’s been around,” she said, adding her dream was for the Cayman Islands to “get past the 365 mark, so we have a restaurant for every day of the year”.
Participating restaurants will offer special 3-course menus starting at CI$15 for lunch and CI$30 for dinner. The event runs 1-31 Oct.
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