The Best Johnny Cakes in Anguilla

 
 

... join us as we eat our way through Anguilla's best Johnny cakes in the video below!

 

For more on some of our favorite Johnny cakes, keep reading below.

By: Kristin Bourne

If you like bread, you are probably going to like Johnny cakes.

Johnny cakes have existed for many years and have histories from the Northeast of North America, through the southern United States, through the Caribbean and down in to South America.

I'll take my Johnny cake on the beach...

The versions vary as some use cornmeal and some flour, some are baked and others are fried.

If you shy away from fried foods, then you are likely to prefer a baked Johnny cake vs. a fried Johnny cake (sometimes called fry cake). Baked vs. fried divides them in to two different categories for taste and texture.

In Anguilla, the old-fashioned way of cooking a Johnny cake does not involve oil. The dough is instead baked in a homemade coal oven. Don't get me wrong, those Johnny cakes are special and really good but…

Let's focus on our favorites, the fried Johnny cakes! Here are where you can find the tastiest ones in Anguilla.

Palm Grove, aka Nat's Place

Palm Grove Restaurant, aka Nat's Place up at Junk's Hole unofficially holds the title for best Johnny cake in Anguilla.

When someone utters the word "Johnny cake" the word "Nat's" is often said in the same breath and for good reason…

They are sinfully delicious!

Nat's Palm Grove Johnny cake

Nat's Johnny cakes are heavenly pillows of perfection. Soft, light and puffy fluffy, with a touch of sweetness and just enough chew, they tick every box.

Plate of Piping Hot Johnny Cakes

If you like hot sauce, don't be shy to dip your Johnny cake in Nat's special hot sauce. There's a bottle on every table at Palm Grove.

An extra perk of Palm Grove is that you can enjoy your Johnny cake by the sea and as "they" say, "everything tastes better by the sea".

Johnny cakes by the sea at Palm Grove

Tasty's Restaurant

Known for its gourmet spin on local flavors, Tasty's is a fine dining restaurant in Anguilla where Johnny cakes are a part of the experience.

3 of Tasty's Johnny cakes

Chef Dale Carty's Johnny cakes boast lovely crispy outside, with a soft middle and flatter surface area.

Special Note: Johnny cakes do not automatically come with every order at Tasty's…

At breakfast some are included with the Caribbean Sampler Breakfast. At lunch you may have to order one a la carte if you are interested in tasting one. Dinner at Tasty's warrants a basket of Johnny cakes, but not if you're ordering tapas.

To be safe, ask if you are to receive Johnny cakes! If the answer is no, then be sure to order one or more so you can sample one of Anguilla's finest.

Valley's BBQ

Not too far up the road from Tasty's, you can find Valley's BBQ. Be sure to click the link to read about Valley and his popular chicken legs.

Comparatively unsung are his "fry cakes" (aka Johnny cakes).

What set's Valley's fry cakes apart is their size...

Valley's BBQ fry cake

They are tasty, again with the crispy outside and softer center. His fry cakes are flatter and larger. His have the two trademark Johnny cake slits in them too.

Valley's fry cakes are most likely not going to be served hot unless you arrive when he is frying them up. He is a roadside BBQ that focuses on his stellar chicken legs. The fry cakes heat up nicely but are still very enjoyable at air temp.

Be sure to stop by his roadside BBQ and grab a few!

Veya

Hands down the most upscale Anguilla restaurant to hold rights to brag about their Johnny cakes is Veya.

Veya's Johnny cake basket

Known for their cuisine of the sun and chic atmosphere, the night garden scene at Veya coupled with their warm, lightly salted crispy outside and soft in the center Johnny cake is a nice way to get dinner started (along with one of their incredible appetizers, like the shrimp cigars or calamari).

Veya serves a few of their special Johnny cakes along with a couple sweet breads to accompany your dinner order.

Veya's Johnny cake basket

They serve the basket of breads with butter. I suggest trying the Johnny cake with and without butter to see which way you like it. The Johnny cakes don't really need butter, but it is butter and hard to pass up.

I haven't met anyone who doesn't love Veya's Johnny cake and if there is a complaint, it's only that the size of it be larger…

Now that's a good testament!