A Journey Through Barbados, One Fish Cake at a Time 

It’s a secret recipe. Sure, I can venture a guess. There’s some form of batter and salted cod. Deep fried until they’ve reached that perfect nexus of crispy and chewy, golden brown. But there’s a mystery, an alchemy going on here that only the most expert fish-cake-friers know.

For the chef here, they’re the best in Barbados. “People come back and buy it,” the chef tells me. “They even buy the batter from us and freeze it.”

And with a food shack called De Fishcake Boss, it’s hard to argue. 

She hands me a piping hot brown paper bag with half a dozen of them. 

I take one, take a bit, and reach culinary nirvana. It’s perfect: crispy until it’s chewy, then back again, salty with a hint of spice, a deep-fried doughy jewel. But this is just the beginning. There are a hundred different places where you can find some form of fish cake in Barbados.

Because here in Barbados, the fish cake is an art form, and you can take a journey all around the island through these delicious golden-brown fritters. 

While cutters and flying fish and bread-and-two get most of the acclaim, if you really want to dive into authentic Bajan fare, fish cakes are where it’s at. 

One of my longtime favorites is another 40 minutes up the western coastal road to Speightstown, and the famous Margaret (I’ve been coming here for fish cakes for years). 

For years, Margaret has been operating a simple tent outside of Jordan’s supermarket, with a cooler filled with everything she needs to serve up spectacular fish cakes. Get here around six o’clock and you can buy a dozen (or two); Margaret’s focus a bit more on the batter, but the flavor is through the roof. 

A short walk up the street in Speightstown brings you to the Fisherman’s Pub, where you can try big, always-hot fish cakes from the eatery’s line of local food. The best part? You can sit right out on the water’s edge and look out at one of the best beaches on the west coast of the island. 

Down south, Cutters (a short drive from the famous Crane resort) may be well known for its rum punch (and deservedly so), but the fish cakes are worth the trip, too, preferably served up with some hot sauce. 

The reality is you can find fish cakes just about anywhere on this island — whether in a roadside stall or a perfect table on the edge of the water. And it’s all wonderfully accessible — just get in your car and start exploring the wonders of this place.

That’s one of the things I love about visiting Barbados: it’s a place where you don’t have to seek out authenticity, you don’t have to reach to find what’s local– you get it everywhere you go. 

And that’s not a secret.