full of restaurants and with a market selling terrific fresh produce. Potter's Cay is relatively undiscovered by the average tourist. This is a shame, because the people are friendly, the prices are better and the quality of the food is fresh. We found service to be far better than The Fish Fry!
best conch salad stall in the Bahamas? - whether it's the best or not is debatable (everyone has their own favorite), but Danny's Den is certainly one of the most popular places - he will make it for you exactly how you like it. Like it hot and spicy, you got it, like the pieces small, you got - all you have to do is ask.
Potters Cay is a bunch or real rough looking, rustic, wooden shacks, all serving local fish and conch dishes. There are over 30 places to choose from, I just stuck with the one on the corner called "Darling's Seaside"
so fresh that i came her 5 times out of my 10 day trip for that conch salad lunch. Many locals come here to eat. It was the biggest bowls and best prices, slightly cheaper than Arawak cay.
Try the stall called "The Big Sonny". Uncle Sonny makes some mean and delicious fresh conch salad.
Ate at Captain Bobs or Bills (can't remember which), 4th or 5th on the left,
Mckenzies was very good and so was M&M which was probably our favorite!
One other thing to note. If you are staying at Atlantis this is a pretty easy 15 minute walk right over the bridge. Lots of locals here and we never felt unsafe.
We love visiting the first shack on the left when you go to Potters Cay. I believe that it is called McKenzie's and they have the best conch fritters and fish dinners anywhere on the island. Be aware that the conch salad is enough for two and comes in a huge quart container
Every time we are in Nassau we go to Doc Sand's (booth #6) to satisfy our craving for fresh conch. They have the best conch salad and it is the only place on the island where you can get jerk conch. Their seafood platter (conch, lobster, shrimp and fish) is also tasty and everything is cooked to perfection! Doc Sand's has a nice, large patio area out back where you can enjoy a beautiful view of the harbor while eating some delicious food. The lady that owns the restaurant, Angie, will make you feel like family.
McKenzie's for conch salad, peas and rice, Bahamian Mac and Cheese, a Kalik and a Sky Juice. Delicious! Wish I coulda tried some other places (though half were closed.) Word of advice... ask for the Traditional Conch Salad.
Blue Hole is our personal favorite (we’ve been there 3 times and our friends have been going for almost 15 years).
Twin Brothers for their amazing conch fritters (brown stall a few down from McKenzies).
I recommend staying away from Twin Brothers. It is more of a sit down restaurant and more expensive then the others.
Tucked away, under a bridge, in the shadow of the towers of world famous Paradise Island Atlantis Resort is Potter’s Cay. Potter’s Cay is a place you could easily bypass. Several yards east of the first bridge to Paradise Island, on East Bay Street, just before the second bridge, the sign on the far left, “To Potter’s Cay”” ushers you into a hub of activity that will surprise you by its contrast to what you’ve seen thus far of Nassau/Paradise Island.
The half square mile area under the foot of the bridge for traffic exiting Paradise Island is the world of Potter’s Cay. This is where Bahamians come to buy seafood from the day’s catch or to select the freshest in produce from stalls piled high with fruits and vegetables of every color and description. On the eastern water front of this market place, mail boats disgorge a steady stream of passengers and freight from the far flung islands of the Bahamian archipelago. Potter’s Cay is a beehive of activity but it is mostly a place to hang out and enjoy good, down home Bahamian food.
The aromas that greet you as you enter Potter’s Cay signal that you’re in for a culinary treat. Lining the western water front is a row of about twenty wooden food and fish stalls. Stalls vary in size; from small take-away stands operated by a sole vendor to outfits with interiors large enough for a kitchen serving a full course menu.
At the stalls of Potter’s Cay, fresh seafood is king. Conch, the Bahamian mollusk, is served in all its variations.
Cut in strips and seasoned with salt, red pepper and lime juice as Scorched Conch.
Diced and mixed in with onions, sweet pepper and celery and drenched in lime juice as Conch Salad.
Pounded, lathered in egg & flour mix and deep fried as Cracked Conch.
Mixed in spicy herbed batter, and deep fried in balls, Conch Fritters.
There’s grilled conch, steamed conch and conch chowder.
Fish and lobster – fried, steamed or grilled – are two other seafood items big on the Potter’s Cay menu. The choice of side orders include hearty servings of savoury peas & rice, macaroni & cheese, fried plantains, Cole slaw, lettuce & tomatoes or Bahamian bread called Johnny cake.
At Potter’s Cay, there’s take-away, but to really savour the ambiance of this sea-side food village, you need to take a seat. Along the concrete sidewalk that stretches the entire length of the row of shacks, every few paces, there are clusters of tables and chairs. Nothing fancy. A wooden or plastic table with seating for four or six, in the warm sunshine refreshed with light breezes wafting in from the surrounding sea.
Visitors to Potter’s Cay will not be impressed by any physical installation. The wooden construction of most stalls is fairly rudimentary. The facades of many are freshly painted and tiled. Some are roughly hewn, but all are clean and presentable. But very quickly, what becomes more noticeable is the atmosphere of the place. There’s the sunshine, conviviality, good food and a palpable sense of pride exhibited by the food vendors who are all proprietors of their operations. You sense this same pride in the manner in which the food vendor prepares your order. After a few minutes, you begin to feel like an appreciated guest at the table of a good friend.
A stroll along the sidewalk takes you pass an eclectic variety of stalls. Interspersed among the row of stalls serving cooked food are several stands selling fresh fish.
Fresh fish stalls make for an interesting site and contribute to the general “out door” market feel of Potter’s Cay but the food stalls are most memorable.
Once the meal is finished, patrons to the tables of Potter’s Cay need not hurry away. Take some time to walk off a few calories.
Just across from the row of food stalls are other sights and sounds that complete the Potter’s Cay experience. Friendly female vendors sit placidly in front of fruit and produce stalls teeming with bananas, plantains, pumpkins, papaya; red peppers, tomatoes, cassava, yam, eddoes. In front of many stalls are cages of swarming black crabs, a popular ingredient in stews, soups and rice. A baked or stuffed crab is another tasty treat of the island. Fishermen in rubber work boots hoist giant bags of fresh fish from the well of fishing smacks anchored dockside. A crowd of local customers close in on a crew of fishermen scaling and cleaning the catch of the day.
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