São Tomé's cuisine reflects its island setting and Portuguese heritage. Grilled fish, calulu (a stew of dried fish or smoked meat with palm oil, vegetables, and okra), and moqueca (fish cooked with coconut milk and spices) are the staples. The fresh tuna and barracuda landed daily are excellent; the best restaurants take their fish from the morning catch.
For a sit-down meal, the restaurants along the waterfront and around the Marginal promenade are the main options. Roça Belo Monte, a restored plantation estate outside town, offers memorable lunches in a colonial setting. For cheap, local food, the market area near the port has stalls serving rice, fish, and plantain at low prices — unpretentious and good.
The island grows excellent cocoa — some of the finest in the world — and several producers have begun selling bean-to-bar chocolate. Look for Claudio Corallo's products, which are produced entirely on the island from estate-grown beans and have a fermented, complex flavour unlike commercial chocolate.