Cayenne eats more interestingly than its size suggests. The base layer is French — bakeries, decent steak frites, a passable wine list — overlaid with Creole cooking (fish stews, bouillon d'awara, blaff), Brazilian grills, a strong Vietnamese and Hmong presence dating from refugee settlement in the 1970s, and Surinamese street food on every corner.
For Creole food, the cabanes along the Avenue du Général de Gaulle and around the Place des Palmistes serve hearty plates of fish or chicken with red beans and rice for around 12-15 euros. For pho and noodle soups, head to the Hmong stalls at the Marché de Cayenne on a Wednesday, Friday or Saturday morning. Florida-style fast food and pizza fill the gaps. Restaurants are mostly closed Sunday and Monday.