Symon's Restaurant

Symon's is the kind of Mauritian restaurant that visitors arrive at by recommendation and leave recommending to everyone they meet. Situated in a colonial-era house near the Mahébourg waterfront on the south-east coast, it has been run by the same family for three generations and shows no sign of updating the formula that has made it a local institution. The cooking is traditional Mauritian Creole without modification for tourist tastes: vindaloo that bites back, octopus curry that has simmered since morning, fish rougaille made with tomatoes from the kitchen garden, and cari poulet with curry leaves still on the stem. Everything comes with freshly baked dholl puri or steamed basmati, a small salad of grated carrot and green mango, and a cup of homemade achards (pickled vegetables) that cuts through the richness of the curries. The dining room is simple — ceiling fans, lace curtains, tables covered in oilcloth — and the welcome is warm to the point of being overwhelming. Symon himself, now in his seventies, still makes rounds of the tables to check that guests are eating properly, which at Symon's means eating a great deal. The set lunch menu (three courses plus rum punch) is extraordinary value. Reserve two days ahead at minimum; the restaurant seats fewer than 40.