Tamarin Restaurant & Bar

Tamarin, on the south-west coast, is Mauritius's most committed surf town — home to the left-hand reef break that local surfers have protected as fiercely as any point break in the world — and the Tamarin Restaurant & Bar is its social hub. The building, a former colonial warehouse open on one side to the mountain and river view, has the natural good looks that interior designers spend fortunes replicating: exposed stone, reclaimed timber, ceiling fans, and a long bar that catches the afternoon sun. The menu is eclectic in the way of a restaurant that serves both the serious watermen who've been out since dawn and the tourists who drove over from the coast. A sushi board of local tuna and snapper; a burger of Black Angus beef with smoked paprika aioli; a whole rack of St Louis ribs cooked over wood and finished with a dark rum and tamarind glaze; a grilled mahi mahi with mango salsa. It's a broad menu that would be easy to criticise and is difficult to fault when you're sitting in that space at 3pm with the Black River mountains in the distance. The cocktail programme is built around rum: a Tamarin Sour with aged local rum, passion fruit, and aromatic bitters is the signature. Sunday afternoons, when the surf crowd comes in from the water, are the best time to visit.