The Island’s Foodie Scene Shines at Autentico Aruba Culinary Festival
A truly authentic Aruba cultural experience!
The anticipation was building for several months. A new culinary festival was teasing appetites with an opportunity to sample a wide array of tastes from a cross-section of restaurants across our gastronomic landscape. Autentico Aruba Culinary Festival—a week’s long celebration (Oct 7-13) with various opportunities to experience highlights of the island’s foodie scene, including Restaurant Week, Bucket List Experiences, The Pavillion, and Main Stage weekend events, the 6th Bartenders’ Brawl, and Iron Chef Aruba 2024—is a new signature festival brought to us by the Aruba Tourism Authority. The goal of Autentico Aruba is to share the island’s deeply diverse culinary offerings, showcasing our elevated level of cuisine. And what a week it was! The festival delivered on all fronts, exceeding our imaginations and wowing our senses with the sights, sounds, aromas, and tastes of a truly authentic Aruba cultural experience.
Restaurant Week
Some 30 restaurants offered discounts, specials, and multi-course dining opportunities during Restaurant Week. From an affordably priced three-course dinner at Restaurant Anno 1877 and a beachside three-course dinner at Kokoa to a delightful cake-tasting experience at Cupcake Garden, locals and visitors enjoyed the opportunity to discover new flavors at discounted prices.
Bucket List Experiences
If you’re a foodie, you just might have your own bucket list of culinary adventures to explore and Autentico Aruba curated three phenominal experiences to help you build your foodie resume. The Aruba Tourism Authority welcomed three international superstar chefs to team up with local restaurants, creating flavorful and imaginative food journeys.
Chef Diego Telles is one of Central America’s top chefs. Owner and operator of Guatemala’s Flor de Lis, ranked #51 in Latin America's 100 Best Restaurants 2022, the chef teamed up with Marriott Aruba’s Mercát restaurant to bring guests an eight-course menu of thoughtfully reimagined Latin American flavors with innovative culinary techniques. The dining event was a “six hands” production, with local star Chef Urvin Croes and Aruban and Ecuadorian Chef Andres Davila collaborating with Chef Telles for this one-night-only, sold out affair.
Locals and visitors were excited to have an opportunity to meet and experience the talents of TV personality, restaurateur, and cookbook author Chef Antonia Lofaso. Based out of Los Angeles, California, Chef Antonia teamed up with Manchebo Beach Resort & Spa for a VIP dinner experience that was sold out.
Beach cuisine went to the ultimate heights when Chef Alvaro Clavijo collaborated with Marriott Aruba’s Atardi for a magical seaside culinary adventure. Chef Alvaro, who’s El Chato restaurant in Bogata is currently ranked #25 on The World’s Best Restaurants list, entertained palates with a five course dinner and wine pairing, bringing his love for sourcing locally and paying homage to the traditions of Colombian cuisine glossed with his roots in fine French cooking techniques. Diners were thrilled to be a part of this sold out experience.
The Pavillion
The anchor to Autentico Aruba was the weekend festivities at The Pavillion, an upscale food festival held on the historic streets of downtown Oranjestad in the Wilhelminastraat area. The street festival managed to marry a sophisticated yet casual vibe, welcoming 2,000 guests on both Saturday and Sunday evenings. Charming surprises were unveiled under sparkling bistro lights at every turn, with live local music and chic, relaxing gathering spaces welcoming festival-goers to soak up the enchanting ambiance while enjoying noshes from more than two dozen of Aruba’s restaurants, and craft cocktails, wine, and beer from a dozen bars conveniently dotted throughout the downtown streets.
Although both nights were sold out, the organizers smartly kept the event at 2000 attendees, allowing plenty of room to stroll the streets and graze at an unrushed pace.
Although we wanted to make an appearance at every restaurant booth there, we strategically made our way through the streets to make sure we sampled a variety of cuisine. Some of our favs included Wilhelmina’s braised beef short rib ravioli with foie gras—how can you go wrong with Certified Angus Beef tucked into scratch pasta with some rich foie gras as a chef’s kiss? The quick-moving line for gourmands wanting Lima Bistro’s Leche de Tigre ceviche was well earned, as well as Azar’s Pork Belly Guava with salsa criolla. Local cuisine was in the spotlight at Papiamento Restaurant, serving sopi oester (oyster soup), while Taste My Aruba’s menu featured keri keri (a dish made with shredded local fish) and cabrito stoba (goat stew). Saving room to make our sweet tooth happy, Caya House’s tres leches donut, uniquely made with a sweet potato dough, was off the charts, and the baked-just-right macarons from GG Bakery & Gelatissimo were both decadent and light.
The Main Stage
The Pavillion’s Main Stage events drew enthusiastic crowds cheering on their favorite local bartenders and chefs. On Saturday night, When in Aruba, a local island culture and lifestyle blog, collaborated with the Aruba Tourism Authority to bring their 6th Bartenders’ Brawl and Iron Chef Aruba 2024 to the Main Stage.
Eight of Aruba’s best bartenders competed on Saturday evening, crafting original cocktails for a panel of judges that included celebrity mixologist Kate Gerwin, a master bartender, sommelier, and television personality. The contestants were scored on skills and style while crafting the cocktail, creativity (either from a local ingredient or storytelling behind the cocktail), presentation/look of cocktail, and taste and balance.
Nelson Molina, a bartender at Renaissance Aruba’s Blue Bar and representing local spirits distributor Tropical Bottling Company, won the judges over with his cocktail he calls “Nos Cultura,” meaning our culture. He combined Grey Goose Essences White Peach & Rosemary and Santa Teresa Rum as the foundation to his cocktail. Wanting to show tribute to his island, he incorporated a fresh juice from quenepa (kenepa in Papiamento), a local fruit that tastes a bit like a cross between a lime and lychee. The cocktail was uniquely smoked with dried berries and sprinkled with gold flakes as a nod to Aruba’s gold smelting days. He also added just a touch of local yerba di hole (local wild basil) for a pleasing aromatic experience.
Iron Chef Aruba was held Sunday evening, bringing three rising culinary talents to the stage in a mystery basket format. Juan Ludeña, executive chef for Papillon and L’ Avenue Belgium Bistro; Jeanclaude Werleman, chef de cuisine at Infini; and Moises Ramirez, sous chef at Lima Bistro, were each joined by two culinary students from local schools EPI and EPB, chosen by the chefs during a student competition back in August.
The panel of judges included Antonia Lofaso and Alvaro Clavijo, two of the celebrity chefs from the Bucket List Experiences.
Three complete commercial kitchens and a well-stocked pantry set the stage for an exciting evening, with judge Antonia commenting that it was the best chef’s competition stage setup she has seen at any of the many food festivals she has attended around the world (go Aruba!).
The atmosphere was electric, the action on the stage truly nail-biting as the chefs navigated their way through each course and the challenges that the mystery ingredients posed, while the time clock ticked down. The drama was captured perfectly by onstage cameras documenting the chefs and their students, with the feed broadcasted on mammoth screens for all to see. Those of us watching wanted to taste as well—the dishes produced in this high-pressure environment were spectacular.
The judges agreed that this was an incredibly tough competition to choose a winner, sharing that on any given night, any of these three chefs could walk away as the winner. However, in the end, it was Chef Moises’ night, being named Iron Chef Aruba 2024.
We are already looking forward to what Autentico Aruba Culinary Festival has in store for next year! Stay updated for exciting plans for the 2025 Autentico Aruba Culinary Festival as we constantly update the site with the latest news and information.
