Scilly Cay

Scilly Cay, off Island Harbour, Anguilla

Scilly Cay is indispensable because it is not simply a place to eat but one of Anguilla’s defining restaurant outings. Reached by boat from Island Harbour, it turns lunch into an excursion and ties the meal directly to the cay geography that helps make the island distinctive. It is the sort of place where arrival is part of the pleasure. It ranks this highly because few restaurant experiences in the Caribbean are so inseparable from setting, approach and atmosphere. Visitors seeking formal finesse can find that elsewhere, but Scilly Cay belongs on any serious Anguilla list because it captures the island at its most outing-worthy and location-specific. A top ten without the classic cay lunch would miss one of the clearest ways food and place come together here.