St. Maartan Dining: Freedom Fighters Ital Shack

While there may be no such thing as too many ribs and plantains while dining in St. Martaan, sometimes you want something different. Ras Bushaman's Ital Shack serves up super fresh vegan food in their open air "shack" across from the Herald. There are no choices to be made -- simply order a plate of what they're serving that day($7) and wait for the deliciousness to be delivered. When we had lunch there, the arugula they served with our meal was amazingly peppery. Bushaman's wife had gone out to the garden to pick it just before placing it on our plates. The generous plate also included rice and beans, a veggie "stew" and plantains. The vegetables they prepare are grown on the land behind the restaurant. Everything was amazingly fresh, simply prepared and flavorful. You can wash down your meal with tamarind and other fresh juices($2) or homemade bush tea($1).

We learned about this restaurant through one of Anthony Bourdain's "A Cook's Tour" shows -- Bourdain is notoriously anti-vegetarian, so we felt it must be pretty great for him to recommend it and it was. Popularity with the locals was evident -- even during a late afternoon rainstorm taxi drivers kept stopping by to pick up their meal to go.

Freedom Fighters Ital Shack
Bush Road in Philipsburg (across from the Herald offices)