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Food & Drink
St Kitts & Nevis has built up a widely established reputation for fine food, a reputation which the local restauranteurs guard zealously. Restaurants specialise in Chinese, Continental, Creole, French, Indian and West Indian cuisine. Most restaurants in St Kitts offer a continental menu with island variations. Local dishes include roast suckling pig, spiny lobster, crab back and curries. Restaurants that cater more for locals also offer conch (curried, soused or in salad), turtle stews, rice and peas and goat’s water (mutton stew). Christophine, yams, breadfruit and papaya are also served. Nevis is less grand and Charlestown’s small restaurants cater more to Nevisians than visitors. Local specialities are native vegetable soup, lobster, mutton and beef. Fruit, including mangoes, papayas and bananas, is sold at the waterfront market.
The locally produced CSR (cane spirit) is excellent. A wide range of imported drinks is available.

Nightlife
Very low key. A number of hotels and inns have string or steel bands to dance to on Saturday nights in the peak season, and there is a disco called J’s Place at the foot of the Brimstone Hill Fortress in St Kitts. Reflections Night Club, also in St Kitts, is open until the small hours. St Kitts has two casinos in Frigate Bay, complete with slot machines, roulette wheels and blackjack tables. In Nevis, Club Trenim is recommended. Otherwise, entertainment centres around the pleasant bars of the inns and hotels.

Shopping
Local crafts include carvings, batik, wall hangings, leather art and coconut work. Local textiles and designs are also available. Stamp collectors should note the excellent Philatelic Bureaux in Basseterre and Charlestown. Duty free shopping is relatively new to St Kitts and, as yet, only a few shops feature imported merchandise at substantial savings. Nevis’ hot pepper sauce, ranked among the Caribbean’s best, is a good take-home item and can be bought at the Main Street grocery in Charlestown. Friday and Saturday are the busy market days, and visitors should not miss the chance to witness this abundance of exotic food stalls, accompanied by lively local chatter. Shopping hours: Mon-Sat 0830-1200 and 1300-1600; some shops close early on Thursday.

Special Events
Festivals in St Kitts & Nevis culminate in the annual week-long carnival over Christmas, featuring floats, calypso competitions, masked parades and house parties. Visitors are encouraged to take part. The following is a selection of special events occurring in St Kitts and Nevis in 2005:
Jan 1-2 Carnival, Basseterre. Mar Inner-City Festival, Molineaux. Apr 14-17 Easter Celebrations. May Green Valley Festival, Cayon. Jun Caribbean Offshore Race. Jul St Kitts Football Festival. Aug 1 Culturama Day, Nevis. Sep Newtown Fest; Festival de Capisterre, Newtown Ground. Sep 19 Independence Day (parades, street festivities and dancing). Oct St Kitts Tourism Week (Caribbean tourism pageant, ocean festival and steel band concerts); Oceanfest (sunfish racing, fishing tournament, food, music and dancing). Nov Guy Fest, Old Town Road. Dec National Carnival (including Calypso King and Queen competitions, Miss St Kitts beauty pageant and various other youth talent contests). Dec 26 Jouvert Morning (carnival at 0400).

Social Conventions
Commercialisation has not yet taken over and the easygoing, quiet way of life of the local people remains almost unspoiled. All visitors to the islands are cordially welcomed; marriages are valid after two days’ residence. Islanders maintain traditions of calypso dancing and music and this can be seen particularly during the summer months. Dress is informal at most hotels. Beach attire is not appropriate for around town, in shops or in restaurants. For more formal occasions and functions, a lightweight suit and tie is recommended. Tipping: 10 per cent service charge is added to hotel bills. In restaurants, leave 10 to 15 per cent and tip taxi drivers 10 per cent of the fare.