Ma Boyd is a bar and restaurant serving local cuisine and pastries – it’s well-known and loved in Dominica. You’ve got to try the small tarts filled with guava, pineapple and prune; they use fresh fruits rather than jam. In fact, it is because four very different individuals loved those memorable tarts that I am telling you about Ma Boyd’s in the first place.

I visited Ma Boyd’s for the first time in November 2020. Shanita, a USA-based Dominican nurse and entrepreneur on vacation, asked our driver to make a stop at Ma Boyd’s on our way to the indigenous Kalinago Territory in the northeast of the island. Shanita proceeded to buy a rum punch and tarts. True to Dominican hospitality, Shanita offered her tarts to everyone in the taxi. Me, a Sierra Leonean former international development specialist currently galivanting around the world; Owen, a British professional cliff diver who was in the country jumping off cliffs for a project about traveling during COVID; and Connor, Owen’s American videographer. The story of how we met is a story for another blog.

But what I will tell you now is that we all loved the tarts.

The guava tart I had was not as sweet as most tarts tend to be. The distinguishable guava taste of the tart brought back memories of biting into the thin skin and sinking my teeth into the soft flesh of a small guava, freshly-picked from a tree.

Of course, I returned the next day to try some more of the guava tarts, as well as some prune tarts; unfortunately, the pineapple tarts were sold out. I also ended up getting some of the

à la carte prepared food and a sea moss drink made without milk. The meal was not bad, but the tarts had me hooked - I bought the four remaining tarts.

(Goodwill road, Roseau; +1 767- 225-7005)

#Dominica