Koal Keel and Le Petit Patissier, Anguilla

Just a bit outside The Valley (the closest Anguilla has to a downtown area), there’s a lovely old wooden building that dates from the late 1700s.  Known as Warden’s Place, it was once a sugar plantation great house, but is now the Koal Keel restaurant and Le Petit Patissier bakery.


Le Petit Patissier offers breakfast upstairs in an airy room with antique furniture, a collection of silver in the china cabinet, and vintage photos on the walls.  We chose a selection of freshly made pastries (a pineapple turnover, cinnamon twist, and a cheese danish) and settled in at a table in the corner, next to the windows with shutters thrown open to let in the morning breeze.

As I sipped my coffee, I looked around and couldn’t help but feel that I’d gone back in time, except for the occasional car whizzing by outside.  Since breakfast was included at the hotel, this was the only time we ventured out for breakfast, and it was a fun excursion to drive over to The Valley (and discover that, no surprise, Anguilla’s rush hour is downright relaxing compared to Chicago’s) and have a very charming breakfast on our own.

A couple of days earlier, we had also come by for dinner at Koal Keel, which occupies the main level of the building.  Just as upstairs, there’s a breezy historical feel to the dining room, which is open on several sides and decorated with interesting antiques and art.


I especially liked the spiny lobster salad, big chunks of firm-sweet lobster meat atop slabs of grilled avocado, sprinkled with herbs and chilis, with dollops of aioli on the side. It went very well with a bottle of Chablis – Vaillons Premier Cru 2003 – that had a nicely nutty flavor.

After dinner, if you ask nicely, you can visit the Rum Room, where there’s a sideboard laden with all sorts of rums ready for tasting, from Anguillan Pyrat rum to unusual and aged rums I’ve never seen before.  On the other side, a dusty cabinet is filled with bottles that look like they’ve been there for a hundred years – for ambiance, not consumption, but fascinating to look at.

After a few minutes exploring the wine cellar, which even includes a second room off to the right, we said goodnight and headed back out into the warmth of the Anguilla night. Koal Keel is definitely a memorable spot, and worth seeking out since it’s so interesting and so very different from any other restaurant on the island.