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Before visiting Rarotonga, I expected the mountains and underwater world to be the highlights of our trip. I certainly wasn’t expecting it to become one of my favourite foodie destinations in the Pacific. We didn’t have a single disappointing meal during our stay. From simple market stalls to beautiful restaurants overlooking Muri Lagoon, every meal felt like part of the experience.
If you’re wondering where to eat in Rarotonga, I share the places we genuinely enjoyed, along with the local dishes I think you shouldn’t miss.
Local food you should try in Rarotonga
Ika mata
If there’s one dish you absolutely have to try, it’s ika mata.
This fresh salad of raw fish cooked in lime juice is often compared to ceviche, but the generous amount of coconut cream gives it a much richer, creamier flavour. We tried it almost everywhere we could and never had a bad version, although my favourite was at Pacific Resort.
Rukau
Rukau surprised me. This traditional side dish is made with taro leaves cooked in coconut cream. I expected something much earthier but it actually had a gentle flavour that was slightly sweeter than I imagined and incredibly comforting. My favourite version was from Muri Night Market.
Banana poke
This was probably the biggest surprise of the trip. Honestly, it doesn’t look particularly appetising, and the jelly texture from the tapioca takes a little getting used to. But the flavour is delicious – naturally sweet, filling and not overly banana-like. We were told it isn’t a breakfast dish, but I found it was perfect for breakfast at Punanga Nui Market!
Umu
If you have the opportunity to try food cooked in an umu, don’t miss it.
Even better, join a cultural experience like Tumutoa Tours where you can help prepare one yourself. Understanding the cooking process made us appreciate the meal even more. The umu chicken was my favourite.
Fresh coconut
Buying a fresh coconut from a roadside stall became one of my favourite little rituals in Rarotonga. They’re affordable, healthy, refreshing and available all over the island. If you see “coconut nu”, it’s a young coconut with a sweeter taste.
Local tropical fruit – especially breadfruit
As we travelled in winter, local fruit wasn’t as abundant, but there were still opportunities to try local fruit, including starfruit, pawpaw, ladyfinger bananas and guava. Fresh breadfruit was another surprise. I found it much sweeter than I expected, with a flavour that reminded me of custard apple.
Island fries
Most restaurants serve island fries made from local root vegetables such as taro and cassava. Cassava actually became one of my favourites, while I preferred taro in fry form rather than served as large cooked pieces.
My favourite places to eat in Rarotonga
Best overall restaurant – Pacific Resort
If I could only recommend one restaurant in Rarotonga, it would be the Pacific Resort. We enjoyed it so much that it became both our first and last meal on the island. We visited for both lunch and dinner and loved both experiences.
There are views over Muri Lagoon, the atmosphere is stylish but relaxed, and the service was excellent, like everywhere else we ate on the island.
The food was really the highlight. Their ika mata was probably my favourite on the island, and the Pacific Sizzler, featuring perfectly cooked parrotfish in a coconut and lime sauce with vegetables, was delicious. Their Muri seared tuna salad was cooked to perfection.
Best for: a special lunch or dinner with delicious food and lagoon views.
Best restaurant for views – Nautilus Resort
If you’re looking for the most beautiful dining setting in Rarotonga, it’s hard to beat Nautilus if the weather is good. The outdoor tables overlook Muri Lagoon and the resort’s stunning swimming pool, creating one of the prettiest lunch spots on the island.
The food was good too. We enjoyed the tuna salad and ika mata, although we slightly preferred both dishes at Pacific Resort. The papaya salad was a little too spicy for us, but that’s purely personal preference. If I had to choose between the two restaurants, I’d pick Pacific Resort for the food and Nautilus for the views.
Best for: a memorable lunch overlooking Muri Lagoon.
Best casual seafood – Bite Time Café
If you’re after fresh seafood without the full restaurant experience, Bite Time Café is an easy recommendation. Located near Punanga Nui Market, it’s a simple, casual place where the focus is entirely on the seafood.
We went twice during our stay and particularly enjoyed the seafood chowder, which had a delicious coconut-based broth. The sashimi and ika mata were also excellent.
Best for: quickly served fresh seafood.
Best place to experience an umu – Tumutoa Café
A fun moment of our trip was joining the Tumutoa cultural experience (Monday and Thursday), where we helped prepare an umu, made ika mata and rukau, then enjoyed dinner with local music and a fire show. Cooking an umu yourself gave us a much better appreciation of this traditional cooking method, and the smoky flavours were delicious.
We enjoyed it so much that we returned to their Café the following day for lunch (it’s open until 3 pm) to try the umu chicken salad and umu pork pie. The portions were slightly smaller than elsewhere on the island, but still satisfying.
Don’t leave without trying their coconut coffee either; they’re also serving it at the Saturday Punanga Nui Market.
Best for: trying traditional Cook Islands cooking.
Muri Night Market
Many people consider the Muri Night Market a must-do, and I can understand why. The atmosphere is different from eating at a restaurant, with dozens of food stalls surrounding shared tables where both visitors and locals come to eat. We visited twice during our trip.
Our favourite dishes were the seafood in coconut herb sauce from Seafood Man, the rukau from the neighbouring stall and, of course, the fresh coconuts, which cost just NZ$3 for the small ones, and delicious smoothies.
The portions were generous too – one meal even became lunch the following day.
Go early, as some popular stalls sell out. It’s open from 5 pm to 8 pm on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.
Best for: sampling a variety of local dishes in one place.
Punanga Nui Market
If I had to choose between the two markets, Punanga Nui was probably my favourite. The atmosphere felt more vibrant, with live music, local crafts and opportunities to chat with locals. Because it’s only held on Saturday mornings, it doesn’t compete with Muri Night Market – I’d actually recommend visiting both.
We started with smoothies and banana poke for breakfast before finishing with ika mata around lunch time, and everything was delicious.
The food was also a little cheaper than in the restaurants.
Best for: breakfast, lunch and local music.
Progressive dinner experience
This isn’t a restaurant, but a cultural dining experience where we visited three different homes and were served food cooked by locals.
It was quite structured, like a rotating dinner with storytelling and hospitality at each home. The food was home-style but of good quality. It’s a good option if you want something different from restaurants and markets, and a more intimate look at local life. Be prepared for a long dinner experience: allow around five hours from start to finish, including transfers and all the pick-ups and drop-offs.
Best for: a touch of local immersion and solo travellers wanting to meet people.
Te Vara Nui cultural night
There are quite a few island night experiences across Rarotonga where you can watch a cultural show during or after dinner, each with a slightly different style. You can find a useful overview of schedules and options here.
We chose Te Vara Nui for its large-scale, theatrical performance, hoping for impressive choreography, costumes and storytelling. It’s definitely one of the most polished shows on the island, and we highly recommend it. While it wasn’t the best food we had on the island, the buffet was still good quality and offered plenty of variety, especially if you want to try several Cook Islands dishes in one sitting without committing to a full dish.
Other places we tried
Au Tree Café by Go Local can be a good stop after a turtle tour. The ika mata, sashimi and tacos were all tasty, with great ocean views.
Takitumu Tapas, opposite the Muri Night Market, had a great atmosphere thanks to the live music. The tapas platter is an excellent idea to sample multiple flavours. It’s cash only and BYO drinks.
Laguna Restaurant at Moana Sands resort in Muri served a good ika mata, but the rest of the lunch menu didn’t really excite us and the atmosphere felt quite flat. We probably wouldn’t return.
We also stopped at Edgewater Resort while looking for somewhere to watch the World Cup football game. It wasn’t really our style, as we generally prefer smaller places over large resorts. We only tried the island fries, so I can’t comment on the rest of the menu, but the setting didn’t make us want to come back for more – although it’s perfectly located for sunset views.
Places we didn’t try but stood out
21.3 Vaiana’s Bistro and Bar seemed like one of the best spots on the island for sunset drinks or a relaxed early dinner. It has a laid-back beachside setting and a great party-like atmosphere as the sun goes down. I think people go there more for the entertainment and sunset than the food itself.
On the Beach OTB Restaurant (Manuia Beach Resort) is a romantic beachfront restaurant that looks perfect for sunset and a more refined dining experience. It’s a bit more pricey, but it seems like a special spot for a memorable evening.
What was your favourite food experience in Rarotonga? Share your experience in the comments below!
Things to know before eating in Rarotonga
Food isn’t cheap, but I didn’t find restaurants noticeably more expensive than eating out at home in Australia. We budgeted around NZ$25 per person for lunch or dinner (excluding drinks), which was enough to enjoy a fulfilling main dish at most places. Tours and fancy dinners are more expensive.
We stayed in self-contained accommodation with a kitchenette but only used it for breakfast. We bought eggs from the supermarket and fresh fruit from roadside stalls, then enjoyed breakfast while watching the sunrise each morning. Eating out ended up being one of the highlights of our trip, so we happily spent our budget on lunches and dinners instead.
Although we learnt that around 80% of food is imported, we didn’t really notice it much because we mainly ordered local ingredients like fish, coconut and root vegetables. It only really became obvious with some fruit (since we visited in winter and many tropical fruits weren’t in season), or in dishes that included imported seafood like prawns or mussels, and of course meat.
A few practical tips:
- Book popular restaurants for dinner, even outside peak season.
- Arrive early at Muri Night Market before popular stalls sell out.
- Most places accept cards, although a few market stalls only take cash.
- If you’re travelling on a budget, some supermarkets even sell ready-made ika mata.
- Pack a reusable water bottle and cutlery. Water refill stations are available around the island, and many resorts provide filtered drinking water for guests. It’s an easy way to reduce single-use plastic while enjoying takeaway meals and market food.
