Our second night in Aruba we decided to check out the Yemanja Restaurant. Just wanted to share a couple of quick impressions on it.
For starters we got the scallop sashimi with roe. They were quite tasty, with just a little bit of light sauce on them and a generous dollop of black roe. Came with a small fresh side of seaweed salad that was also quite good.
Now, anyone who knows us knows we don’t drink white wine – ever. Unless a glass comes as part of a set tasting menu, I’m pretty sure we’ve never ever ordered a bottle…until this meal. With all the fish and the hot weather, it just felt perfect, so we tried an Argentine Chardonnay which was pretty decent especially for the price. Pretty surprising how reasonable overall wines seemed at restaurants in Aruba.
Matt decided to go with the special for his main, which was grilled local wahoo done simply on the grill with a bit of butter. It was actually slightly on the dry side for being a local fresh catch but pretty good. I got the baked grouper stuffed with boursin which was very tasty but too heavy on the boursin – it definitely overpowered the milder fish. Both entrees came with a side of brazilian-style black beans, mashed potatoes, stir fried veg and basmati rice. The rice was semi-hard and over-cooked and none of the other sides were worth writing home about either.
Final thoughts, it was a decent meal, but not sure I’d return if I was in Aruba again. We definitely liked Wacky Wahoo’s the first night better and I’m sure there are other places on Aruba that are slightly better. The service was good and friendly, but just seemed a little off and unauthentic overall. Didn’t really have that warm and welcoming local feeling we’d had the night before.