1. World-class coffee

Twenty minutes’ drive out of Vanuatu’s capital Port Vila is Tanna Coffee, a factory and cafe in the country’s oldest building, a former Catholic church.

An Australian fell for the coffee of another Vanuatu island, Tanna, and now uses more than 1000 smallholder farmers from the region to grow coffee in its volcanic soils. The result is some of the finest you’ll drink outside of Central and South America. Take a seat in a waterside cafe to enjoy a sample.

Tanna Coffee is one of many operators, from distilleries to chocolate makers to European-style cafes, that are making Port Vila a genuine dining destination.

2. Local-made chocolate

Cocoa beans grown throughout Vanuatu’s islands are shipped to Gaston Chocolat in downtown Port Vila. The shop’s a working factory, where customers can see every step of the chocolate-making process through glass. Already a multiple winner of international awards, the chocolaterie allows visitors to taste flavours of Vanuatu, such as nangae nuts, tanna coffee or local root and kava, all blended into chocolate offerings.

3. Taste rum

Take a seat at a booth in 83 Islands Distillery’s sleek new tasting room/bar, or outside on the deck, all overlooking the water, and taste rums made using local sugar cane. French-Canadian co-owner Pierre-Luc Chabot even puts the names of the farmers who grow the cane on each bottle. Already winners at the world-renowned London Spirits Awards, there’s no better rum in the South Pacific.

4. Ocean-side dining

Cafe Vila Restaurant and Bar, in the grounds of Nasama Resort, is the place to be seen in Vanuatu. Drive 10 minutes out of Port Vila and you’ll find the restaurant and bar on a peninsula beside the ocean. Order a cocktail in the garden terrace bar, which bustles with activity every night, or eat next door at Three Pigs Restaurant & Bar which boasts the best wood-fired pizzas in the islands.

Nasama Resort also offers a private beach, infinity pool and rooms looking across a stunning bay out to neighbouring Erakor Island.

5. Best-kept secret cafe

Tucked away on the back roads of Port Vila on the way to the airport is a local secret, K2 Cafe. In an industrial cafe with a huge garden area you’ll find the healthiest choices in all Vanuatu. Try fresh juice and market vegetable salads straight from local farms, with lots of choice for vegetarians.

6. Efate’s best steak

Stonegrill Restaurant is the best steakhouse on the island of Efate and gives diners a unique dining experience: steak cooked exactly how you’d like it on a hot volcanic rock. Time your booking for sunset and order a cocktail – they make some of the best in Port Vila. While the steak is excellent, consider lightly grilled local yellow fin tuna caught that morning.

7. Locals’ favourite brew

Not only the best new cafe in Port Vila, Coffee Tree might be the best new cafe in the South Pacific. It’s in a central spot at the old post office building; you can sit in its industrial chic interior or outside in an alleyway surrounded by pot plants hanging off old brick walls that looks more Europe than Vanuatu. The cafe’s expat owners aimed to create a place they’d want to have coffee at themselves. Now a locals’ favourite, you won’t find better coffees or breakfasts in Vanuatu.

8. Cook your own lunch

Drive half an hour out of Port Vila for a half-day cooking class with celebrated Australian expat chef, Marcus Xavier from Papaya Loco. You’ll get to eat your own three-course lunch cooked amid an old copra plantation and swim at stunning deserted beaches between courses. Chill out in the open-plan kitchen and dining area, and consider booking a room on-site to really soak it all in.

9. Sunset sessions

Though you wouldn’t come for the food alone, Banyan Beach Bar is the best in Port Vila because it’s the city’s only bar on the beach. Located along the main drag, the bar has day beds and hammocks to chill out in while you watch the best sunset over the water anywhere on Efate. There are fire shows, live music and signature cocktails, and the wood-fired pizzas and burgers are tasty and good value. Happy hours on Friday evenings attract a happy crowd. There’s no better party place.

The writer was a guest of Virgin Australia and Vanuatu Tourism.

See also: 

10 unique things to do in Port Vila

Best hotels and resorts in Vanuatu

This adventure island is Vanuatu's best kept secret