What’s New on Virgin Gorda: Nova, Oil Nut Bay

2019 is shaping up to be a pretty exciting year for Virgin Gorda with two fantastic new recent restaurant openings happening in April and a few more favourites looking to re-open later this year.

For today’s post I selflessly took a trip over to the newly opened Marina facilities at Oil Nut Bay for a chance to check out Nova restaurant and the beautiful pool and lounge areas. I knew that you’d want to hear all about it!

Our day started with a quick boat trip over from Leverick Bay. The water taxi to Oil Nut Bay leaves from Gun Creek (see schedule here). But, if you ask nicely, they will do an extra pick-up from Leverick Bay – which was more convenient for us that morning.

After a couple of minutes, we were there. As it was still pretty early, we had the place practically to ourselves. We started with a quick cappuccino from the coffee shop and a browse around the gift shop before going outside for lunch.

The regular lunch menu comprises of a tapas-style selection of small plates which are perfect for sharing. Each one comes out as it’s ready and you start feasting. The waitress advised that 5-7 plates would make up a meal for two people, and who were we to disagree? We set about ordering.

The only thing we found slightly confusing on the menu was the bread and dips section as it isn’t immediately obvious that if you order a dip you need to order a bread option to go with it. It doesn’t come with one automatically. Not a problem, we ordered the red pepper hummus and the fresh baked bread. We did then receive quite a large portion of bread, but it was delicious so we weren’t complaining!

Cheese and Spanish ham croquettes were crispy and full of melted cheese and salty ham. The bacon wrapped rosemary scallops were perfectly cooked. An unexpected star was the smoky chili aioli which accompanied the sweet potato fries. (The fries were also delicious dipped in the hummus FYI). The feta and watermelon salad came with toasted hazelnuts and little pieces of lightly pickled celery and was perfectly refreshing with that lovely balance of salty and sweet.

We ordered a couple of the cocktails to wash it all down with – all in the name of research. It’s good to road test all the options. We felt compelled to sample dessert for the same reasons. Individual jars of sticky toffee pudding with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The perfect way to round out our meal. The pudding was beautifully dense and the toffee sauce had notes of dark treacle.

We just about had time to waddle over to the beautiful pool and loungers for a bit before the boat was back to whisk us back to Leverick. Next time I’ll be coming back to try their Sunday brunch! Will I be seeing you there?

Has anyone been to visit yet? Let me know what your first impressions were in the comments below!

You Might Also Enjoy Reading: Oil Nut Bay: The Perfect Way to Spend the Day

Public access to the Marina and Nova Restaurant is free, as is the boat service from Gun Creek. Oil Nut Bay Resort and Beach Club area is now reserved for villa and hotel guests.

There is a resort fee for those not staying in the villas/rooms if you wish to use the Beach Club. Contact info@oilnutbay.com to find out more.

For more information about eating out in the British Virgin Islands, check out my BVI Restaurant Guide.