Bimini Bahamas: The Art of Conch Salad

Big Mike, making tropical conch salad at his stand on Queen's Highway in Alicetown, Bimini. Edible performance art, IMHO.

Chris(tine) and Chris(topher) placing their orders at Big Mike's Conch stand in Bimini.

Conch, or Lambi as it's called elsewhere in the Bahamas was not love at first bite. But conch salad, a Bahamian specialty, won me over. The fruit version—in addition to conch, the best bits scored and chopped—it contains finely chopped: pineapple, apple, pear, orange lemon and/or lime, tomato, cucumber, onion, as well as some salt, and in Big Mike's case, a pepper sauce. In short, it's a killer fruity ceviche made with shellfish.

What is a conch? We saw some today—alive.

We came across this conch, today, in the sand flats across from Brown's Marina, North Bimini.

Was it an empty, shell, already harvested? I turned it over to find out.

See the critter inside? It was the conch, not a hermit crab,
who would find a conch shell far too cumbersome. 

We guessed this conch was there because it was too small to harvest, given the appetite for conch and its easy proximity to the island.

Big Mike proffers up a finished serving of his conch salad
while his sidekick photobombs him from behind.
Photo was taken by Christine Barnes of s.v Scintilla.

Big Mike's stand opened two years ago and is as popular with the locals as it is with tourists, both there and to-go. I asked him if the island was nicer with less tourists. He said "Less tourists, less money, Not so nice."

Big Mike's serves more than conch salad; this was my fish dinner—snapper.

The dinner and the salad were more than I could eat in a sitting. I followed Christine's example and brought some tupperware to bring my leftovers back. 

Nothing was left besides the bones on my snapper. My dad would be proud.
Photo was taken by Christine Barnes of s.v Scintilla.
Our dock mates, Holly—behind my fish bone—and Jared, to her right, joined us and were glad they did.

The meal was also more expensive than I expected for a roadside stand—$25, though that was for the conch salad, the dinner, and 1 Kalik beer. But it was delish!!!

Conch shell pile by another restaurant on North Bimini.

"How many conchs do you go through a day?" Christine asked Big Mike. About two-to-three hundred a day, he said. Dang! No wonder those conch shell piles are so big all around the Bahamas!

Interested in learning more about conch? Check out these prior posts

• More about conch and where I fell in love with conch salad
• Catching and the grisly task of prepping conch
• Getting conch excavation lessons from a local
• Conch book and conch chowder recipe

Have you ever eaten conch salad? Or any other Bahamian culinary specialty? What and where? Do share!!!

Location Location

Near full moon over the antennae tower on North Bimini.

We're still at Brown's Marina (25 43.340N 79 17.930W) until the winds are favorable to head to Nassau. Currently, if we went with the wind. we'd get blown back to Florida.