Anguilla Culinary Experience 2026 – Five Days of Exceptional Food, Wine & Island Life

Dates: May 13 – 17, 2026  |  Location: Island-wide, Anguilla 

There is a small island in the northeastern Caribbean that has built, over decades of quiet ambition, one of the most refined dining scenes in the entire region. Its beaches rank among the world’s finest. Its resorts attract a discerning, well-traveled clientele. And its restaurants – spanning beachside casual to white-tablecloth elegance – have earned the island a title it carries with genuine conviction: the Culinary Capital of the Caribbean.

Every May, that culinary identity is put on its most spectacular display. The Anguilla Culinary Experience – known simply as ACE – brings together the island’s top local chefs with internationally acclaimed visiting talent for five days of dinners, tastings, island adventures, and one genuinely unforgettable beach party. Now in its fifth year, ACE 2026 runs from May 13 to 17 and delivers the most ambitious program the festival has produced yet. For food travelers from the USA, UK, Europe, and beyond, it is one of the most compelling reasons to visit the Caribbean in May.

This is everything you need to know about ACE 2026 – the events, the chefs, the venues, and how to plan your trip.

What Is the Anguilla Culinary Experience?

The Anguilla Culinary Experience (ACE) is a destination-wide food and wine festival created in 2022 by a group of villa owners, restaurant proprietors, chefs, and resort leaders who share a deep belief in the island’s culinary identity and potential. The founding philosophy was simple but ambitious: the best way to understand a place’s history and culture is through its cuisine. ACE was built to put Anguilla’s food at the center of the international conversation.

What distinguishes ACE from many Caribbean food events is both its intimacy and its quality. The festival is not a mass-attendance spectacle. Events are sized to create genuine connection – between guests and chefs, between visiting talent and local producers, between food lovers and the island itself. Multi-course dinners happen at some of the Caribbean’s finest resort dining rooms and private villas. Tastings take place at Anguilla’s most beautiful beach bars. And the island’s own culinary team competes in front of enthusiastic crowds who are as invested in the competition as the contestants.

The festival also carries a purpose that runs deeper than great food. A significant portion of ACE proceeds supports local culinary and hospitality training programs, giving young Anguillan chefs and hospitality students the opportunity to work alongside visiting talent, receive mentorship from world-class professionals, and build the skills that will define the next generation of the island’s dining scene. ACE is, in the truest sense, a festival that invests in its own community.

ACE 2026 – Key Details

Festival: Anguilla Culinary Experience (ACE) 2026 – 5th Edition
Dates: Wednesday May 13 – Sunday May 17, 2026
Location: Island-wide, Anguilla – resorts, restaurants, beaches, and private villas
Tickets: À la carte per event – available at anguillaculinaryexperience.com/tickets
Official Website: anguillaculinaryexperience.com
Gold Partners: Malliouhana, Karaya, Four Seasons Resort Anguilla, Cap Juluca, Zemi Beach House, Alegria, Veya, Grands Vins de France
Airport: Clayton J. Lloyd International Airport (AXA) – served from San Juan, St. Maarten/St. Martin, and Antigua, plus private charter
Currency: Eastern Caribbean Dollar (XCD). USD widely accepted.

The Full ACE 2026 Schedule – Event by Event

Tickets for ACE 2026 are sold à la carte – you choose and book individual events, building your own five-day itinerary from the full program. Here is the confirmed event schedule from the official ACE website:

Wednesday, May 13 – An Evening at Karaya

Venue: Karaya, Shoal Bay West | 6:00 PM – 9:30 PM

The festival opens at Karaya – one of Anguilla’s newest and most talked-about restaurant properties on Shoal Bay West – with an opening evening of coastal cocktails and cuisine. Guest Chefs Oliver Poilevey and Timothy Dean join Anguilla’s own Chef Carrie Bogar for an evening that sets the ACE tone perfectly: international culinary talent and local expertise cooking together in one of the Caribbean’s most beautiful settings. Walk-around tastings and grill stations create a convivial, social atmosphere that eases guests gently into what the next four days hold.

Thursday, May 14 – Moke Tour & Rum Crawl

Time: 10:45 AM – 3:00 PM | Meets & ends at Tasty’s POV

ACE’s fan-favorite daytime adventure returns for 2026. The Moke Rum Crawl loads guests into open-air Moke vehicles – the iconic, breezy island transport – for a guided tour of Anguilla’s rum culture. Stops include Funzone, Anguilla Sands & Salts, and the legendary Scilly Cay, the tiny offshore islet restaurant accessible only by rowboat that has become one of Anguilla’s most beloved dining experiences. This is island life at its most playful and most authentic – part culinary education, part cultural immersion, entirely joyful.

Thursday, May 14 – Sunset Champagne Cruise with Calypso Charters

Time: 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM | Starts and ends at Sandy Ground

A champagne cruise along Anguilla’s coastline as the sun drops toward the horizon is one of those ACE experiences that photographs cannot fully capture. The Calypso Charters sunset sail departs from Sandy Ground and offers two hours of Caribbean sea, golden light, chilled champagne, and the kind of conversation that happens naturally when good food and great scenery create the perfect conditions for it.

Thursday, May 14 – Tasting Anguilla Dinner at Karaya

Venue: Karaya, Shoal Bay West | 6:00 PM – 9:30 PM

The second evening at Karaya is a more structured, sit-down culinary showcase. Guest Chef Timothy Dean joins Karaya’s Chef Joel Reyes and Boisset’s wine expert Cyril Meuley for a dinner that takes the theme of ‘Tasting Anguilla’ seriously – using local seafood and seasonal produce as the foundation for a multi-course menu that moves between the guest chef’s culinary background and the island’s own ingredients. Cyril Meuley of Boisset La Famille Des Grands Vins handles the wine pairings, drawing from the Burgundy, Beaujolais, Rhône, Languedoc, and Provence portfolio.

Thursday, May 14 – 4 Hands Chefs’ Dinner at Villa Alegria

Venue: Villa Alegria, Cul de Sac | 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM

The 4 Hands Chefs’ Dinner at Villa Alegria with Guest Chef Oliver Poilevey and Veya was sold out at time of publication – a testament to the appetite for ACE’s most intimate fine dining events. This private villa setting, with a dinner crafted jointly by two chefs combining their culinary traditions into a single multi-course experience, represents ACE at its most exclusive and most purely about the food. If this event format appeals to you, watch the official ACE website for any ticket releases and for similar events in future editions.

Thursday, May 14 – Premium Rum Sniffer Tasting at Zemi Beach House

Venue: Rhum Room, Zemi Beach House, Shoal Bay East | 7:30 PM – 8:00 PM

Zemi Beach House’s Rhum Room – one of the Caribbean’s most dedicated and curated rum spaces – hosts a focused premium rum tasting for guests who want to understand what makes Anguilla’s rum culture distinctive. Guided and educational, the Rum Sniffer experience is concise, intensive, and genuinely illuminating. A separate session also takes place on Friday, May 15.

Friday, May 15 – 5 Senses Dinner at Malliouhana

Venue: Celeste by Kerth Gumbs at Malliouhana, Meads Bay | 6:00 PM – 10:30 PM

The 5 Senses Dinner at Malliouhana is the flagship fine dining event of ACE 2026 and the one that draws the most international anticipation. Chef Kerth Gumbs – Culinary Director and the creative force behind Celeste at Malliouhana – designs a multi-sensory dinner experience in which each course engages sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste in a deliberately immersive way. Malliouhana itself, perched above Meads Bay with sweeping views of the Caribbean Sea, provides a setting of extraordinary beauty. The combination of Gumbs’s exceptional technical skill, his deep connection to the island’s ingredients and culture, and the physical drama of the dining space makes this one of the most anticipated culinary events on any Caribbean food calendar.

Friday, May 15 – Wine-Pairing Dinner at Jacala Beach Restaurant

Venue: Jacala Beach Restaurant, Meads Bay | 6:30 PM – 10:00 PM

Jacala Beach Restaurant is one of Anguilla’s most beloved dining institutions – a beachfront property on Meads Bay known for its Mediterranean-influenced seafood and its extraordinary setting directly above the water. For ACE, Chef-Proprietor Alain Laurent hosts a wine-pairing dinner in collaboration with Cyril Meuley of Boisset La Famille Des Grands Vins, pairing Jacala’s locally-inspired menus with carefully selected wines from across the Boisset portfolio of French regions. An evening at Jacala during ACE is as close as the Caribbean gets to a great French coastal bistro experience.

Friday, May 15 – Salt Chef’s Table at Four Seasons Resort Anguilla

Venue: Salt at Four Seasons Resort Anguilla, Barnes Bay | 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM

The Salt Chef’s Table is one of ACE’s most refined and intimate experiences. Four Seasons Resort Anguilla’s signature restaurant, Salt, hosts a Chef’s Table dinner led by Executive Chef Manu Calderon in a format that places guests as close to the kitchen as possible – watching the preparation, engaging with the culinary team, and experiencing each course with the full context of how it was made. The Four Seasons Anguilla property is one of the Caribbean’s finest resort experiences, and Salt is its culinary centerpiece.

Saturday, May 16 – Cape Air & NCBA Beach BBQ + Bartending & Chef Mystery Basket Battles

Venue: Anguilla Great House, Rendezvous Bay | 12:00 PM – 5:30 PM

The festival’s biggest, most inclusive, and most purely fun event is the Beach BBQ and Battle Day on Saturday at Rendezvous Bay. The Cape Air & NCBA Beach BBQ delivers exactly what it promises: ribs, gourmet burgers, and tangy chicken cooked over open flames, with a DJ providing the soundtrack, trivia competitions, raffles, and a kids’ craft station that makes this genuinely family-friendly. The competitive highlight is the Chef Mystery Basket Battle and Bartending Competition, where the National Anguilla Culinary Team faces off against rising star chefs and mixologists in a mystery basket format that is equal parts culinary tension and crowd entertainment. A blind ACE-Taste determines the best rum punch. Guest chefs Oliver Poilevey, Timothy Dean, and Sam Handwerger serve as battle judges, bringing their combined culinary credibility to what is genuinely one of the most entertaining afternoons of the Caribbean food festival calendar.

Saturday, May 16 – All Rum Leads to Rome at Zemi Beach House

Venue: Rhum Room at Zemi Beach House, Shoal Bay East

The evening of Saturday, May 16 takes an unexpected and delightful turn at Zemi Beach House’s Rhum Room, where an evening titled ‘All Rum Leads to Rome’ offers an immersion in Roman cuisine paired with Caribbean rum. The fusion of Italian culinary tradition with the Caribbean’s most distinctive spirit is the kind of playful, confident creative gesture that defines what ACE does at its best: honoring both the island’s own ingredients and the global culinary traditions that its resident chefs bring to the table.

Sunday, May 17 – Festival Finale

The fifth and final day of ACE 2026 brings the festival to a close with events to be confirmed on the official website. Previous editions have closed with beachside gatherings, casual chef collaborations, and the kind of long, sun-drenched afternoon that makes leaving feel genuinely difficult. Check anguillaculinaryexperience.com for the confirmed Sunday program as it is announced.

The 2026 Culinary Talent

ACE brings together a roster of local and visiting chefs confirmed on the official festival website. All 2026 talent is sourced directly from anguillaculinaryexperience.com:

• Oliver Poilevey – Guest Chef, Karaya & Villa Alegria & Battle Judge. Chef-Proprietor of Obélix and Le Bouchon in Chicago, IL.
• Timothy Dean – Guest Chef, Karaya & Battle Judge. Executive Chef and Proprietor, Timothy Dean Catering, Washington DC.
• Sam Handwerger – Guest Chef, Karaya & Villa Alegria & Battle Judge. Executive Chef, Obelix, Chicago, IL.
• Kerth Gumbs – Culinary Director and Chef, Malliouhana, Anguilla. The creative force behind the 5 Senses Dinner and one of the Caribbean’s most celebrated culinary figures.
• Carrie Bogar – Executive Chef, Proprietor, and Battle Moderator. Chef behind Veya, Karaya, and Sandbar in Anguilla. A cornerstone of the island’s dining scene and one of the founding spirits of ACE.
• Manu Calderon – Executive Chef, Four Seasons Resort Anguilla. Leading the Salt Chef’s Table experience at Barnes Bay.
• Emanuele Sabatini – Executive Chef, Zemi Beach House, Anguilla.
• Alain Laurent – Executive Chef and Proprietor, Jacala Beach Restaurant, Meads Bay. Host of the wine-pairing dinner with Grands Vins de France.
• Cyril Meuley – Guest Wine Expert, Director of Exports for South America and the Caribbean, Boisset La Famille Des Grands Vins, France. Leading wine pairings at Jacala and Karaya.
• Nathalie Le Sénéchal – Manager, Grands Vins de France, Anguilla. ACE Gold Partner.

The Festival That Gives Back

One of ACE’s most defining characteristics is its commitment to Anguilla’s culinary future. A meaningful portion of festival proceeds goes directly into local culinary and hospitality training programs, giving young Anguillan chefs and students the opportunity to work alongside the visiting and resident talent that ACE brings to the island. Students and rising professionals get hands-on experience, mentorship from world-class practitioners, and a platform to compete – the Mystery Basket Battle is specifically designed to give local talent a stage.

This investment in community is not a footnote to the festival – it is central to its identity. ACE was founded by people who love this island and believe in the talent it produces. Every ticket sold supports that belief in a direct and tangible way. For visitors, knowing that their attendance contributes to the next generation of Anguillian hospitality gives the experience a resonance that goes beyond the food itself.

Getting to Anguilla for ACE

Anguilla does not have direct transatlantic service, but it is straightforward to reach from North America and Europe via connecting hubs. The Clayton J. Lloyd International Airport (AXA) receives regional flights from San Juan (Puerto Rico), Sint Maarten/St. Martin (SXM), and Antigua (ANU). From the US East Coast, the most common routing is via San Juan or Sint Maarten – total travel time from New York or Miami is typically five to six hours including the connection. From the UK and Europe, connecting via Antigua or Sint Maarten with British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, or Air France to the region and then a short regional hop is the standard approach.

A passenger ferry from Marigot in French Saint Martin to Blowing Point in Anguilla is a popular and scenic option for visitors arriving via Sint Maarten airport, with crossings taking approximately 20 minutes. It is one of the more pleasant airport-to-island journeys in the Caribbean. Cape Air is an official ACE airline partner serving the Anguilla route from regional Caribbean hubs.

Where to Stay During ACE

Anguilla is one of the Caribbean’s premium accommodation destinations, and ACE’s Gold Partners represent some of the finest resorts on the island. Official ACE accommodations are listed at anguillaculinaryexperience.com/accommodations – booking through the festival’s accommodation partners ensures you are positioned close to events and supported by properties that are fully invested in the ACE experience.

• Malliouhana (Meads Bay) – One of the Caribbean’s most iconic luxury resort properties, perched above the sea at Meads Bay. Home to the 5 Senses Dinner and Chef Kerth Gumbs’s restaurant Celeste.
• Four Seasons Resort Anguilla (Barnes Bay) – The island’s flagship full-service luxury resort, with a private beach, multiple restaurants including Salt, and the full Four Seasons service experience.
• Cap Juluca (Maundays Bay) – A legendary Anguilla resort property recently renovated and reimagined, set along the island’s southwestern shoreline.
• Zemi Beach House (Shoal Bay East) – A boutique luxury resort on Shoal Bay East, home to the Rhum Room and one of the most beautiful beach settings on the island.
• Karaya (Shoal Bay West) – The island’s newest resort property and ACE Gold Partner, hosting the opening evening and Thursday dinner events.

Book accommodation well in advance. May is a popular month in Anguilla, and ACE’s growing international profile means that festival week rooms fill up quickly. The official ACE accommodations page is the best starting point.

Travel Tips for ACE 2026

• Buy tickets à la carte as soon as they are available. The 4 Hands Chefs’ Dinner at Villa Alegria was already sold out at time of publication. Popular events sell out quickly – the 5 Senses Dinner at Malliouhana and the Salt Chef’s Table are likely to follow. Visit anguillaculinaryexperience.com/tickets and book as soon as you confirm travel.
• Arrive before May 13. Allow at least one full day on the island before the festival opens to recover from travel, settle in, and get your bearings. Anguilla rewards slow arrival.
• Plan around the Beach BBQ on Saturday, May 16. This is the most accessible, most inclusive, and most purely enjoyable event of the festival – family-friendly, full of local spirit, and free of the formality of the dinner events. It is not to be missed.
• The Moke Rum Crawl fills quickly. If this island adventure appeals to you, book it alongside your dinner events. It is one of those experiences that regular ACE attendees rebook every year.
• Dress code varies by event. Fine dining dinners at Malliouhana, Jacala, and the Four Seasons are smart-casual to elegant. The Beach BBQ and Moke Crawl are casual and island-appropriate. Pack accordingly.
• US Dollars are widely accepted across Anguilla at a rate broadly equivalent to the Eastern Caribbean Dollar. Credit cards are accepted at all resort and restaurant venues. Carry some cash for smaller vendors and tips.
• Follow @anguillaculinaryexperience on social media and check the official website regularly. New events and talent additions are announced progressively. The full Sunday program for May 17 will be confirmed closer to the festival.

Five Days. One Island. Food Worth Flying For.

The Anguilla Culinary Experience was built on the belief that the best way to understand a place is through its food. Five years in, that belief has been confirmed by every edition of the festival and by the growing number of food travelers who now plan their May around ACE rather than the other way around.

The 2026 edition brings together the island’s finest dining venues, an internationally compelling roster of visiting talent, and the warm, community-rooted spirit that ACE has carried since its founding. From the intimacy of a multi-course Chef’s Table at the Four Seasons to the exuberant carnival of the Beach BBQ and Battles at Rendezvous Bay, it covers the full spectrum of what makes food a reason to travel.
May 13 to 17, 2026. Anguilla is setting the table. Come hungry.

Tickets & Events: anguillaculinaryexperience.com/tickets
Full Schedule: anguillaculinaryexperience.com/all-events
Follow: @anguillaculinaryexperience on Instagram & Facebook for lineup updates and event announcements.

Frequently Asked Questions