Postcards of the Turks & Caicos generally feature beautiful Grace Bay. But drive fifteen minutes east, past the roundabouts and resort gates, and Providenciales offers a different register: mangrove channels instead of beach bars, superyachts instead of jet skis, and a marina that is so pristine it looks staged. This is Leeward, and it’s where Anchorage Restaurant & Bar has opened at Blue Haven Marina, making the case that the island’s most sophisticated meal isn’t on the beach at all. It’s on the dock.
A Dining Destination
Anchorage is this region’s newest addition, and it is a dining destination. The kitchen’s focus is Mediterranean and Caribbean, with dishes built around the rhythms of the coast, wherever that coast happens to be. The menu is designed for the kind of unhurried, share-forward dining that shifts naturally from day to night: laid-back dockside lunches give way to a more elevated dinner experience, while the marina setting remains at the heart of both. Tables angle toward the docks, with sightlines built around the boats. The view is channel traffic, tenders, and the occasional 200-foot hull gliding past your table.
Meet Chef Mateo Leiva
At the helm is Executive Chef Mateo Leiva, whose résumé is impressive. Raised in a family-run restaurant, Leiva trained formally in Sitges, near Barcelona, before working his way through some of Europe’s most demanding kitchens such as Le Méridien Ra in El Vendrell, Al Fresco in Sitges, and the three-Michelin-starred ABaC in Barcelona, where he sharpened technique and leadership in equal measure. A consultancy stint in Morocco and a run as Executive Chef at Aqua Nueva in London rounded out his career before he crossed the Atlantic to open Anchorage from the ground up. His is a genuinely rare pedigree within the Caribbean; his biography is the kind you’d expect attached to a dining room in a much larger city, not a dockside table in Leeward.
What’s on the Table
The menus telegraph Leiva’s European training. By day, he keeps the menu relaxed with favorites such as a jerk chicken wrap, fried chicken sandwich, and pan-fried snapper. Come evening, Leiva’s European training comes more sharply into focus, bringing a more refined sensibility to the menu.
Dinner opens with a run of small plates: Hamachi Carpaccio with grapes and quince, a Burrata with dried tomato pesto and salted almonds, Vitello Tonnato, a Mezze spread of muhammara and baba ganoush built for sharing. From there, the kitchen moves between registers: Grilled Octopus with potato ‘nduja and a red mojo sauce, Tagliatelle Vongole, a Chicken Royale finished with a raas el hanout sauce, Snapper & Clams with parmentier and béarnaise. For the bigger appetites, there’s a Boneless Rack of Lamb with tzatziki, feta, and rich mole sauce, a Beef & Pork Skewer, and a Filet Mignon served café de Paris style. The tapas menu, meanwhile, is its own reason to visit: Chorizo Slider Lollipops, Prawns Arancini, Spanakopita, a Long “Brava” Potato with black garlic aioli, and truffle fries layered like crisps under a truffle cream. Two wine lists — a traditional program and a premium selection — plus a coastal-leaning cocktail menu, round things out.
A Setting Worth the Visit
None of this would land quite the same way without the setting, and Blue Haven Marina is not an incidental backdrop. It’s the only superyacht marina in the Turks and Caicos Islands, a gem of the IGY network and capable of berthing vessels over 220 feet, with a 12-foot draft and the kind of deep-water access and in-slip fueling that draws serious yacht owners. It functions as an official Port of Entry, complete with on-site customs and immigration. Marina visitors automatically also gain complimentary access to the on-site Blue Haven Resort and can enjoy a wide range of amenities such as the infinity pool, private beach, pickleball court and complimentary bicycles.
The Calmer Side of the Island
Leeward has always been Providenciales’ quieter side. It’s mangrove-lined, tide-fed, and a short drive from Grace Bay but a world away in tempo. Where the island’s famous beach stretch hums with resort energy, this end offers egrets working the shallows and an easy sense of elegance.
Anchorage fits here. It brings a level of culinary ambition that feels right for this side of the island. For travelers willing to venture beyond Grace Bay, it adds another dimension to Providenciales: one with excellent food, beautiful water, and a setting that feels worlds apart.
Photos courtesy of Anchorage Restaurat & Bar, and Blue Haven Resort
