Papeete eats between two worlds: French bakery technique and Polynesian reef cooking. Three days here means poisson cru with coconut milk at dawn, chow mein from a roulotte at midnight, and vanilla from Taha'a in almost everything sweet.
The ground level holds the fish counters, taro, uru (breadfruit), fe'i bananas and coconut vendors. Open 05:00–18:00 Mon–Sat, 05:00–09:00 Sun. Ask for poisson cru ingredients: thon rouge, a lime bag and pressed coconut milk in bottles.
The mezzanine ringing the market atrium has small counters serving poisson cru au lait de coco, chao men, firi firi doughnuts and po'e pudding on paper plates. Plastic chairs, ceiling fans, and a view down over the fish hall below.
The blocks immediately behind the market are lined with Chinese-Tahitian bakeries, snack counters and grocers selling casse-croûte — half a baguette split and filled with steak haché, fries or tuna. This is where Papeete office workers eat.
Waterfront microbrewery opposite the ferry quay pouring blanche, ambrée and blonde brewed on site, plus Hinano on tap. Terrace tables face the Moorea ferries; the evening trade-wind breeze arrives around 17:30 as the harbour lights come on.
Vanilla house selling Tahitensis pods from Taha'a and Raiatea — fatter, oilier and more floral than Bourbon vanilla, graded by length and moisture. Staff will split a pod so you can smell the anise-caramel note that distinguishes the species.
Long-running French-Polynesian restaurant on Passage Cardella serving mahi mahi with vanilla sauce, seared local tuna and a set lunch menu. Small dining room, reservations essential at midday when the surrounding offices empty out.
French Polynesia subsidises flour, so the standard baguette is price-capped at around 53 XPF — among the cheapest in the French world. Bakeries near Place Vaiete also sell pain coco, firi firi twists and coconut brioche in the afternoon batch.
Overwater restaurant on stilts west of Papeete near the airport, plating local reef fish, prawns from Tahitian freshwater farms and vanilla desserts. Floodlights under the deck draw fish to the shallows after dark.
Tahiti's Hakka Chinese community arrived as plantation labour in the 1860s and reshaped the island's food. The quarter's grocers and counters sell chao men, maa tinito (pork, red beans and macaroni), pua choux and steamed buns.
West-coast roadside stands sell tuna, parrotfish, mahi mahi and reef fish strung on lines, caught that morning by bonitiers. Prices posted per kilo on cardboard; the catch changes with the season and the moon.
Hinano has been brewed in Tahiti since 1955 and its Gauguin-style vahine label is the territory's most recognised image. Waterfront bars pour it draught, alongside Tahitian rum from Mangareva and Moorea agricole distilleries.
From around 18:00 the waterfront square fills with food trucks: crêpes, wood-fired pizza, Chinese chao men, steak-frites and grilled tuna, each with folding tables. Cash-oriented, loud, and the closest thing Papeete has to a nightly food hall.