Week-long St. Martin/Sant Marteen [travel update w/ pics]

Hello friends!

I'm lucky enough to heading to the Carribean island of St. Martin for a week in February for a vacation *yay* I'll be staying in a resort at Orient Bay (the French side) and I was wondering if any of you have been there and can recommend the not-to-be-missed restaurants and other things to do. I'm definitely going to try out an Indonesian restaurant they have on the Dutch side of the island (named "Wajang Doll") but currently have no other culinary plans yet.

Thanks!

Marias23,

I went last year, and it was just wonderful (food-wise, and otherwise). In my preparations, this thread proved pretty useful.

Please report back, so I can be filled with longing....

Maybe plan on going to the Wajang Doll twice! The food is excellent and they have several different rijkstafel choices. They've moved from their earlier perfect place, but reports are that the new place is well-suited.

As noted above, last year's thread is awfully useful.

Geo

By the by, landing at the airport in St. Martin is pretty exciting! Take a look at some of these images:

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q ... rch+Images

Geo

Boo Boo Jam on Orient Beach was our favorite hang out, especially on the weekend. Great seafood for lunch and dinner with live entertainment some evenings. There is a large outdoor dining area in the back of the restaurant on the beach(clothing optional). http://www.booboojam.com

Oh how we love the French side, St. Martin! The following are our favorites..........

* Mario's Bistro - on a waterway, terrific French fare, we went three times in one trip. A fantastic and huge foie gras appeitizer. Just outside of Marigot.

* California - This place is the end all of lunches for me. A small and stunning deck on Baie de Grand Case. Order a great thin crust pizza, a bottle of champange, and take in a overwhelming view. As advised by the owner " If you thought that bottle of champange tasted great, wait till you try a second." In Grand Case.

* Z Best bakery and an unknown name bakery - both in Marigot and both worth trying. My favorite one I can't remember the name, however it is across the street from the farmers markets in the old harbor and has a yellow awning. The sweet and the savory pastries are just great. The farmers market is also not to be missed.

* The new harbor has plenty of really great places. It's great fun to walk in the evening, read the menus, and choose your restaurant. We had a great dinner, however the name is escaping me.

Hi friends!

Thanks for all your input on what/where to eat in St. Martin. Unfortunately, due to logistical reasons (we only had the rental car for a few days due to a deal), we weren't able to eat at every place we wanted to. Nevertheless, the trip was gastronomically rewarding! Also, I was industrious enough to make a MS Word list of your input but was silly enough to forget to print it out and bring it along. C'est la vie.

Anyways, I stayed on the beautiful Orient Bay area (on the French side) and it was just awesome to have a whole week of doing whatever we wanted. We mostly frittered our days exploring the various towns on the island and being beach bums. We were fortunate enough to have missed the humongous snowstorm that hit Chicago around Valentine's Day *woohoo*

The best meal we had in St. Martin was at La California restaurant in Grand Case (St. Martin's restaurant row) on Valentine's Day. We went there pretty early for dinner (~5:30pm) and were seated immediately without a reservation. We had a great table right by the beach, the perfect seat for an ultra-romantic sunset dinner.


We started with the prototypical tropical drink, pina colada and a (really strong) martini. The martini was so strong that I got a buzz when our entrees arrived!


I suggested pizza but my travelling companion was hankering for seafood and wanted to get the seafood specials of the day. So we went with grilled lobster served with three sauces (garlic butter, Creole and cocktail) and the shrimp salad with eggs and smoked salmon.

Both entrees tasted amazing! The lobster was simple but very well-cooked. We didn't touch the cocktail sauce at all because we just loved the garlic butter sauce on the lobster! The salad was also very delicious. The combination of smoked salmon and hard-boiled eggs is a combination made in heaven. Thank you all for this recommendation! For some deluded reason, we didn't get dessert after that. Sigh~ If only we had tried their crepes!

Another place we really enjoyed was L'Escargot in Philipsburg (Dutch side). When we got to Philipsburg, it was around noon and we were so tired from being stuck in traffic, looking for parking and walking under the hot sun, but weren't hungry enough for a full meal. At first, we just wanted a drink and so, headed to the bar. The partner had pina colada (he really loves that stuff) and I ordered their special guavaberry daiquiri because guavaberry is St. Martin's special fruit, mostly used to make the guavaberry liqueur. The daiquiri tasted just like the pina colada but less sweet. In other words, I couldn't really discern the flavor of the guavaberry but hey, the liqueur sure makes a nice pretty pink drink!


We had a look at their menu and thought we might as well try their escargot since we were there. So we chose the escargot in garlic butter. On fresh French bread, the escargot was very yummy. It was super garlicky (I luuurve garlic) and very succulent. And I think the fact that they were literally bathed in butter doesn't hurt either.



Unfortunately, we missed Mario's Bistro in Marigot because I couldn't find it! It's not on the main strip of restaurants and at the time, we were too hungry to look further. We first decided on a place in the heart of Marigot (I forgot the name but I think it's something like Cafe de la Mer) and sat down. After 15 minutes, no waiter approached despite our attempt to call for their attention and a few groups that were seated after us got served first. So we decided to bring our business elsewhere. So we walked south along the main street and my companion wanted to try Claude Mini Club because of its decor. Its ambience is very seaside treehouse-y because two palm trees actually grow through the 2 storeys of the restaurant and through the roof! They were actually swaying back and forth with the wind when we were there.

I was a little skeptical initially because I thought I remembered someone on this forum mentioning to avoid its buffet (but I forgot my list!). I decided to give it a chance because I was famished and also to appease the partner's hankering for dining in a "treehouse" to make up for his deprived childhood *teehee* As someone mentioned on this forum, the buffet might've been bad but our lunch was one of the best we had on the island. We went with the lunch set menu (starter, entree, dessert) and their daily special of chilled cooked lamb and beef with greens. For the set menu we chose the fish soup and grilled red snapper with Creole seasoning. The fish soup was served with toasted bread, a kind of cocktail sauce and shredded cheese. Having never encountered this before, the combination seemed a little weird to me but they went very well together. It was very hot that day but the hot soup somehow helped cool me down a little.


The entrees were also very tasty. The meat was tender and not overcooked at all. The fish, also served with two sauces: Creole and garlic butter, was flaky, simple yet delicious.


The highlight of Claude Mini Club, I thought, was the dessert. We were super hungry that day and decided to indulge by getting one dessert each. We had the lime cake with lime sorbet and the creme brulee (every restaurant in St. Martin seems to have creme brulee). The lime cake was a (somewhat) layered one with a sliver of lime-flavored pastry cream in between. Along with the sorbet, it was moist and very refreshing. The creme brulee at the Mini Club was the best we've had in St. Martin (we had a total of 5!); the custard part was smooth and creamy, the bruleed sugar was of the right thickness and cracked perfectly like it's supposed to when I attacked it with my spoon. I only wish the custard part had been chilled more so it's cooler on my tongue.



Other remarkable eats include the Coco Beach restaurant on Orient Bay beach where we had the grilled steak with frites (very well-cooked and seasoned) and mussels with white wine sauce and (tons and tons of) garlic. I was skeptical about Coco Beach restaurant because another beachside restaurant we tried on our first day was very mediocre. However, the food and drinks at Coco Restaurant were pretty good. We also went to Tap Five, a pizza place in Orient Bay Village where we had pizza with anchovies, green pepper and salmon. The crust was a tad too thin in some areas but was otherwise very tasty.



We also had their very delicious countryside platter, which is an assortment of Italian cold cuts (prosciutto, salame, pepperoni) and soft French cheeses (brie). The meat was yummy with a drizzle of the chili-infused olive oil and the cheese (brie de meaux) was to die for!


Being in the duty free capital of the Carribean, I couldn't resist shopping! I bought a lot of liquor: dry gin, vodka, Cointreau, Irish cream, etc. I loved Marigot's seaside market that sells not only chintzy souvenirs but also, tropical fruits, vegetables and spices! I bought a huge bottle of vanilla extract and a dozen vanilla beans for under $20 from the spice stall pictured below. I can't wait to cook/bake with them!


Overall, I really, really enjoyed my trip to St. Martin. I only wish that I hadn't missed Mario's Bistro and Wajang Doll in my excursions (Yes! Can you believe it? I missed Wajang Doll! Argh!). But still, a week in paradise is waaay better than being snowed in at home!

I think I was at the same spice stall over the holidays. I got vanilla beans, niora (chile), cucuma (tumeric root), and annato. The woman who runs it is quite knowledgeable, and a lot of fun, too.

The Chow Poodle and I had a whirlwind tour of St. Martin/St. Maarten as part of our recent cruise. This island (particularly the French side) is a place that I would like to come back to for a much longer visit. Unfortunately, due to our sailing schedule, we only had the better part of one day to explore the island on this visit. We docked on the Dutch side of the island and hired a car to drive us around so we could check it out.

Thanks to this thread, and the other St. Martin thread linked above, we followed in the footsteps of Rhinoplas and Marias23 and had a very good lunch at La California Restaurant on Grand Case.

La California Restaurant by Seaside


This is a little gem of a restaurant/bistro right on a beautiful more or less secluded beach. They also offer free wi-fi and have a nice little bar. We were seated at a lovely seaside table, just a few feet from the ocean.

Sand, Sea, Sun, and Shellfish


The Chow Poodle ordered one of the daily specials of shrimp in a light Creole sauce. As in many places you might find in France, the description of this dish was deceptively simple. The plate was actually a beautifully composed dish that had not only the promised shrimp (extremely fresh), but also an assortment of accoutrements that included pickled onions, rice, harcort verts, beans, roasted carrots and a cheese soufflé/timbale that was perhaps the best bite of the entire meal.

La California Shrimp in Light Creole Sauce


I started off with escargots and had steamed mussels (which they offer in 12 different preparations) and pomme frites as my main. Both dishes were expertly prepared and (as you would expect) were served with a fresh-from-the-bakery baguette and sweet butter.

La California Escargot


La California Mussels Mariniere


After lunch, we headed over to the market in Marigot, where I came across the same spice vendor pictured above. Having stocked up on vanilla during a previous trip to Mexico, I passed on that in favor of some scotch bonnet based hot sauce.

Marigot Spice/Hot Sauce Vendor




His hot sauces were all scotch bonnet based, but had added ingredients to give each one a unique flavor profile. I particularly liked both the balsamic vinegar version as well as what he called "exotic", which had an infusion of various fruit juices including mango and pineapple.

Scotch Bonnet Hot Sauce


I brought back of few bottles of this sauce and gave away a set of bottles at the LTH Holiday party. I'm not sure who got that prize, but I hope they enjoy the sauces as much as I do.

We didn't come across any cheeses while touring the island (other than the outstanding timbale at La California), but I know for sure that there is fresh dairy available.

St. Martin Cows Coming Home


All and all, we really enjoyed our all-too-brief visit to St. Martin/St. Maarten. It's now on my ever growing list of places to which I want to return.

P.S. La California Restaurant offers an even 1:1 exchange rate between Dollars and Euros, so it's a relative bargain.

La California Restaurant by Seaside
134, Boulevard de Grand Case
Grand Case, Saint Martin 97150 FWI
(590) 590 87 55 57

I just returned from a business trip to St. Maarten. While I ate most of my meals at group events at the Westin Dawn Beach I do have a couple of comments on nearby places from the couple of opportunities when I strayed from the group. Big Fish, which is a restaurant on Oyster Pond, is a nice place for dinner. I had the grouper. It was lightly breaded, very moist, slightly overcooked. The dill garlic sauce I ordered with it was quite good. The sides of garlic mashed potatoes and an island salad including roasted plantains were the best part of the meal. I also had a free morning and went to Philipsburg. Nothing was open for breakfast because only one small cruise ship was in, so I asked around and found a place where locals were eating. The Coal Pot Cafe was definitely a local hang-out with a number of taxi drivers hanging out. There were a number of breakfast choices on the menu, but when I said I wanted breakfast the proprietor said "just soup today." So I ordered the seafood soup. It was excellent. A seafood chowder with crab and white fish and a watery tomato base with a hint of turmeric.

The real find though was a chocolate shop recommended by the hotel. The Belgian Chocolate Box by Beatrix had some of the best chocolates I've ever had. I asked Beatrix if she had trained in Belgium. She said she had and that she wanted to do additional training in Paris, but, as she put it, "while I have a trained staff, whenever I leave no inventory goes out the door so I can't get away." Everything I've had has been excellent so far, and she has all sorts of choices from chocolates with cayenne to chocolates overloaded with cinnamon to even ones with absinthe. I found her chocolates to be even better than those of Gail Ambrosius, which to me is high praise. And her prices are excellent with a 16 chocolate variety box for $15. She'll also deliver to your hotel or cruise ship.

Big Fish
Opposite Mr. Busby's
Oyster Pond
St. Maarten

Coal Pot Cafe
Next to the Adult Toy Shop, opposite Greenhouse Restaurant
Philipsburg, St. Maarten

The Belgian Chocolate Box
109 Old Street
Philipsburg, St. Maarten

Hello. I saw you posted a picture of the local hot sauce they have in St. Maarteen. Their plastic bottles, red and white caps, and have chilies on the bottle. I was trying to find a source in which to purchase some. Would you happen to have any contact information regarding this local hot sauce? Please email me with any info at bigsg10@hotmail.com Thanks.