Greetings, All
Sorry for not posting sooner, but with all the sun, food and wine, the days seem to blend together like a long, pleasurable dream. As my brain downshifts into island mode, I completely lose track of time. But then I guess that’s part of the plan, right?
We’ve spent most of our time on the beach, bringing along lunches of cheese, pate, salmon, and (of course) a bottle of wine. The weather has been sunny, with more wind than I remember from previous trips. We occasionally get a major gust and a serious sand blasting, but I figure the dermabrasion is making me look years younger. Back home, people pay good money for that. (Hopefully, this compensates for my rose’-marinated liver getting years older.) With the high winds, the sargassum is pretty relentless, particularly on Saline, but the tractor guy and his Kubota are on the job each morning to keep the beach relatively clear. But looking out to sea, there are countless rafts of weed waiting for their amphibious landings.
At the villa, we’ve been on cistern water since Monday, due to work being done on the island’s water system. No big deal, as long as you don’t drink the stuff. Electricity is also being interrupted for brief periods (an hour yesterday) for work on that, too.
Now for the restaurants…
--Eddie’s: Eddie’s is the one constant in the constantly changing St Barth restaurant universe: the same unbeatable combination of great food, friendly faces and people watching. (The diversity and creativity of island couture never cease to amaze and entertain me. It’s dinner and a show.) But back to the food: As usual, we had the island tuna platter, with fresh tuna served several different ways. This was preceded by goat cheese samosas and cod fritters. I love the fritters—They remind me of the hushpuppies of my youth, but with actual fish in them—even better. We also enjoyed a nice pinot noir recommended by the staff. (Although I know a little about wines, I usually ask for a recommendation, because I almost always end of learning something useful.)
--Tamarin: If the Garden of Eden had exquisitely illuminated landscaping, a talented chef and a serious wine list, it would have been called Tamarin. Despite its reported change of ownership, Tamarin is still on its game—possibly even better. For starters, we had burrata with truffle ham and eggplant, plus tiradito with avocado and fennel pickles. I’m still not exactly sure what “tiradito” means, but who cares? It was good. My apologies to PETA members, but we then proceeded on to a “picanha” of wagu beef. This was one of the best pieces of beef I’ve ever had. I hated it, because the accompanying béarnaise sauce was way better than mine. Gracious, attentive staff as usual. The romantic, almost surreal setting doesn’t hurt, either.
--Joel Robuchon: Normally, I don’t like trendy, expensive, famous chef restaurants—I’ve been disappointed (and a few hundreds poorer) too many times in the past. But my curiosity got the better of me and we gave Robuchon a try. Given my biases, I was perfectly prepared for a let-down. In short, it definitely wasn’t. Robuchon is located on the harbor, with two levels, each (as I understand it) with a somewhat different menu. The first level serves a “gastronomique” menu, with a wide range of choices, including small plates and a tasting menu. All look great. But the seating area is enclosed, without much of a view, so we chose the upstairs area. Here, there’s a picturesque view of the harbor, plus a nice breeze. Gorgeous post and beam, mahogany interior. Perfect. The place was hopping, but an efficient staff kept up well—friendly and extremely well-trained. The menu had a multitude of choices—seafood, meat, poultry, vegetarian. We chose to start with foie (I intend to eat as much foie as I possibly can before it finally kills me.) and Mahi carpaccio. Both excellent. Our mains were the pintade (guinea hen) in some indescribably good sauce, served with the famous pomme puree, which could perhaps be more accurately termed, “beurre puree”. As advertised, it’s wonderful. (No matter about the butter, the foie will probably get me first, anyway.) The dinner was so good we’ll probably go back again before we leave. Price-wise, the evening ran us about the same as Orega.
Finally, just a word or two about COVID testing, since it’s been well-described elsewhere. We went this morning to the Red Cross station behind the cemetery and had about a 30 minute wait—Two lines, one to register and pay and a second to get the swab. Everyone very nice. For the antigen test, it was just an anterior nasal swab--easy. And unlike some tests I’ve had in the States, there was no attempt to fracture my cribriform plate and sample my brainstem. Results in about an hour via email. The COVID test is not required for the return via SXM (EHAS still is) but is necessary for re-entry into the US.
That’s about it for now. I have to go do my EHAS form.
Cheers
Sorry for not posting sooner, but with all the sun, food and wine, the days seem to blend together like a long, pleasurable dream. As my brain downshifts into island mode, I completely lose track of time. But then I guess that’s part of the plan, right?
We’ve spent most of our time on the beach, bringing along lunches of cheese, pate, salmon, and (of course) a bottle of wine. The weather has been sunny, with more wind than I remember from previous trips. We occasionally get a major gust and a serious sand blasting, but I figure the dermabrasion is making me look years younger. Back home, people pay good money for that. (Hopefully, this compensates for my rose’-marinated liver getting years older.) With the high winds, the sargassum is pretty relentless, particularly on Saline, but the tractor guy and his Kubota are on the job each morning to keep the beach relatively clear. But looking out to sea, there are countless rafts of weed waiting for their amphibious landings.
At the villa, we’ve been on cistern water since Monday, due to work being done on the island’s water system. No big deal, as long as you don’t drink the stuff. Electricity is also being interrupted for brief periods (an hour yesterday) for work on that, too.
Now for the restaurants…
--Eddie’s: Eddie’s is the one constant in the constantly changing St Barth restaurant universe: the same unbeatable combination of great food, friendly faces and people watching. (The diversity and creativity of island couture never cease to amaze and entertain me. It’s dinner and a show.) But back to the food: As usual, we had the island tuna platter, with fresh tuna served several different ways. This was preceded by goat cheese samosas and cod fritters. I love the fritters—They remind me of the hushpuppies of my youth, but with actual fish in them—even better. We also enjoyed a nice pinot noir recommended by the staff. (Although I know a little about wines, I usually ask for a recommendation, because I almost always end of learning something useful.)
--Tamarin: If the Garden of Eden had exquisitely illuminated landscaping, a talented chef and a serious wine list, it would have been called Tamarin. Despite its reported change of ownership, Tamarin is still on its game—possibly even better. For starters, we had burrata with truffle ham and eggplant, plus tiradito with avocado and fennel pickles. I’m still not exactly sure what “tiradito” means, but who cares? It was good. My apologies to PETA members, but we then proceeded on to a “picanha” of wagu beef. This was one of the best pieces of beef I’ve ever had. I hated it, because the accompanying béarnaise sauce was way better than mine. Gracious, attentive staff as usual. The romantic, almost surreal setting doesn’t hurt, either.
--Joel Robuchon: Normally, I don’t like trendy, expensive, famous chef restaurants—I’ve been disappointed (and a few hundreds poorer) too many times in the past. But my curiosity got the better of me and we gave Robuchon a try. Given my biases, I was perfectly prepared for a let-down. In short, it definitely wasn’t. Robuchon is located on the harbor, with two levels, each (as I understand it) with a somewhat different menu. The first level serves a “gastronomique” menu, with a wide range of choices, including small plates and a tasting menu. All look great. But the seating area is enclosed, without much of a view, so we chose the upstairs area. Here, there’s a picturesque view of the harbor, plus a nice breeze. Gorgeous post and beam, mahogany interior. Perfect. The place was hopping, but an efficient staff kept up well—friendly and extremely well-trained. The menu had a multitude of choices—seafood, meat, poultry, vegetarian. We chose to start with foie (I intend to eat as much foie as I possibly can before it finally kills me.) and Mahi carpaccio. Both excellent. Our mains were the pintade (guinea hen) in some indescribably good sauce, served with the famous pomme puree, which could perhaps be more accurately termed, “beurre puree”. As advertised, it’s wonderful. (No matter about the butter, the foie will probably get me first, anyway.) The dinner was so good we’ll probably go back again before we leave. Price-wise, the evening ran us about the same as Orega.
Finally, just a word or two about COVID testing, since it’s been well-described elsewhere. We went this morning to the Red Cross station behind the cemetery and had about a 30 minute wait—Two lines, one to register and pay and a second to get the swab. Everyone very nice. For the antigen test, it was just an anterior nasal swab--easy. And unlike some tests I’ve had in the States, there was no attempt to fracture my cribriform plate and sample my brainstem. Results in about an hour via email. The COVID test is not required for the return via SXM (EHAS still is) but is necessary for re-entry into the US.
That’s about it for now. I have to go do my EHAS form.
Cheers
