Having had a great experience the previous night, we actually went back to Bagatelle for a second dinner in a row. (Yep, I know—No imagination.). My excuse is that they were offering the prix fixe tasting menu with wine pairings. Who could say no to that? So the following is my lame attempt at food porn. Most of these photos look like they were taken by an NSA spy satellite from 100 miles up. They’re also a bit randomly ordered. You’ll have to cut me some slack on this—I’m not up to Phil and Amy standards.
This time around, we sat right on the water—so close that my wife’s bag almost got knocked into the harbor a couple of times. (Not hard to do after the third round of fairly heavy-handed wine pairings...but I’m not complaining.). If dinner in this setting doesn’t score you some serious points with your significant other, I’m afraid that relationship counseling may be in order.
The first course was crispy shrimp accompanied by guacamole and a cantaloupe/cucumber/red-green pepper gazpacho. I considered licking the jar, but I didn’t want to get kicked into the harbor by my lovely wife.
Next came Wagyu beef carpaccio with house-made (not too strong) wasabi, ponzu sauce, and sesame seeds. The whole thing was inhaled in about 15 seconds.
After this, things get a little fuzzy in retrospect —My tortured liver was already struggling to keep up with the wine pairings. Anyway, the third round was a generous helping of Maine lobster in a spectacular sauce that I can’t even begin to describe. Sadly, plate licking was still out-of-bounds.
Fourth came chicken breast in another indescribable sauce. Pretending to kick my wife’s purse into the water, I used the momentary distraction to get in a quick plate slurp. I noticed the waitstaff discretely looking away.
Finally, the dessert course I vaguely remember as marinated peaches and vanilla verbena ice cream. It looked so wonderful on the plate, I hated to eat it (but of course I did).
For obvious reasons, I can’t remember all the wines, but they were excellent, including whites from Alsace and Burgundy and a red from Chinon. The service was kind and attentive, with the atmosphere quiet and laid-back—not at all what I had heard about Bagatelle. According to the waitstaff, the party doesn’t get started until later in the evening and is usually just on the weekends during the low season.
In sum, we’ve had two great meals at Bagatelle and would gladly go back again. Not having been here since it was Vela (?) a number of years back, I was very pleasantly surprised. The food is definitely high-end for St Barth, but it’s definitely worth a splurge on date night (and it’s still cheaper and arguably more effective than relationship counseling). Meanwhile, I’m going to have to walk off all those calories...
This time around, we sat right on the water—so close that my wife’s bag almost got knocked into the harbor a couple of times. (Not hard to do after the third round of fairly heavy-handed wine pairings...but I’m not complaining.). If dinner in this setting doesn’t score you some serious points with your significant other, I’m afraid that relationship counseling may be in order.
The first course was crispy shrimp accompanied by guacamole and a cantaloupe/cucumber/red-green pepper gazpacho. I considered licking the jar, but I didn’t want to get kicked into the harbor by my lovely wife.
Next came Wagyu beef carpaccio with house-made (not too strong) wasabi, ponzu sauce, and sesame seeds. The whole thing was inhaled in about 15 seconds.
After this, things get a little fuzzy in retrospect —My tortured liver was already struggling to keep up with the wine pairings. Anyway, the third round was a generous helping of Maine lobster in a spectacular sauce that I can’t even begin to describe. Sadly, plate licking was still out-of-bounds.
Fourth came chicken breast in another indescribable sauce. Pretending to kick my wife’s purse into the water, I used the momentary distraction to get in a quick plate slurp. I noticed the waitstaff discretely looking away.
Finally, the dessert course I vaguely remember as marinated peaches and vanilla verbena ice cream. It looked so wonderful on the plate, I hated to eat it (but of course I did).
For obvious reasons, I can’t remember all the wines, but they were excellent, including whites from Alsace and Burgundy and a red from Chinon. The service was kind and attentive, with the atmosphere quiet and laid-back—not at all what I had heard about Bagatelle. According to the waitstaff, the party doesn’t get started until later in the evening and is usually just on the weekends during the low season.
In sum, we’ve had two great meals at Bagatelle and would gladly go back again. Not having been here since it was Vela (?) a number of years back, I was very pleasantly surprised. The food is definitely high-end for St Barth, but it’s definitely worth a splurge on date night (and it’s still cheaper and arguably more effective than relationship counseling). Meanwhile, I’m going to have to walk off all those calories...
