JEK
Senior Insider
I was searching around for pictures of the military plan that Binnie described in another post and I came across these gems from a now-defunct forum circa 1994-1995. Enjoy
St. Barths by ABC
---------------------------
I just got back from our favorite paradise. Other than our first day, we had great weather with just a few storms at night and some brief showers during the day. Other than some wet seats in the Sazuki, rain was not a problem. Mosquitos were also not a problem.
Our villa, EDB, was everything we hoped for - beautiful view of Anse De Cayes, private, nicely laid out and even though we were perched on a hillside, we could hear the waves all day and night.
We landed in St Martin at 3:00PM and used the Transit Gate 8 (our luggage was checked through to St. Barths) and were offered seats on the 3:30 WINAIR flight. We gulped down a Rum Punch and got to St. Barths earlier than we expected. (Our luggage wasn't so lucky, it arrived on our schedule 5:00PM flight). Unfortunately, our trip back was a nightmare due to the AA strike, but that's another story!
It was quite windy while we were there especially on the west side of the island causing bigger than normal waves on Saline and Gouverneur that caused some significant erosion on Gournerneur. They are actually building a paved access road and parking lot at Saline! Again, we were able to use the Ille De France facilities during our visit to Flammands even though we weren't guests at the hotel. They have great lounge chairs on the beach and an excellent pool.
Here are some thought on restaurants:
Marigot Bay Club - Should be on everyone's short list for great food, service and atmosphere. Be sure and call ahead to request a table on the water for a very romantic evening. The lobster bisque and goat cheese salad are excellent appetizers. They will sweeten your capucino unless you ask them not to.
Le Gaiac - The restaurant at Le Toiny is arguably the best on the island for food quality and service excellent. Very elegant for lunch and dinner. The lunch experience here should not be missed. The view is spectacular and is matched by the food and service.(and the price!) The tomato stuffed with goat cheese in a creamy tomato sauce is unbelievable. Tables by the pool are mandatory for lunch and desirable for dinner unless it is real windy.
Castelets - Another must visit restaurant. Visit during the daytime on your way back from Gouverneur to make reservations and check out the views that are not available after dark. Impeccable service and food. They just switched from Italian cuisine (as "Sapore Di Mare") to their original french cuisine. There are so many great french restaurants on St. Barths I wish they would have stuck with the Italian menu we enjoyed so much in March. However, many (including the Maitre D') would disagree.
Vincent Adam - A pretty little restaurant with friendly service and excellent food. Great Creme Brulees.
Le Pelecan - A great spot on St. Jean Beach for lunch. We tried dinner this time and were not impressed, although the creme brulees was as good as I've had anywhere.
Le Select - You are required to have a "cheeseburger in paradise" while you are on the island. Great spot for people watching.
Santa Fe - Stopped for lunch after a morning at Gouverneur Beach. Great burgers and fries served with a spectacular view.
Oualalao - At Manapany. Had a nice lunch, excellent chicken salad and lobster club sandwich. Not cheap.
Ille De France - This new restaurant is only open for lunch. Nice location, but we were not excited about the food or service.
Bernard - No, not a restaurant, a chef! At our request SIBARTH arranged for Bernard to come to our villa and prepare a meal. We agreed on a menu and Bernard did the shopping, cooking, serving and cleaning. He even selected a great bottle of wine. It was a truly memorable experience. Bernard is an interesting character who has cooked for many celebrities who have visited St. Barths including Steve Martin, Diana Ross, Warren Moon and Quincy Jones. He also worked for Jimmy Buffet as a nightclub bouncer and still sees him occasionally. Bernard was not only interesting to talk to, he is an excellent chef who will welcome you into the kitchen and share his recipes.
Other great restaurants we didn't get to this time include L' Escale, Le Sapotillier and La Toque Lyonaise. Also, Bernard says that the restaurant at Hotel Chistopher is as good as any on the island.
Le Hibiscus has reopened, but if you want a view with your $9 drink, you'll have to stand and drink because they no longer have tables out by the pool. Carl Gustov is a great place for drinks with a view, but it doesn't come cheep at $11 per drink. We also had drinks at Manapany. It is very pretty by the pool but their drinks are also priced beyond belief.
We loved shopping at Black Swan. They have great clothes with St. Barths themes, especially T Shirts and sweatshirts. They also have lots of bathing suits to pick from. There is a store in Gustavia called Free Mousse that sells unique ceramic in gold jewelry. The pastries at the airport bakery are the best.
That's all I can think of for now. We had a wonderful time and are already planning our next trip to St. Barths.
St. Barths by EFG
----------------------------------
The trip, as always was wonderful - once we got to SBH. Getting there was more of an adventure than I wanted. USAir has service to SXM on Saturdays, so I used Frequent Flyer miles to book free tickets. When I checked in I discovered that US does not have an inter-line baggage agreement with Winair (WM) so I could only check my bags as far as SXM. With only 45 minutes between the US and WM flights, I knew I was going to have a problem. 45 minutes is NOT enough time to clear immigration, get bags, run over to the departure side of the airport, check in, and make the flight. We got to the Winair check-in line at the time our flight was scheduled to depart. There were about 30 people ahead of us, and the agent was handling about 1 person every 10-15 minutes. I never determined whether this blazing rate of speed was typical island-time, or the first sign of the soon-to-come work slowdowns and strike by WM employees. Rather than share the gory details, I'll just tell you that we were re-booked on the last flight of the day to SBH. We got to the gate, turned in our boarding passes, stepped outside to board the plane (due to arrive any second from SBH), and watched a Lufthansa Heavy land.
The arrival of the Lufthansa flight delayed the arrival of the WM flight, and we crossed the magic threshold - sundown! After sundown there are no more flights to SBH - our flight was canceled. We (and the other 19 people on the flight) were less than thrilled. Two hours later we were finally re-ticketed on the first flight of the day to SBH - 07:00. From there it was off to the Maho.
That part of SXM looks and sounds more like a US city than ever, but it's close to the airport and we could get a room, a meal, and a wakeup call. We checked in and called over to SBH to cancel our dinner reservation at the Marigot Bay Club.
Our dinner that night was at the Rumboat Cafe in the Maho complex. It was OK, but we really wanted to be eating at the Marigot Bay Club. Oh well... at least the rum tasted the same...
Day Two in our continuing journey to SBH started with our second 04:30 wakeup call in two days (actually an hour earlier due to being on Atlantic time). Off to the airport, checked in with WM, talked my way around the departure tax, cleared security, and off to the waiting area. The plane shows up and they tell me I'm not on that flight, but the next one. Funny, that's not what my ticket says. Wait 45 minutes for the next flight - which goes to SBH by way of Saba.
We hadn't been to Saba before, but I knew that the runway (all 1307 feet of it) was even more 'interesting' than SBH's 2100-foot strip. The approach to Saba (the angle of approach was perhaps copied from German dive bombers) and the landing make the approach to SBH and the landing there look tame. The WM pilots still only used half the strip. We unloaded a dive group, left for SBH, and finally got there at about 09:00.
My bags were missing (due in on the 10:30), my rental car was waiting, and my villa keys were waiting. Paradise at last!
Okay, so here are some of the things that are changing:
The cruise ships. They are horrible. At one point we had 3 of them in harbor letting out all of those people on an island that just does not possess the infrastructure to support this. There is a young man who has been commissioned by the government there to do a study through next spring, regarding the problems. He is located right next door to the tourist office.
Due to the sudden invasions, the traffic was much heavier and there were a lot of lost people around. There needs to be a compromise (at best) with this, or I fear the island will be badly damaged. We did meet some cruise ship people right up at the Colombier lookout, and they, of course, were lost. They had rented a car, and were so very very polite. They were from Orlando, and they said they had no idea that St. Barths was so panoramic and beautiful. He said "I feel as if I'm intruding on something." At least he showed an appreciation for the island as it should be. The second change is construction going on in various parts of the island -- primarily in St. Jean and Pointe Milou. I know that every morning I would wake to the sound of those big trucks rolling by us. They are building a whole hillside of villas, which are currently offered for sale before they are built. Yuck.
The other change -- more minor, yet it left me feeling a little "irritated" is the new issue of "Tropical St. Barths" magazine, which just came out with its new edition. While the "magazine" is FREE, all U.S. citizens have to pay $8.00 for "postage" in order to get one by mail. So, my advice would be to get one by mail.
The local "newspaper" which they call a "magazine," which is called "St. Barths Magazine" has lots of articles about lots of changes in ownership/management of restaurants, as well as an article regarding the problem of the cruise ships. Many of you are familiar with L'Hibiscus. It is now called "Le Clocher." Pasta Paradise is now called "Paradiso." There are new managers of Le Castelets. We went up there and looked around. The menu looked great, but we definitely got the "snob" feeling there. But, from their driveway, I was able to take pictures of Mikhail Baryshkinov's villa just below!
Restaurants: We ate at many old favorites, a few new (for us) places, and a few places we hadn't tried in years. (Keep in mind that it is not customary to serve water with meals. You should order a bottle of water as a matter of course. Be prepared to answer the question 'flat/still water?', 'Gas/No gas?', 'bubbles/no bubbles? - it's phrased in several ways!)
Here's a list of restaurants we visited:
As always, dinner on our first and last nights on the island were at the Marigot Bay Club. With all of the wonderful restaurants on SBH, the fact that we at the Marigot Bay Club twice during the week should tell you something. The location on the beach in Marigot, is wonderful. The waves rolling in on the beach make a perfect accompaniment to dinner, Michel Ledee's staff always takes good care of us, and we love the food. Michel's Lobster Bisque is the best I've ever had. My wife swears by the Fisherman's Platter - nothing fried here, just fresh fish, shrimp, and scallop on a bed of two sauces. Try one of Michel's Bailey's Banana Coladas too! Marigot Bay Club is now open for lunch every day except Monday. It felt odd to be there in the day time, but we're glad we did. Michel's wife Therese has opened a gallery across from the restaurant. We went there looking for island Christmas Cards (saw them referenced in the local paper) and ended up buying a few other things too. There are a number of nice small prints that we liked, plus many larger pieces. Visit the gallery before lunch, then the restaurant for lunch. It worked out well for us!
The Wall House - I've stayed away from it for years, after having met the Waiter From Hell (actually Rye, NY) there. It was one of the few places open for lunch on Sunday, so we gave it a try. I had grilled Red Snapper with a Nantaise Butter sauce, my wife had grilled Shrimp with a Saffron Cream sauce. Both were great, as was the service - enough so that we put the Wall House on our list of possible Thanksgiving Dinner places. We ended up going back there for T'giving dinner, which was fitting - Aux Trois Gourmands, the former restaurant at that site, was the location of our first Thanksgiving dinner on SBH ten years earlier. (In the intervening years we've had a catered Turkey dinner at the villa.) To our surprise they had an unadvertised Turkey Dinner special. I also especially liked an appetizer on the menu, Aumoniere (sp?), or "Beggar's Bag". Check it out...
La Repaire along the quay in Gustavia - We tried this place for breakfast one morning when we were in town early. (We wanted to get our shopping done before the 4 cruise ships started unloading passengers. Great place to sit and watch people (especially those off of the ships) and boats. Good coffee if you like French coffee. They offer an American breakfast, with a tendency to barelycooked fried eggs. I can't figure out how to order 'eggs over' in French, so I STRONGLY suggest ordering your eggs Scrambled. (They're more likely to be cooked.) L'Escale - On the harbor in Gustavia - An old favorite. We've been eating here for years for a change from French cooking and seafood. Wood-oven pizza, pasta, and veal. A great place for wallet-relief if you stick to the pizza and don't order too much alcohol. My wife likes the melon and prosciutto (no wallet relief there!). I like the veal.
Le Select/Cheeseburger In Paradise - In Gustavia. Great place for a burger, people watching and a cold beer. The 'pommes frites' are great too! They cook them twice, the way all French fries should be cooked. Everybody (locals, tourists, yachties) passes through/by Le Select sooner or later. It's an island institution. (Before anyone asks, yes we did spend some time with Marius. Several hours over the course of the week. He's in good health, but being run ragged with receptions and cocktail parties to welcome groups from Sweden, the island marathon, the French Navy, and a host of other things.)
Maya's - On the beach in Public. My other favorite beachfront restaurant. We had a great dinner, but spent so much time talking that I can't remember what I had for dinner... But I do remember the passion fruit that they add to their Planter's Punch!
La Fregate - Hotel Baie Des Flamandes on Flamands beach. We hadn't eaten here in years. New chef in his second year. I had a beef Mille Feuille (thinly sliced beef, some sort of mushroom mixture between the slices, and reassembled). Quite good. My wife thought that her grilled shrimp with a soy/orange sauce was the best lunch she had all week. I also liked the large Planter's Punch.
Eddie's Ghetto - Gustavia. Not so easy to find, but worth the effort. I had lentil salad and grilled fish. Can't remember what my wife had, but, as usual, she loved it. One of these trips I'm going to have to try the ribs. Eddie has a new chef this year. He's opening a new place across the street from Sapotillier. It's still under construction, waiting on furniture from Indonesia. Eddie has yet to decide on the name for the new place. He was projecting December 20 as a possible opening date.
La Gloriette - On the beach in Grand Cul de Sac - Creole cooking. Great Accra (codfish fritters), Crab Farcie (stuffed crab), and Christophine Farcie (stuffed local squash). I could eat well on just appetizers here. I had a Antillean fish soup for lunch. Good stuff! Albert is still bottling his own special cordial. I don't know what's in it, but it does leave you with a pleasant glow!
New Born - Anse des Cayes near the Hotel Manapany. A new restaurant for us. Fresh seafood. Live lobsters in an outdoor tank. (Live nurse sharks too!) A huge aquarium fills one wall of the restaurant from floor to ceiling, with lobsters, sharks, and various tropical fish. The smoked fish appetizer is worth a try.
La Rotisserie - Villa Creole, St. Jean - Good cheap lunch. A roast chicken and Dauphinois potatoes for $20. Add some bread and 3/4 bottle of wine that we already had at home, and we were all set for a delicious lunch poolside at the villa. Leftover chicken made a nice snack to go with sunset cocktails the next afternoon.
That's about it for restaurants. A few random thoughts: Les Castelets is again under new management. I wrote the place off as being too full of itself years ago. My opinion hasn't changed. Pasta Paradise has changed it's name to Paradiso. Less emphasis on the pasta. L'Hibiscus is open under new management (daughter of the Eden Roc guy - can't remember her name) and a new name. La Clocher or something close to that. We visited for cocktails, but didn't have a chance to try the dinner menu. There's a new Magic restaurant by La Marine/L'Escale that features a magic floor show with dinner. I believe the price was FF120+dinner.
Construction as a whole seemed way down in comparison to some recent years. The hotel construction next to Chez Francine on Baie de St. Jean (the former Tom Beach Hotel) is back in gear. (It was halted for over a year when the financing was pulled.) According to the signs there will be 12 luxury rooms. The other construction project that comes to mind is the new airline counter/departure lounge at the airport. It looks like it should be open soon. Le Match (across from the airport) is still my favorite supermarket. They have the best seafood section that I've seen on the island. AMC (Gustavia) is my second choice. The small market near the airport Shell station is a lifesaver on Sundays when everything else is closed.
Speaking of the airport Shell station, the 24-hour credit- card pump now has instructions in English taped to it.
Avis is doing a walk-around check noting all damage at the time you rent and at the time you return the car. They have also instituted a $10 charge if you remove the soft-top and fail to replace it.
The Black Swan (t-shirts) at Villa Creole in St. Jean has moved from the corner where it was hidden to the front row of stores. (Near La Rotisserie)
Lou Lou's marine is once again stocking a limited number of Nasty Frog shirts. (One of my favorites!) Lou Lou is also carrying even more t-shirts than before. Remember when it really was a Marine store?
The 'Sorry No Telephone' line of shirts is back. They have a store at the opposite end of the building from Lou Lou's. They now have Golf shirts in addition to t-shirts.
Marigot Bay Club is still out of XL shirts. According to Michel, his supplier
is climbing Mount Everest. Too bad. At $20 it was the best golf shirt price on the island.
The New York group that owns the Rockefeller property at Columbier is selling out to a French group. Marius says "We're in real trouble now." Other people talk about a single buyer picking it up for $25 million. Time will tell.
Cruise ships are a hot topic of discu
Jamaica: T-Water Beach Hotel they're a problem than in the past. There were 5 ships in on the Saturday I was supposed to arrive in SBH, and as many as 4 (plus a French Navy ship docked in Public) on other days. Several days there was only a single Windjammer in port. One quote in the local paper was that it takes 400 cruise ship passengers to contribute as much to the local economy as a single villa renter. Some locals think that it was a mistake to lower the port tax on cruise ship passengers. Cruise ships, day trippers, and airport passengers all pay a FF20 tax. When the port tax was higher fewer ships visited.
Flamands Beach is in great shape compared to a few years ago. We spent an early morning there with a bottle of champagne, catching some sun, taking a refreshing swim, and watching a model-shoot a short ways up the beach. Makes me want to head right back...
St. Barts by XYZ
----------------------------------
My wife and returned last night from what is becoming an annual trip to St. Barth. We have gone the last three years as an anniversary present to each other and enjoy the island more with each trip. On our return flight last night we made plans for next year!
As with many trips to SBH ours was a little too eventful. We were traveling on AA AAdvantage tickets from DCA to RDU to SXM, at least that was the plan. The 727 out of National didn't want to fly (it's always better to find that out on the ground) so we ending up going through MIA and getting in too late to make to SBH. We spent a very short night at the Le Flamboyant in Saint Martin and then caught the 0700 flight to SBH the next morning. AA and Winair no longer have a transfer agreement, so you must check your bags to SXM and then recheck on WN to make the short leg. We were the only people on the plane, but we had to wait until they loaded several surfboards in seats 1B&C to 10B&C. We sat in the extreme back and had a smooth flight and landing.
We arrived so early the gendarmes had not come to work yet so we enjoyed a cup of coffee and "cleared" customs after they decided to show. Our hotel van arrived after the coffee and we were off to the Sofitel Christopher. Along with free first-class AA tickets we were enjoying American Express Membership Miles hotel accommodations at the Christopher.
For 20,000 miles per night we got the best room at the Christopher including a continental breakfast. The hotel is the newest on the island and is located on Pointe Milou at the surf, but lacks a beach. They have an enormous pool that, when viewed from the deck chair, appears to blend with the sea. The service, room quality and location are outstanding. We didn't eat there, other than breakfast, choosing to do the standard St. Barth tour de plat.
We rented a Suzuki jeep from EuropCar right at the hotel (300ff per day) and began our standard assault on the island immediately. Our routine became breakfast in the room fairly early and then off to the pool or beach du jour. It was very windy so we skipped the beaches for the first two days and enjoyed the oversized pool.
For lunch we conserved funds and calories by picking up fresh bread, cheese, sardines and making a light lunch in the room or on the beach. The first stop with the jeep was the Supermarche by the airport to buy 2 6 packs of 1.5 liter waters, beer, wine and assorted other stuff to munch on.
Dinner was a varied event -- night one we did our favorite place Le Sapotillier. Adam the owner is a great restaurateur and everything is always just right. I had the sea bass and it was wonderful. We had tried to get to Francois Plantation for the last two trips and never made it. This was the time and the evening was wonderful. Bring your AmEx (remember every dollar you charge is another mile for next year). This is a quality place and worth the even higher than normal tariff. Next stop was L'Escale on a windy and rainy evening. Pasta fruits de mer was my choice and my wife had veal -- both excellent and the people watching and atmosphere was great. We ordered the bananas flambe and didn't suspect a thing when the lights were lowered and the rum flames appeared at our table. I love a cheering crowd!
Now I know I said that we ate our breakfasts at the hotel -- I lied! The last few days we went into Gustavia early (eightish) and had the 30 ff continental breakfast at the Bar de l' Oubli. This is the way to start the day on St. Barth.
The town comes to life and everyone drives by to see and be seen. When the cruise ships are in the taxis are queued up and exactly at the nine the "patchers" -- those little Dramamine spots behind the ears -- arrive en mass. We really enjoyed this part of the trip! Back to dinner -- the next night was Eddy's new place across from the Le Sapo. This find was based on a posting that said they were opening in December. As it turned out they didn't make it until February due to the furniture being delayed.
The decor is very comfortable and we really enjoyed the evening. The food is great and the service is superb. My wife said the waitress flirted to pump the tip -- I said she did a wonderful job and deserved the 20% tip! Eddy's is one of the few that don't include service.
Next stop was Le Toiny. My advice is to forget it. It was expensive and lacked the charm of Francois Plantation. There was not a thing wrong with the food or the service -- I just felt I could have been in NYC. Lunch the next day we violated the sardine and bread rule to have a Cheeseburger in Paradise at Le Select.
My wife has a thing about real "joints" and has avoided Le Select until this trip. A combination of a very hot day (the shade there is heavenly) and hunger (Le Cheeseburger is delectable) has converted her over for life. Now breakfast at Bar de l' Oubli and lunch ten feet away at Le Select is the plan of the day!
We also had a great lunch at Chez Francine on the beach at St. Jean. This place is not to be missed for a nice lunch. The people there are just wonderful. My secretary is named Francine and I asked for two Chez F. tee shirts to be added to the lunch bill.
The waitress asked if the shirts were gifts and I told her the connection. When the bill came she told me she had only charged me for one shirt -- the other was gratuit.
The last night we made reservations to go the cabaret show at the Guanahani, but at the last minute canceled. We have stayed at the G the last two years and truly love the property. But since we had seen the show before we decided to give Marigot Bay Club a try. Again this was based on advice. We were not disappointed. In fact I consider the herbed red snapper I had there to be the best meal of the trip. After two years of driving past the place (it's next to the Guanahani) we finally stopped, enjoyed and will return. Now you might think that all we did was eat .
We did Grand Saline beach and enjoyed the natural views. We drove everywhere on the island as fast as possible. We watched sunsets in Gustavia. Played with the hotel dog. Envied surfers off of Pointe Milou. Bought $12 Sunday New York Times at the pharmacy at. the Villages St. Jean. Smoked some great Cuban cigars. Went to mass at Lorient and were the only English speaking people in the church. All this and became closer as a (long) married couple. As my very wise wife says --"These trips to St. Barth is the best thing we ever did". She's right.
St. Barths by ABC
---------------------------
I just got back from our favorite paradise. Other than our first day, we had great weather with just a few storms at night and some brief showers during the day. Other than some wet seats in the Sazuki, rain was not a problem. Mosquitos were also not a problem.
Our villa, EDB, was everything we hoped for - beautiful view of Anse De Cayes, private, nicely laid out and even though we were perched on a hillside, we could hear the waves all day and night.
We landed in St Martin at 3:00PM and used the Transit Gate 8 (our luggage was checked through to St. Barths) and were offered seats on the 3:30 WINAIR flight. We gulped down a Rum Punch and got to St. Barths earlier than we expected. (Our luggage wasn't so lucky, it arrived on our schedule 5:00PM flight). Unfortunately, our trip back was a nightmare due to the AA strike, but that's another story!
It was quite windy while we were there especially on the west side of the island causing bigger than normal waves on Saline and Gouverneur that caused some significant erosion on Gournerneur. They are actually building a paved access road and parking lot at Saline! Again, we were able to use the Ille De France facilities during our visit to Flammands even though we weren't guests at the hotel. They have great lounge chairs on the beach and an excellent pool.
Here are some thought on restaurants:
Marigot Bay Club - Should be on everyone's short list for great food, service and atmosphere. Be sure and call ahead to request a table on the water for a very romantic evening. The lobster bisque and goat cheese salad are excellent appetizers. They will sweeten your capucino unless you ask them not to.
Le Gaiac - The restaurant at Le Toiny is arguably the best on the island for food quality and service excellent. Very elegant for lunch and dinner. The lunch experience here should not be missed. The view is spectacular and is matched by the food and service.(and the price!) The tomato stuffed with goat cheese in a creamy tomato sauce is unbelievable. Tables by the pool are mandatory for lunch and desirable for dinner unless it is real windy.
Castelets - Another must visit restaurant. Visit during the daytime on your way back from Gouverneur to make reservations and check out the views that are not available after dark. Impeccable service and food. They just switched from Italian cuisine (as "Sapore Di Mare") to their original french cuisine. There are so many great french restaurants on St. Barths I wish they would have stuck with the Italian menu we enjoyed so much in March. However, many (including the Maitre D') would disagree.
Vincent Adam - A pretty little restaurant with friendly service and excellent food. Great Creme Brulees.
Le Pelecan - A great spot on St. Jean Beach for lunch. We tried dinner this time and were not impressed, although the creme brulees was as good as I've had anywhere.
Le Select - You are required to have a "cheeseburger in paradise" while you are on the island. Great spot for people watching.
Santa Fe - Stopped for lunch after a morning at Gouverneur Beach. Great burgers and fries served with a spectacular view.
Oualalao - At Manapany. Had a nice lunch, excellent chicken salad and lobster club sandwich. Not cheap.
Ille De France - This new restaurant is only open for lunch. Nice location, but we were not excited about the food or service.
Bernard - No, not a restaurant, a chef! At our request SIBARTH arranged for Bernard to come to our villa and prepare a meal. We agreed on a menu and Bernard did the shopping, cooking, serving and cleaning. He even selected a great bottle of wine. It was a truly memorable experience. Bernard is an interesting character who has cooked for many celebrities who have visited St. Barths including Steve Martin, Diana Ross, Warren Moon and Quincy Jones. He also worked for Jimmy Buffet as a nightclub bouncer and still sees him occasionally. Bernard was not only interesting to talk to, he is an excellent chef who will welcome you into the kitchen and share his recipes.
Other great restaurants we didn't get to this time include L' Escale, Le Sapotillier and La Toque Lyonaise. Also, Bernard says that the restaurant at Hotel Chistopher is as good as any on the island.
Le Hibiscus has reopened, but if you want a view with your $9 drink, you'll have to stand and drink because they no longer have tables out by the pool. Carl Gustov is a great place for drinks with a view, but it doesn't come cheep at $11 per drink. We also had drinks at Manapany. It is very pretty by the pool but their drinks are also priced beyond belief.
We loved shopping at Black Swan. They have great clothes with St. Barths themes, especially T Shirts and sweatshirts. They also have lots of bathing suits to pick from. There is a store in Gustavia called Free Mousse that sells unique ceramic in gold jewelry. The pastries at the airport bakery are the best.
That's all I can think of for now. We had a wonderful time and are already planning our next trip to St. Barths.
St. Barths by EFG
----------------------------------
The trip, as always was wonderful - once we got to SBH. Getting there was more of an adventure than I wanted. USAir has service to SXM on Saturdays, so I used Frequent Flyer miles to book free tickets. When I checked in I discovered that US does not have an inter-line baggage agreement with Winair (WM) so I could only check my bags as far as SXM. With only 45 minutes between the US and WM flights, I knew I was going to have a problem. 45 minutes is NOT enough time to clear immigration, get bags, run over to the departure side of the airport, check in, and make the flight. We got to the Winair check-in line at the time our flight was scheduled to depart. There were about 30 people ahead of us, and the agent was handling about 1 person every 10-15 minutes. I never determined whether this blazing rate of speed was typical island-time, or the first sign of the soon-to-come work slowdowns and strike by WM employees. Rather than share the gory details, I'll just tell you that we were re-booked on the last flight of the day to SBH. We got to the gate, turned in our boarding passes, stepped outside to board the plane (due to arrive any second from SBH), and watched a Lufthansa Heavy land.
The arrival of the Lufthansa flight delayed the arrival of the WM flight, and we crossed the magic threshold - sundown! After sundown there are no more flights to SBH - our flight was canceled. We (and the other 19 people on the flight) were less than thrilled. Two hours later we were finally re-ticketed on the first flight of the day to SBH - 07:00. From there it was off to the Maho.
That part of SXM looks and sounds more like a US city than ever, but it's close to the airport and we could get a room, a meal, and a wakeup call. We checked in and called over to SBH to cancel our dinner reservation at the Marigot Bay Club.
Our dinner that night was at the Rumboat Cafe in the Maho complex. It was OK, but we really wanted to be eating at the Marigot Bay Club. Oh well... at least the rum tasted the same...
Day Two in our continuing journey to SBH started with our second 04:30 wakeup call in two days (actually an hour earlier due to being on Atlantic time). Off to the airport, checked in with WM, talked my way around the departure tax, cleared security, and off to the waiting area. The plane shows up and they tell me I'm not on that flight, but the next one. Funny, that's not what my ticket says. Wait 45 minutes for the next flight - which goes to SBH by way of Saba.
We hadn't been to Saba before, but I knew that the runway (all 1307 feet of it) was even more 'interesting' than SBH's 2100-foot strip. The approach to Saba (the angle of approach was perhaps copied from German dive bombers) and the landing make the approach to SBH and the landing there look tame. The WM pilots still only used half the strip. We unloaded a dive group, left for SBH, and finally got there at about 09:00.
My bags were missing (due in on the 10:30), my rental car was waiting, and my villa keys were waiting. Paradise at last!
Okay, so here are some of the things that are changing:
The cruise ships. They are horrible. At one point we had 3 of them in harbor letting out all of those people on an island that just does not possess the infrastructure to support this. There is a young man who has been commissioned by the government there to do a study through next spring, regarding the problems. He is located right next door to the tourist office.
Due to the sudden invasions, the traffic was much heavier and there were a lot of lost people around. There needs to be a compromise (at best) with this, or I fear the island will be badly damaged. We did meet some cruise ship people right up at the Colombier lookout, and they, of course, were lost. They had rented a car, and were so very very polite. They were from Orlando, and they said they had no idea that St. Barths was so panoramic and beautiful. He said "I feel as if I'm intruding on something." At least he showed an appreciation for the island as it should be. The second change is construction going on in various parts of the island -- primarily in St. Jean and Pointe Milou. I know that every morning I would wake to the sound of those big trucks rolling by us. They are building a whole hillside of villas, which are currently offered for sale before they are built. Yuck.
The other change -- more minor, yet it left me feeling a little "irritated" is the new issue of "Tropical St. Barths" magazine, which just came out with its new edition. While the "magazine" is FREE, all U.S. citizens have to pay $8.00 for "postage" in order to get one by mail. So, my advice would be to get one by mail.
The local "newspaper" which they call a "magazine," which is called "St. Barths Magazine" has lots of articles about lots of changes in ownership/management of restaurants, as well as an article regarding the problem of the cruise ships. Many of you are familiar with L'Hibiscus. It is now called "Le Clocher." Pasta Paradise is now called "Paradiso." There are new managers of Le Castelets. We went up there and looked around. The menu looked great, but we definitely got the "snob" feeling there. But, from their driveway, I was able to take pictures of Mikhail Baryshkinov's villa just below!
Restaurants: We ate at many old favorites, a few new (for us) places, and a few places we hadn't tried in years. (Keep in mind that it is not customary to serve water with meals. You should order a bottle of water as a matter of course. Be prepared to answer the question 'flat/still water?', 'Gas/No gas?', 'bubbles/no bubbles? - it's phrased in several ways!)
Here's a list of restaurants we visited:
As always, dinner on our first and last nights on the island were at the Marigot Bay Club. With all of the wonderful restaurants on SBH, the fact that we at the Marigot Bay Club twice during the week should tell you something. The location on the beach in Marigot, is wonderful. The waves rolling in on the beach make a perfect accompaniment to dinner, Michel Ledee's staff always takes good care of us, and we love the food. Michel's Lobster Bisque is the best I've ever had. My wife swears by the Fisherman's Platter - nothing fried here, just fresh fish, shrimp, and scallop on a bed of two sauces. Try one of Michel's Bailey's Banana Coladas too! Marigot Bay Club is now open for lunch every day except Monday. It felt odd to be there in the day time, but we're glad we did. Michel's wife Therese has opened a gallery across from the restaurant. We went there looking for island Christmas Cards (saw them referenced in the local paper) and ended up buying a few other things too. There are a number of nice small prints that we liked, plus many larger pieces. Visit the gallery before lunch, then the restaurant for lunch. It worked out well for us!
The Wall House - I've stayed away from it for years, after having met the Waiter From Hell (actually Rye, NY) there. It was one of the few places open for lunch on Sunday, so we gave it a try. I had grilled Red Snapper with a Nantaise Butter sauce, my wife had grilled Shrimp with a Saffron Cream sauce. Both were great, as was the service - enough so that we put the Wall House on our list of possible Thanksgiving Dinner places. We ended up going back there for T'giving dinner, which was fitting - Aux Trois Gourmands, the former restaurant at that site, was the location of our first Thanksgiving dinner on SBH ten years earlier. (In the intervening years we've had a catered Turkey dinner at the villa.) To our surprise they had an unadvertised Turkey Dinner special. I also especially liked an appetizer on the menu, Aumoniere (sp?), or "Beggar's Bag". Check it out...
La Repaire along the quay in Gustavia - We tried this place for breakfast one morning when we were in town early. (We wanted to get our shopping done before the 4 cruise ships started unloading passengers. Great place to sit and watch people (especially those off of the ships) and boats. Good coffee if you like French coffee. They offer an American breakfast, with a tendency to barelycooked fried eggs. I can't figure out how to order 'eggs over' in French, so I STRONGLY suggest ordering your eggs Scrambled. (They're more likely to be cooked.) L'Escale - On the harbor in Gustavia - An old favorite. We've been eating here for years for a change from French cooking and seafood. Wood-oven pizza, pasta, and veal. A great place for wallet-relief if you stick to the pizza and don't order too much alcohol. My wife likes the melon and prosciutto (no wallet relief there!). I like the veal.
Le Select/Cheeseburger In Paradise - In Gustavia. Great place for a burger, people watching and a cold beer. The 'pommes frites' are great too! They cook them twice, the way all French fries should be cooked. Everybody (locals, tourists, yachties) passes through/by Le Select sooner or later. It's an island institution. (Before anyone asks, yes we did spend some time with Marius. Several hours over the course of the week. He's in good health, but being run ragged with receptions and cocktail parties to welcome groups from Sweden, the island marathon, the French Navy, and a host of other things.)
Maya's - On the beach in Public. My other favorite beachfront restaurant. We had a great dinner, but spent so much time talking that I can't remember what I had for dinner... But I do remember the passion fruit that they add to their Planter's Punch!
La Fregate - Hotel Baie Des Flamandes on Flamands beach. We hadn't eaten here in years. New chef in his second year. I had a beef Mille Feuille (thinly sliced beef, some sort of mushroom mixture between the slices, and reassembled). Quite good. My wife thought that her grilled shrimp with a soy/orange sauce was the best lunch she had all week. I also liked the large Planter's Punch.
Eddie's Ghetto - Gustavia. Not so easy to find, but worth the effort. I had lentil salad and grilled fish. Can't remember what my wife had, but, as usual, she loved it. One of these trips I'm going to have to try the ribs. Eddie has a new chef this year. He's opening a new place across the street from Sapotillier. It's still under construction, waiting on furniture from Indonesia. Eddie has yet to decide on the name for the new place. He was projecting December 20 as a possible opening date.
La Gloriette - On the beach in Grand Cul de Sac - Creole cooking. Great Accra (codfish fritters), Crab Farcie (stuffed crab), and Christophine Farcie (stuffed local squash). I could eat well on just appetizers here. I had a Antillean fish soup for lunch. Good stuff! Albert is still bottling his own special cordial. I don't know what's in it, but it does leave you with a pleasant glow!
New Born - Anse des Cayes near the Hotel Manapany. A new restaurant for us. Fresh seafood. Live lobsters in an outdoor tank. (Live nurse sharks too!) A huge aquarium fills one wall of the restaurant from floor to ceiling, with lobsters, sharks, and various tropical fish. The smoked fish appetizer is worth a try.
La Rotisserie - Villa Creole, St. Jean - Good cheap lunch. A roast chicken and Dauphinois potatoes for $20. Add some bread and 3/4 bottle of wine that we already had at home, and we were all set for a delicious lunch poolside at the villa. Leftover chicken made a nice snack to go with sunset cocktails the next afternoon.
That's about it for restaurants. A few random thoughts: Les Castelets is again under new management. I wrote the place off as being too full of itself years ago. My opinion hasn't changed. Pasta Paradise has changed it's name to Paradiso. Less emphasis on the pasta. L'Hibiscus is open under new management (daughter of the Eden Roc guy - can't remember her name) and a new name. La Clocher or something close to that. We visited for cocktails, but didn't have a chance to try the dinner menu. There's a new Magic restaurant by La Marine/L'Escale that features a magic floor show with dinner. I believe the price was FF120+dinner.
Construction as a whole seemed way down in comparison to some recent years. The hotel construction next to Chez Francine on Baie de St. Jean (the former Tom Beach Hotel) is back in gear. (It was halted for over a year when the financing was pulled.) According to the signs there will be 12 luxury rooms. The other construction project that comes to mind is the new airline counter/departure lounge at the airport. It looks like it should be open soon. Le Match (across from the airport) is still my favorite supermarket. They have the best seafood section that I've seen on the island. AMC (Gustavia) is my second choice. The small market near the airport Shell station is a lifesaver on Sundays when everything else is closed.
Speaking of the airport Shell station, the 24-hour credit- card pump now has instructions in English taped to it.
Avis is doing a walk-around check noting all damage at the time you rent and at the time you return the car. They have also instituted a $10 charge if you remove the soft-top and fail to replace it.
The Black Swan (t-shirts) at Villa Creole in St. Jean has moved from the corner where it was hidden to the front row of stores. (Near La Rotisserie)
Lou Lou's marine is once again stocking a limited number of Nasty Frog shirts. (One of my favorites!) Lou Lou is also carrying even more t-shirts than before. Remember when it really was a Marine store?
The 'Sorry No Telephone' line of shirts is back. They have a store at the opposite end of the building from Lou Lou's. They now have Golf shirts in addition to t-shirts.
Marigot Bay Club is still out of XL shirts. According to Michel, his supplier
is climbing Mount Everest. Too bad. At $20 it was the best golf shirt price on the island.
The New York group that owns the Rockefeller property at Columbier is selling out to a French group. Marius says "We're in real trouble now." Other people talk about a single buyer picking it up for $25 million. Time will tell.
Cruise ships are a hot topic of discu
Jamaica: T-Water Beach Hotel they're a problem than in the past. There were 5 ships in on the Saturday I was supposed to arrive in SBH, and as many as 4 (plus a French Navy ship docked in Public) on other days. Several days there was only a single Windjammer in port. One quote in the local paper was that it takes 400 cruise ship passengers to contribute as much to the local economy as a single villa renter. Some locals think that it was a mistake to lower the port tax on cruise ship passengers. Cruise ships, day trippers, and airport passengers all pay a FF20 tax. When the port tax was higher fewer ships visited.
Flamands Beach is in great shape compared to a few years ago. We spent an early morning there with a bottle of champagne, catching some sun, taking a refreshing swim, and watching a model-shoot a short ways up the beach. Makes me want to head right back...
St. Barts by XYZ
----------------------------------
My wife and returned last night from what is becoming an annual trip to St. Barth. We have gone the last three years as an anniversary present to each other and enjoy the island more with each trip. On our return flight last night we made plans for next year!
As with many trips to SBH ours was a little too eventful. We were traveling on AA AAdvantage tickets from DCA to RDU to SXM, at least that was the plan. The 727 out of National didn't want to fly (it's always better to find that out on the ground) so we ending up going through MIA and getting in too late to make to SBH. We spent a very short night at the Le Flamboyant in Saint Martin and then caught the 0700 flight to SBH the next morning. AA and Winair no longer have a transfer agreement, so you must check your bags to SXM and then recheck on WN to make the short leg. We were the only people on the plane, but we had to wait until they loaded several surfboards in seats 1B&C to 10B&C. We sat in the extreme back and had a smooth flight and landing.
We arrived so early the gendarmes had not come to work yet so we enjoyed a cup of coffee and "cleared" customs after they decided to show. Our hotel van arrived after the coffee and we were off to the Sofitel Christopher. Along with free first-class AA tickets we were enjoying American Express Membership Miles hotel accommodations at the Christopher.
For 20,000 miles per night we got the best room at the Christopher including a continental breakfast. The hotel is the newest on the island and is located on Pointe Milou at the surf, but lacks a beach. They have an enormous pool that, when viewed from the deck chair, appears to blend with the sea. The service, room quality and location are outstanding. We didn't eat there, other than breakfast, choosing to do the standard St. Barth tour de plat.
We rented a Suzuki jeep from EuropCar right at the hotel (300ff per day) and began our standard assault on the island immediately. Our routine became breakfast in the room fairly early and then off to the pool or beach du jour. It was very windy so we skipped the beaches for the first two days and enjoyed the oversized pool.
For lunch we conserved funds and calories by picking up fresh bread, cheese, sardines and making a light lunch in the room or on the beach. The first stop with the jeep was the Supermarche by the airport to buy 2 6 packs of 1.5 liter waters, beer, wine and assorted other stuff to munch on.
Dinner was a varied event -- night one we did our favorite place Le Sapotillier. Adam the owner is a great restaurateur and everything is always just right. I had the sea bass and it was wonderful. We had tried to get to Francois Plantation for the last two trips and never made it. This was the time and the evening was wonderful. Bring your AmEx (remember every dollar you charge is another mile for next year). This is a quality place and worth the even higher than normal tariff. Next stop was L'Escale on a windy and rainy evening. Pasta fruits de mer was my choice and my wife had veal -- both excellent and the people watching and atmosphere was great. We ordered the bananas flambe and didn't suspect a thing when the lights were lowered and the rum flames appeared at our table. I love a cheering crowd!
Now I know I said that we ate our breakfasts at the hotel -- I lied! The last few days we went into Gustavia early (eightish) and had the 30 ff continental breakfast at the Bar de l' Oubli. This is the way to start the day on St. Barth.
The town comes to life and everyone drives by to see and be seen. When the cruise ships are in the taxis are queued up and exactly at the nine the "patchers" -- those little Dramamine spots behind the ears -- arrive en mass. We really enjoyed this part of the trip! Back to dinner -- the next night was Eddy's new place across from the Le Sapo. This find was based on a posting that said they were opening in December. As it turned out they didn't make it until February due to the furniture being delayed.
The decor is very comfortable and we really enjoyed the evening. The food is great and the service is superb. My wife said the waitress flirted to pump the tip -- I said she did a wonderful job and deserved the 20% tip! Eddy's is one of the few that don't include service.
Next stop was Le Toiny. My advice is to forget it. It was expensive and lacked the charm of Francois Plantation. There was not a thing wrong with the food or the service -- I just felt I could have been in NYC. Lunch the next day we violated the sardine and bread rule to have a Cheeseburger in Paradise at Le Select.
My wife has a thing about real "joints" and has avoided Le Select until this trip. A combination of a very hot day (the shade there is heavenly) and hunger (Le Cheeseburger is delectable) has converted her over for life. Now breakfast at Bar de l' Oubli and lunch ten feet away at Le Select is the plan of the day!
We also had a great lunch at Chez Francine on the beach at St. Jean. This place is not to be missed for a nice lunch. The people there are just wonderful. My secretary is named Francine and I asked for two Chez F. tee shirts to be added to the lunch bill.
The waitress asked if the shirts were gifts and I told her the connection. When the bill came she told me she had only charged me for one shirt -- the other was gratuit.
The last night we made reservations to go the cabaret show at the Guanahani, but at the last minute canceled. We have stayed at the G the last two years and truly love the property. But since we had seen the show before we decided to give Marigot Bay Club a try. Again this was based on advice. We were not disappointed. In fact I consider the herbed red snapper I had there to be the best meal of the trip. After two years of driving past the place (it's next to the Guanahani) we finally stopped, enjoyed and will return. Now you might think that all we did was eat .
We did Grand Saline beach and enjoyed the natural views. We drove everywhere on the island as fast as possible. We watched sunsets in Gustavia. Played with the hotel dog. Envied surfers off of Pointe Milou. Bought $12 Sunday New York Times at the pharmacy at. the Villages St. Jean. Smoked some great Cuban cigars. Went to mass at Lorient and were the only English speaking people in the church. All this and became closer as a (long) married couple. As my very wise wife says --"These trips to St. Barth is the best thing we ever did". She's right.
