Sint Maarten – December 2011
Saturday December 10, 2011
Early start – flight at 6am. O’hare was surprisingly quiet. Even though we had first class, we still decided to stop at Frontera Tortas for breakfast. Thankfully they open at 5am. I got bacon and egg, Mark got chorizo and egg with the typical Mexican additions( black beans, avocado, and Mexican Spice). Both sandwiches were good, but we still prefer their afternoon sandwiches. Good thing we picked something up, on the flight to Dulles, they only served scones. (we declined).
We actually arrived early in Dulles, so we had just over an hour before we got on the flight. We walked around and as we were walking there was an announcement for a flight leaving for the North Pole. We were very confused and since we had time decided to go check it out. Sure enough there were a bunch of elves and even Ronald McDonald at the gate. (not sure why Ronald would be going to the North Pole, perhaps a new franchise is opening up there).
The flight from Dulles to St. Maarten, was smooth and uneventful. We landed at a remote gate and had to get on a bus to go to the terminal. Once at the terminal, you must complete a customs form before you can go through immigration. This isn’t really clear as there aren’t any signs. Finally we made it through and got our luggage and made it to the Hertz shuttle bus.
The Hertz facility experience was nice. They alone may have helped give the island it’s nickname of “The Friendly Island”. Very thorough check of the car, including the spare tire. Turns out this is a good thing as the first car, had a leaky spear.
At the time, we thought, wow, this is thorough, then we started driving on St. Maarten/St. Martin roads and realized there is a good reason they double check this. The roads are well, dicey seems a good adjective. There are no street signs and it’s easy to get lost. Luckily the island is pretty much a circle, so you’ll get to where you want to go – eventually. We took the “scenic” route to get to our condo, and it still only took an hour, but we got there – in one piece.
Typical timeshare crap to deal with when you get here. Come join us for “FREE” breakfast. Finally got checked in – we’re in room 3530-31. Building 35 third floor and no elevators, so everyday we get plenty of steps in. Not a bad unit, it’s a lockout, so would be good with another couple. Both units have balconies with ocean views, unfortunately there’s another building in between, but still not a bad view. And we can see St. Bart’s in the distance.
For dinner we went to Big Fish, down the road. It wasn’t open yet so we headed to Mr. Busby’s Beach Bar for a beverage. We met a couple there that’s actually from Palatine (Mike and Marie). How funny is it that our first night we meet people we live so close to! Turns out they’re also staying at OBBR and in the condo across the way from us.
Finally it was time for Big Fish and after a bumpy start regarding the wine, we finally found one they had (an overpriced Matua Sauvignon Blanc) and decided to order some fish for dinner. Mark got Grouper with a Lemongrass Coconut Curry sauce. Sue got Mahi Cod Sofrito. Mark’s fish was lightly battered and pan fried served with a light sauce, that was tasty, but light on the lemongrass flavor. Sue’s Mahi was topped with spicy cod, lightly breaded and pan fried, served with what can only be called as a Caribbean Bernaise sauce. There was definitely a little curry in the Bernaise, but it was tasty. Both dishes were served with many accoutrements: Steamed Zucchini topped with Parmesan, Ratatouille, Blackbean, cucumber salsa, fried plantains and mashed potatoes. LOTS of food. Good value for the money. We both enjoyed our dishes and were glad we stopped by. We sat outside enjoying the approximately 60 degree increase in temperature.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
We took a walk today over to the French side. Kinda cool that you can visit two countries on foot. The walks are a little precarious as there really aren’t any sidewalks and the streets are narrow and heavily potholed – oh and not to mention HILLY. So we don’t really make it far, but it’s a good workout.
After our walk we decided to go down to Infinity bar for lunch. We had sandwiches. Competely underwhelmed, although the fries were good.
After lunch we went to the pool. It gets quite crowded as people park their towels on the pool chairs then skedaddle out of sight. And people who have chairs in the sun, put up the umbrella so they’re effectively in the shade. It’s annoying, but what are you going to do. So we finally found 2 chairs that were only half in the shade.
For dinner we just had some canned pates we bought at the superette with bread and cheese. Drank some wine and enjoyed our balcony and the sounds of the ocean.
Monday, December 12, 2011
For our walk today we headed in the other direction – up the really big hill and to the Westin. Not much to see on the walk, but the Westin looks pretty nice – big pool nice beach. Although the Westin is selling timeshares too and the people are like vultures trying to get you to go on a tour. They want to give you a scratch ticket so you can win a prize. They literally flag you down. Jeesh, but I guess we all have to make a living somehow.
For lunch we went into Grand Case. Most of the restaurants are only open for dinner, but we did find a few open for lunch. Today we ate at Le Tastevin. A nice quaint spot right on the water. Since the lunch crowd is pretty non-existent, we got the best seat in house right on the water. It was so nice sitting there watching the ocean and the boats, feeling the ocean breeze as we waited for our food. We each ordered the Menu Brasserie prix fixe menu. Mark had the escargot, fish pot and apple tart with caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream. I had French onion soup, beef tenderloin and vanilla profiteroles smothered in dark chocolate. We also had a bottle of Tavel de Aqueria Rose.
The escargot was wonderfully garlicky - as all good escargot should be. The French onion soup was also really good. At first I thought it was a little under seasoned because it wasn’t the usual salt bomb you get in the US, but then I realized that when eating all the components together there was actually a lot of flavor, it just wasn’t salt. Both of the main entrees were excellent. Mark’s fish pot had a ton of wonderfully cooked fish – shrimp, scallop, red snapper, mahi mahi and swordfish. Each piece was cooked well and tasted really good. My steak was thin and well cooked with a fabulous pepper sauce. Desserts were still coming and we were out of wine. Hmm, what should we do? Order a second bottle of course. With the view and the wonderful food it just seemed like the right thing to do. Dessert was good too. The profiteroles we stuffed with vanilla ice cream seriously drenched in dark chocolate sauce. A little too much (I can’t believe I just said that! ) Mark’s apple tart was divine. The salted caramel sauce was great. This was a great experience and if we ever come back to St. Martin, we would go back again.
After such a big lunch we headed back home and eventually down to happy hour. The problem with beer is that it makes you so full you’re not really hungry; I literally had peanuts for dinner, Mark actually ate some pate and bread when we returned to the room. We sat on the balcony enjoying the weather until it was time for bed.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Did our morning walk as usual, doing the hilly loop through the French side. For lunch we headed to Hope Estate to find Bacchus, which we finally did – it’s hidden back in an industrial park area. It was a little different from what I expected, but it was nice. The food was a little expensive and we missed the Oceanside setting we had the previous day, but the food was good. They start you off with a homemade welcome drink – Rose wine with peach flavor, it was a little sweet, but refreshing as well. Mark ordered the pig trotter with foie gras and wild mushrooms with puff potatoes. Pig trotter is pig’s feet meat off the bone, with some chicken meat stuffed with foie gras and rolled together like a roulade or sausage. The puff potatoes were basically fried mashed potatoes, but they were really good. I ordered the Turbot fish served with a crispy snail nem, polenta and Mediterranean dressing. I wasn’t exactly sure what a Nem was but it was basically phyllo dough wrapped up like a cigar stuffed with escargot and onions - quite tasty actually. The fish was pretty good, although perhaps a bit overcooked. For wine, here they do not bring you an actual wine list, the sommelier actually asks what you like and then finds the best match for you. We ordered a Grenache based Rose. She brought us a 2009 Chateau Hermitage Saint Martin from Cote de Provence. It was a nice rose. We decided to splurge and ordered dessert. Mark ordered the crème brulee and a glass of sweet white wine from Argentina, similar in style to sauternes. I ordered one of the special desserts – pear mousse in dark chocolate. It was very good. The chocolate was so thick and divine! She served my dessert with a tawny port and it went rather well together.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
For lunch we went back to Grand Case – It’s hard not to head back there. Today we decided to try Le Soleil for lunch. Again we were able to get a quaint little table on the water. I originally ordered the beef carpaccio, but their delivery was late, so went with the tuna with pesto risotto. Mark had the grilled sole with Creole Mustard sauce. Surprisingly I thought the tuna was a little overcooked, but the flavor was there. Mark enjoyed his fish as well. The portions were actually quite large for a lunch. We just had the house rose, which was ok, but not fantastic. For dessert we had the crème brulee of the day based on the chef’s mood and blue cheese with gingerbread. The crème brulee for the day was mango. It was good, but the mango flavor was definitely subtle. The blue cheese with the gingerbread was interesting. Mark enjoyed it more than Sue, but it was definitely an interesting pairing.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
For lunch we headed, wait for it, back to Grand Case for lunch. Today we originally tried Le Ti Provencal, but they had a private party, so they were unable to seat us. Since we didn’t want to wait the hour or so, we decided to give La California a whirl. We had originally been against this place because of the name. We didn’t want to come to St. Martin and eat Californian food, but turns out it was actually a French place. Again, it had a lovely view of the water for lunch. A bit breezy today, but otherwise a glorious day. La California actually served litres of house rose, so we figured it was our civic duty to give it a try. For openers we shared the special goat cheese and bacon tart (what’s not to love!) – which was actually served on a small house salad. The tarts were basically puff pastry with goat cheese and crispy bacon – not bad at all. For our entrees, Mark had Grouper stuffed with prosciutto ham. It was a beautiful presentation where the grouper was actually served almost roulade style. Sue had, what is now known as, the Fred Flinstone special. It was Ribeye Steak with Bernaise sauce, served with wonderfully crisp potato discs. Our waiter was in town for the season from France and was a nice chap. We were having such a nice time sitting by the water eating our half a cow and grouper that we decided to have another litre of rose. For dessert we ordered Crepes – neither one of us had ever had crepes before! Mark had the apple crepe with Calvados – flambed, and Sue had the Crepe Chocolat flambé with grand marnier. Both were excellent and gone far too soon. As a parting gift, our waiter gave us a shot of some tropical concoction. We know it was rum and cinnamon, but not sure what else was in it. It was good, but a little sweet. One good thing about La California, is that they give $1 for each Euro, which turns out to be a great deal.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Today for lunch we thought we’d mix it up a bit and head to Grand Case. Today we hit L’effet Mer. Another gorgeous setting on the ocean with a cool (well, by St. Martin standards) breeze. Mark chose the fish of the day, grilled sole with shrimps and sauce. Sue had a hard time deciding and finally chose the beef carpaccio, with a side salad and potatoes. The fish came out looking quite beautiful. They had created little “cups” by wrapping the fish up and stuffing the cup with the shrimp. The flavor was okay, but lacking a little seasoning for Mark. The Carpaccio was quite excellent. Very fresh and bright. Nice acid and fresh cracked pepper and the parmisan was really good. Very tasty. We had to order dessert here too. We got the special trio (which we thought was 3 different types of crème brulee, but was actually, crème brulee, ice cream and something whipped tasting which might have been gelato or something. I got the Tart Tartin. Yum! The salted caramel sauce was to die for. Since it would be bad to break with tradition, we had rose with our meal. Then after our meal was almost over, we decided to order another bottle, because this is vacation after all.
Final Musings and observations about St. Martin/St. Maarten
A couple of things to remember about our trip if we ever stay here again – balcony drunk watching is really fun, but not all days are as good as others. Laundry facilities are available, but they cost $2 per load (or in Oyster Bay Beach Resort aka OBBR talk – 2 Corona’s). It takes about 30 mins for a wash and about 40 mins for a dry.
Caribbean drivers are freaking nuts! The streets are narrow and full of potholes and they still drive like their late for something. It's a constant game of chicken on the roads.
Oh and the Mosquitos – you don’t even feel them, then boom, you look like someone is trying to play connect the dots on your legs. Off would be useful here at night.