TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Trip Report--the French Fry Tour

The trip report continues, in no particular order. We haven’t gone out a lot for elaborate meals this time. We haven’t been here this time of year in a while and it has been HOT and no breeze, so we haven’t been hungry sometimes, but have still managed to gain weight, I have to assume, particularly from all the French fries I’ve been consuming! I try not to eat very many French Fries at home, but they are so great here, so you only live once, eh?? So, maybe I will call this the French Fry Tour! Not all meals included French Fries, unfortunately, but I tried. The rating will be for the meal as a whole, not just based on the French Fries, or lack thereof.

Our first night, we got carryout pizza from Driftwood and ate it here at Beachside.

The view was better than the pizza, which was only so-so. Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of the pizza. Other than the view, a 1 French Fry rating..

We went to Karakter for lunch. The parking lot was not crowded, so that is a good thing, for those familiar with Karakter during season. I had a chicken sate and FRENCH FRIES.



I gave the French Fries a solid four French fry rating!

Eric had a chicken ceasar salad.



Both were very good and more food than we wanted, so we didn’t finish them. While we waited for our food, we had to take the obligatory shot down the beach toward Beachside Villas.

Overall, probably a solid 4.0 FF rating.

Our only precipitation of the trip so far came as we were finishing our lunch at Karakter. It calmed down to sprinkles enough for us to get to the car after lunch, when we headed to Super U, where it REALLY came a gully washer. Overall, the island is VERY green, compared to what it was in June, so that is nice to see. There are MILLIONS of little butterflies everywhere, which I tried a couple of times to take pictures of, but the little buggers are so fast and so small, I didn’t succeed. One day I actually saw a bunch out by the ocean here at BSV, a first for me. That day the air was VERY still and hot. I will take no butterflies and more breeze, thank you!

Saba was here our first day, and then was missing until yesterday. This morning I actually see 4 islands, although pictures do not have enough definition to be interesting, even with my long lens.

We only went out to breakfast once, to Yellow Sub in Orient Village, as we needed to meet someone. Both of us chose a simple ham and cheese omelet and American coffee, which was good.



We enjoyed the presence of sweet little Jo-Jo, who I guess belongs to the owner or manager.

He was a very quiet, calm little guy, that I shared the remains of my omelet with. 3 French Fry rating, including Jo-Jo.

Not sure it really counts for going OUT, but we picked up some very tasty pastries over the course of the trip. Our go-to pastry shop is Le Sucriere and it did not disappoint, over several trips, with ham and cheese quiches,

as well as spinach and chicken quiche, some croissants



and a KILLER croque monsieur for lunch one day, which was only $5. Despite not being a French Fry, that sandwich might get it a 5 French Fry rating, all by itself! Sorry, didn’t think to take a pic. Overall, Le Sucriere was very tasty, as always. 4 French Fry rating.

We also got a combo package of croissants at Super U , that were tasty and fresh. At Le Bon au Pain (I think that’s the name of it?) by Super U, we picked up an awesome Chantilly crème swan and a chocolate torte, as well as some chocolate eclairs that were the bomb! Sorry, forgot to take pictures of any of them. 4 French Fry rating for both.

One Sunday evening we went to Bar Code for dinner, thinking that the football game would be on TV. Oddly enough, they showed a RERUN of a very run-of-the mill game from earlier that day. That was odd, especially since the waiter tried to pretend it was a live game. I got a hamburger and FRENCH FRIES, and Eric got fish and chips. Eric’s chips were the more traditional fat, greasy English fries that were da BOMB. My French fries were very boring by comparison. The waiter said they were baked. Really baked French fries in SXM?? Zero FF rating for my fries. Eric’s were a 4.5. Overall, the meal was about 2.5 FF ruling, saved by Eric’s ‘chips’, and drug down by the showing of a rerun of a sad football game that no one watched live. Sorry, no pictures, as we left the camera home that evening.

One day we went to LaPlaya for lunch. The menu there focusses on Poke Bowls now? Odd. I took pictures of the whole menu, if anyone wants to see it. I had my favorite Bo Bun Nem salad from Dreams. It was not as good as the one at Dreams, but I guess nothing much is as good as Dreams was..

Eric had a tuna with creole sauce

,
which he said was very good, and FRENCH FRIES, which were quite excellent. Overall, I give the meal a solid 3.5 FF rating, hampered by the salad being not as good as before.

Carol, formerly of Le Estiminet (sp!!) is working there, as well as Sam, very nice young man.


Bruno’s son was working there in the summer, but he is now in Canada going to school. We didn’t see Bruno that day, but came back another day and were able to sit and have a long chat with Bruno, which was good, as we hadn’t seen him since Irma. Irma was devastating for him, losing four businesses, but he has personally come back very strong and happy now. It is good to see him looking so fit and happy.

One evening we headed to Jax for dinner. We parked at valet at Casino Royale. The attendant did not ask us where we were going. Frankly, Jax was kind of disappointing. The service was excellent. There was no issue with the a/c, as some people had commented, so that was fine, we were quite comfortable, despite the outside temp being warm.

I had the filet, which came with choice of potato and mixed vegetables, for $40.



It came with one sauce, which I chose I think the truffle sauce? I wanted the Bernaise sauce and let the waiter talk me out of it. I chose the parmesan fries, which I did NOT care for at all.

One French fry rating for them. They were too thin and I didn’t care for the taste. Perhaps I’ve never had parmesan FF before, and I just don’t like them.

The filet itself was very good.

Eric had a NY strip, with potato and veggies, for $34.

He said it was steak was tough. The potatoes were new potatoes and boring. I thought the prices on the wine list were very high.

We topped off the meal with a café gourmande, which was pretty tasty.


Overall, this was our most expensive meal, by far, and mildly disappointing. Overall, 2.5 FF rating, dragged down by the horrible parmesan fries and the way too expensive wine list.

After dinner, since we had parked there, we decided to head to Casino Royale. They had only $10 minimum blackjack tables (sorry, in OCTOBER??), which is one of the reasons why we almost never go to CR. There were a couple of people playing roulette, so I played roulette for a while, won some, then lost some, then headed out back home.
I had wanted to go to Puerto Cupecoy on Friday night, as I had heard they had live entertainment then, but we didn’t make it on a Friday night. We did go one night, and not wanting much for dinner, ended up at Rendezvous Lounge. They have a happy hour, half priced drinks from 4 to 7, which we took advantage of, as we arrived just before 7. There was a table of 6-8 expats sitting together, taking advantage of HH and having pizza. We probably should have taken a hint from them and ordered pizza, but did not. We shared an appetizer platter of chicken wings, calamari, etc., and a crepe with strawberries. Both were pretty OK, nothing special. 2.5 FF rating, saved by HH drink prices. Sorry, no pictures, as we planned to go to the casino after and didn’t want to worry about my camera.

After dinner, we headed to the ‘new’ Starz Casino at Puerto Cupecoy. We arrived around 8 PM and were literally the only ones playing tables. But they had $5 Blackjack and we played blackjack for about 3 hours. A few people showed up before we left, to play some of the other tables. I won, Eric lost, but the drink service was good, and the place did NOT smell like smoke, which is nice. (Unlike Casino Royale, which REEKED of smoke). We had no problems parking, but I can see that once high season starts, they will need that valet parking for the casino that someone mentioned. Since there appears to be NOTHING going on at the old Starz Casino, my feeling is that they are going to go with the new one, as least through this high season, and maybe for good.

To be continued!!!

all I can think of now are french fries!!!!!! The best I usually get are at Tropicana but they are not thick ones.......................Great report....see you took it easy on the food this time.....

Love Le Suciere

bran--we should have tried to get to Tropicana for lunch on Saturday, when they do their souffles… Too many restaurants, too little time..

Carol the Bo Bun Nem at La Playa while good was not as good as it was at Dreams. Perhaps the focus on Poke bowls is related to smaller kitchen? I'm a fan of Poke so should we get to Orient more than once I'll get one. What are bathroom facilities like at LaPlaya now?

Louise--unfortunately, there is no bathroom at the restaurant at LaPlaya. One must walk up to the hotel to use the bathroom.

It amazes me that restaurants use American cheese instead of Cheddar or especially in SXM Gouda in omelets or burgers.

Thanks for the report and pictures. Safe travels.

Amazing photos! I am a sucker for a croque monsieur and I can't wait to try the one at Le Sucriere. Have you two ever had a "killer" croque madame on sxm? I love those and would probably organize a day or two around getting a great one.

Love Le Sucerie--never tried the croquet monsieur but everything else we've had there has always been delicious and very inexpensive compared to what we would spend at home. We were "forced" to try it one year when La Crossanterie in Marigot was closed. We usually take home a dozen or of their croissants to put in the freezer to enjoy as our "until the next time" treat. We also have enjoyed Atlantico as well but as you said, too many choices, so little time. We're heading back in two weeks and can't wait! Your trip report is getting me through the days....thank you!

bluejacket--sorry, never had a croque madame here. I will tell you, from personal experience, DON'T get the croque monsieur from Friars Bay Beach Club. Had one there that was awful!

Thanks JD. I'm ready to go home and see my puppies!

Thanks for the reports Carol. I don’t think I’ve had French Fries in SXM but that will probably change next trip. Safe travels home!

Carol, I had the impression (for no real reason, just my conjecture) that the mobile kitchen at La Playa was a temporary situation, but now that you say there are no restrooms at the restaurant, I'm thinking it may be permanent? I guess Bruno's making everything easier to move in the event of a hurricane? Did you talk with him while you were there? We missed him our last two trips, so are looking forward to having some time to talk with him next month.

Yes we talked to Bruno quite a bit. There is an old concrete structure still there. That is going to be where the bathrooms are and another kitchen and bar will be. Waiting on approvals to start that, said maybe in the next couple of weeks.

Ollie--French side French fries are the best!

Thaks again for the pics and report, especially the casino update.

Thanks Eric.

While I've never had them, parmesan fries sound good to me. Will have to get to JAX to give them a try. Thanks for the interesting report and good pictures. Can't wait to visit La Playa. Pre-Irma, their bo bun nem salad wasn't as good as at Dreams, as Louise said, but I will still give it a try.

Carol, did I read your post correctly in that Carol (L'Estimenet and then at BZH) is now at La Playa?

That's correct RonDon. Carol is now at La Playa.

Linda--you may like the parmesan fries. I didn't care for them at all. Overall, I LOVE Bruno, but LaPlaya in general wasn't as good as before Irma, I didn't think.
RonDon--Yes.

Thank you for that info. Now I won't suffer BZH if she's not there. Adding LaPlaya to our list.

We loved BZH when Carole was there, but it's a long drive from Cay Bay at night. We did enjoy lunch there a couple of times. Looking forward to seeing her at La Playa; she's such a sweetheart, and definitely knows how to make a restaurant run like a top!

Thanks for the beautiful pics and trip report Carol & Eric. Trying to do the low carb diet and the FF pics are not helping any..... Haaaaaa. Some good food ideas for our upcoming trip in January.

Yes, I generally have been on a low carb diet for a while, which is why French fries are such a treat!

Have a couple more sections to post, but hard to concentrate when I'm now back home...

Carol, RE: smoking leftovers in the casino.

It is now going on almost 2 decades since smoking was banned in eateries here, even in covered outdoor venues, so it is always a shock to the system to encounter smokers at the next table over. For some reason some smokers just refuse to recognize that their activity makes our meal unenjoyable. Many smokers are polite enough to step outside to have a puff; it is just the "from my cold dead hands" folks who ruin things.

With the French/ European influence and their Monty Python attitude of "I fart in your direction" is smoking in eateries allowed? common?

Merci.

Regarding smoking in restaurants in SXM, I believe it is legally allowed in outdoor restaurants and people do smoke. It basically never bothers me in that situation, except for cigars, which I think should not be allowed in restaurants, indoor or outdoor.