TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Monday 4/25 Day ??

"Well, woke up this morning with a wine glass in my hand
Whose wine? What wine? Where the hell did I dine?
Must have been a dream I don't believe where I've been
Come on, let's do it again" - Frampton

Wish there was a classier quote that I could wake up to this morning to describe last night. But the evening part can wait for now. Home from a half of what was my normal walk. Gonna head back out and get some pastries this am as one of the members of this vacation has to depart today. One must not leave on an empty stomach. Although I do believe that none of us have gone hungry over these few days.

Monday started off with no walk, a swim at the pool and some coffee. It was a bit of a transition day as J&T were coming over from Palm Court. I took the jeep over loaded them up and they started the move in process. Whilst that was going on we had to navigate the online covid testing for Andie who was leaving on Tuesday. She was our guinea pig so we could all learn. The testing was pretty seamless and really convenient compared to having to go somewhere, but the uploading was the painful part. We spent the morning milling about trying to upload it to the Verifly app for her, noshing on a day old ham and cheese quiche. Pinel became a wash as we needed to be close to a solid wifi connection to make sure the paperwork was uploaded and approved. Laundry also needed to taken care of so we stuck to Orient.

Made the walk down and got whisked into LeString. Grabbed 6 chairs & 3 umbrellas on the first row. As I was opening a menu to order most of the crew was already in the water, washing off any stress of the morning. The change in residence and the forms to fly out were hardly stressful but it's all relative when you're living your best life. Ordered a bottle of prosecco for the crew, some sodas, beers and the obligatory 'ti punch. Mondays are quiet and peaceful on the beach. I made a few runs back to the villa to move swap out the wash and hang it on the line, did a few more tweaks to Andie's form upload to help her out. Got back to the beach where the boy had ordered a bacon cheeseburger. I put in an order for the group of chicken spring rolls, accras, and the LeString salad. J&T headed up to the bar to have their lunch, the tuna and the chicken curry. Lunch was amazing, the LeString salad had garlic shrimp, avocado, artichoke hearts and olives. Before I leave I need to find out what the dipping sauce that came with the accras was. It was the most amazing spicy oil concoction that will haunt me going forward. We enjoyed the surf and sand for the day and headed back to collect ourselves with dinner plans.

A few cocktails, pool time and showers later. We pulled it together. As we were leaving I was streaming one of my best friends weekly radio show from back home. He gave us a shout out and was playing a track for us, perfect timing as we strolled to the village. The group defaulted to my choice of dining for the evening, L'Atelier. I've been stalking this establishment online since I planned this trip. If I didn't wake this morning after that meal I would have been perfectly okay with that. There have only been a handful of times in my life that I can say that it wasn't just a meal it was an experience. This has moved into the #1 spot of my culinary moments. From walking up to walking out it was amazing. We shared a couple starters, not sure the missus wanted to share the fois gras after her first bite. The bone marrow bruschetta was gone in minutes. Not being the biggest butternut squash fan I ordered the table their signature starter, the Crispy Poached Egg butternut and corn veloute. Mind blowing. The Cannonball heard Alexander say goat cheese and black olive jam during the menu presentation and insisted that we ordered that, well played little man, well played. Another amazing choice to start. My cocktail ride started with the Waygu Old Fashion with our apps, moved on to a mezcal negroni between courses, and we picked our mains to share. With 6 of us reeling from just the apps we split 3 mains. Andie and the missus got the 6oz wagyu w/ mushroom sauce and truffled rigatoni as the side. J&T got the Seabass over a cauliflower mash topped w/ a medley of sauteed veg. The Cannonball and I opted for the Candy Pork Chop from Ireland. We ordered some sides of frites for the table also. A glass of Bordeaux for me with dinner and I was in heaven. My love affair with meat is very open with the people in my life and for me to get a pork chop that is perfectly cooked has been a struggle my whole life. Mission accomplished. Again I don't have enough vernacular to express how amazing this meal was and I haven't even gotten to dessert. The truffle molten cake, the dark rhum creme brulee and someone ordered a gelato. All were passed around. I grabbed an espresso, some grappa and a ruby port for all to sip and enjoy. Looking around as dinner was wrapping up I could do nothing but bask in a moment that will forever be ingrained in to my soul.

We made our way home to relax pool side and try to solve the world's problems by talking about dinner and our day. So many laughs and hugs last night as we have to end a chapter on Tuesday with Andie leaving. We planned out the next day's morning and went our respective ways to our rooms. Crashed with the Cannonball due to sleeping arraignments for the evening, as we faded off to sleep we kept discussing the culinary joys of what we had just experienced that evening. If he remembers nothing else from this trip I believe that dining experience will stick with him for life. There's rumors of another dinner over the next few nights as we are starting to lose time. Maybe a trip to the Lolo's on our way home from the airport run also in the cards.

Sitting hear having a bowl of cereal for breakfast and drooling over your meal pictures!

beans--excellent quote to begin your daily report! I think I have been in that same situation, several times! With all those fabulous restaurants there in the square, I am surprised that this was the first evening meal you have partaken of there. But it's all good, and so enjoying all your exploits!

Thank you for taking the time to post. Your evening meal sounds amazing. It is wonderful to read about the adventurous appetite of your son the Irish cannonball! If you go out for another evening meal you might want to try Maison Mere right next door to L'Attlier. We had a fabulous meal there in March.
We had a nurse come to our place for our antigen test. She was in and out in 10 minutes and we had printed copies. Highly reccomend if you encounter challenges with your on line tests. Enjoy your remaining time on the island.

So enjoyed this post.

What a divine meal. We ate there for Valentine's this year and thanks to the food, wine, atmosphere, and company it was the best Valentine's Day we have celebrated.

And yes, the Cannonball will remember this. Our son, who is now 20, travelled with us everywhere from 3 months on and he still talks about our adventures in Mexico, Canada, Alaska, and the Caribbean. Now his 4 year old sister gets to be the world traveller and she talks about our trips too. Making good memories.

I need to go on a Diet just reading about the food.

Our dinner at L'Atellier was the best of our recent trip. We shared the Australian Wagu Beef. Was delicious. Meal was so good that we made a reservation for later in the trip, and the 2nd time was just as good as the 1st. In addition to the beef, the house specialy dessert was amazing.

I'm really enjoying your posts! Have you tried any of the restaurants in Grand Case?

Loving the stories of your trip. Visits to the island create so many wonderful memories for the young ones..our kids..now in their 30s…still recall experiences from their visits 20 years ago.

Thanks for the pictures and the continued trip reports. This is so nice. Enjoy the rest of your trip.

Beans,

I’m right here with you - literally and figuratively - and your posts have been an absolute delight since we spend so little time traveling the island these days. Thank you for taking the time and making the effort and mostly, for doing such a nice job. I truly comprehend the effort it takes and your photos are an added plus, for sure.

Thanks so much for taking the time out to post your daily events and dining experiences!! It truly makes me want to book a flight now and stay on Orient village again soon! Safe flight home for you and your family! Until next time, that can't come soon enough!! Thank you!

Pat, thank you for the kind words. It's been a joy to read your daily posts from the other side during our stay. It's a great perspective to see how we could be so geographically close but have different trips. You make BSV sound incredible and make us want to stay there for the next trip!

Pony- we just hit Talk of Town last night on our way back.

Colour1- Thank you!!