TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Sunday report

Since we had read online there was supposed to be a Bankie Banks concert at Driftwood Saturday night, we were worried if we went out, that we wouldn't be able to get back home through the crowds, so we stayed in and grilled our lamb chops we had purchased at Super U.



They were good, but we were still pretty tired from yesterday's doings, so we were again in bed early. Linda said later that she had gone by the area at 7 PM and didn't see anything going on, so we probably could have gone out to eat. Regardless, another successful day.

Sunday morning I again poked my head through the curtains and was relieved to see no seaweed on the beach.



Yay! After a breakfast of bacon and eggs, mimosa and croissants, the morning was spent doing pretty much nothing, other than reading, hanging out and watching some sailboats practice out front.

I think some of them were kids and some adults? Regardless, we enjoyed seeing some spinnakers put to use.





This time of year, there are very few yachts around, but we did see this guy come across the horizon, and eventually head toward a bridge opening.



Eventually it was time to head over to Puerto Cupecoy for the jazz brunch at Rendezvous Lounge.



We had made reservations, but it turned out they were not necessary. We hung out for a couple of hours and split a pizza and french fries.



The pizza was so-so, as were the fries. The music was nice though. Linda (Jazzgal) showed up and we spent a while catching up with her, and then headed back to Beachside.

The afternoon consisted of some reading and some napping, and then we headed to Cupecoy Brasserie for dinner. I tell you, I really WANTED to like this place. Having a true French restaurant on the Dutch side is somewhat of a rarity and these days, we are not really fond of driving to the French side at night. The location is in Jordan Village, just before Bar Code on the same side of the road. For SXM, the parking isn't bad, with about 6 spaces specifically for the restaurant and some more parking further down on the other side of the road, which is general parking for the area. The interior of the restaurant is airy and pretty and I enjoyed the look of it.



The menu is French, as are the most of the servers. I had somewhat of a hard time finding a menu online, so I am posting it here.










Neither one of us were really super hungry, so Eric settled only for the bouef bourguignon and I ordered only the warm goat cheese salad, along with what they said was one of their 'specials', garlic bread. That didn't really sound French to me, but seemed like a good accompaniment to the salad. In a bit of confusion with the waiter, we ended up with some whiskey as a pre-dinner drink, which actually was nice. Each of us ordered a glass of wine. They had several wines available by the glass, at $6 per glass, for a very decent sized pour.

Eric took one bite of his beef and I could tell he didn't like it. I took a bite and didn't care for it either. It was extremely greasy. I guess maybe that is the reason why I didn't get a picture of either thing. Sorry about that! My goat cheese salad was huge and quite good. I would personally have preferred pecans to the almonds on the salad, but otherwise, I quite enjoyed it. When they brought my salad, I inquired after my garlic bread. The waiter who brought the meals (not our original waiter) said that the order of garlic bread had not come in. HUH? They don't make garlic bread in house? When the bill came, it listed a total in Euros. I questioned why the bill was in Euros. The waiter did not have a good explanation for that, but the actual charge on the slip was in dollars. Eric made the wrong choice with his entre', as normally he would choose some kind of fish, but I agreed with him that the beef was not appetizing. We will probably go back there at some point, but not soon, which is disappointing.

Boring people that we are these days, after dinner we headed back to the unit, watched a bit of TV, and Eric went to bed, while I stayed up for a while reading my book.

Thus endeth another day in paradise.

Try the hanger steak! Both my husband and I enjoyed it .

We’re too boring and stick to Grand Case dinners mainly because of location and we’re creatures of habit. We gotta stretch out a bit this year.

Mama--I like hanger steak, although not sure that's traditional french?

Ollie--I can see where you would concentrate on Grand Case, with it all right there! Not long to go before your trip!

Thanks for the menu copy; I do plan to go there this trip.

Linda--I had a hard time finding their menu online, once we were here. I really don't understand why that should be so difficult. The goat cheese salad was actually quite good.

We went to the Brasserie twice when we were there in May. Both times were excellent. I notice the menu has changed sense then. In May I had a pork dish that was outstanding and enticed us to return a second time. I had lamb shank on the second visit which was very good. If you go there try the onion soup. It is very flavorful .

chicstersun--since they are a relatively new restaurant, I guess not surprising that they would change up the menu. But they have a Facebook page, so not at all sure why restaurants can't put their menus on there? Makes no sense.

I actually thought about the french onion soup, as I love it. Eric is kind of coming down with a cold, so wasn't hungry. If I could have gotten him to share it with me, I would have gone for that, and the salad.

Hope Eric isn't getting that flu bug that has been going around the island. Quite a few people, both residents and guests, had been coming down with it while we were there. Did he test for Covid?

We have a Covid test here, but haven't used it. We'll see how he feels today.

We took 4 tests with us and thankfully there was no need to use them. Hope he's feeling better soon.

Thanks

Best wishes to Eric feelings to improve today.

Thanks. Feeling somewhat better. Hoping to go out for something simple for dinner tonight.

Thanks for the report on the Brassiere. We had placed it on our already long list for next visit. Maybe it will go to the bottom and if we have time, try it. I'm always searching for good Bourginoune. The best so far was at Bistro Nu but they don't always have it.

Relax and enjoy your trip.

Rosemary--If you go, skip on the bourguignon, for sure.

Enjoyed the update. Like you, I couldn't really find menus online and the one picture we found was so brief that we actually decided to go somewhere else. Good to see that the actual menu has more variety. It was on my list, but now I'm not sure if we'll make it this trip or not... probably not.. but there' always next time!

lhbsurf--If Eric had chosen a fish dish, and enjoyed it, we probably would be having a whole different conversation.

Carol, Hanger steak translates as "onglet" in french, and is a traditional French cut of beef. That's what I almost always order at La Brassserie.

wendy--thanks for that info. Just curious, have you ever had the bouef bourguignon there?

Carol. Any action at the old El Zafiro restaurant location?

There is a sign on the road that says "White Sands Beach Club", which is what it used to be called, way back when Jessica operated it herself. There have generally been 2 or 3 cars in the parking lot, whenever we go past, so I assume that people are staying there, although I don't know. I heard a RUMOR that the restaurant has been rented out, but no idea if it is true or not.

Hopefully they will have something operational by January. It’s a nice location.

RonDon..beef bourguignon was on the specials list at Le Moulin Foo last Friday and it was great! Obviously, no guarantee it will be when you're on island, but something to file away.

Cheers!

Yes Carol,
Onglet is the name in French.
Cheers
irina

Great report and love the photos! Sorry Eric isn’t feeling well. Hopefully it will be brief.

[quote=Sorry Eric isn’t feeling well. Hopefully it will be brief.[/quote]

No problem now, typical head cold for me.

Lots of pills, directions, oops forgot to read all of them. No problem,

Completely better now, thanks for the concerns.

So glad Eric is feeling better and it is just a cold. Sunshine (vitamin D) and taking Vitamin C will do you good.

I drink lots of OJ, especially here, with champagne!