TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin TRIP REPORT, June 8-July 14, 2023 – Food

Those of you who like to add places I’ve been to to your list of places to go are going to be disappointed with this report. I have started eating Keto, with excellent results. (I actually lost 9½ lbs. during the five weeks I was on island.) I no longer eat three meals a day, just when I’m hungry, and I often don’t eat dinner as a result. Thus, there won’t be many exciting new places in this report. I also see in rereading this that there are a lot of lamb chops. Sorry.

The Palms

On my first night on island, I joined a group at The Palms. I had previously communicated with Jo and Greg about the cooking process and ingredients used on the drunken ribs so ordered them without the BBQ sauce. I ordered the larger size so I would have leftovers. I must admit, they weren’t as tasty without the BBQ sauce.



Another time I dropped by after a sunset sail. I needed just a little food, and Greg accommodated with a terrific shrimp cocktail. It was perfect and hit the spot.



Bar Code

I ate there two or three times, and they were always accommodating with my special requests. Once was tuna tartare; another time was a hamburger with no fries or bun and an added salad.

Reveil Matin

Ate here several times and usually had “The 3 Heures”: scrambled eggs, sausages, bacon, and no toast. Perfect Keto breakfast.



Roma

Ate here twice. The first time was wonderful: delicious food and great service. I had lamb chops, and they accommodated with veggies and a really good spinach underneath. The décor is also interesting.




The second time I had osso buco which was okay; service still was great.



Anse Marcel

Went just once and had a wonderful tomato/mozzarella app with chicken Caesar salad. Very good.

Tropicana

I was privileged to attend three FoodPorn events while I was on island. The first was at Tropicana, where I had never had dinner. The dover sole was recommended; while it was very good, I found it a little too lemony for my taste.



I returned to the Marina later in my trip, hoping to find either Enjoy or Be Kool open; neither were. I went back to Tropicana and had duck, which was delicious.



La Brasserie

This is the relatively new place next door to Bar Code in Jordan Village. It’s a nice setting but getting service was like pulling teeth. I started with a Caesar salad; I don’t know what dressing they put on the salad, but it definitely wasn’t Caesar. My entrée was hangar steak, which was pretty good.




Coco Beach

Had another Caesar salad with bacon and boiled eggs. Tasty but not fabulous.

Vesna Taverna

Of all the places I went this trip, Vesna was the most knowledgeable about Keto and the most sincerely accommodating. I neglected to get a picture but had duck with veggies and a salad. Excellent.

Jai

I’m never disappointed when dining here. Duck again, which was delicious.



Indigo

This is a lobster salad. I didn’t realize fruit was included so picked that out. Lovely presentation and tasty.



Another night I took the Horny Toad innkeeper to dinner, and she chose Indigo. She had tuna tartare, which she said was excellent. I had a steak which was truly awful and not really edible. They did take some off the bill.

Altro

I didn’t do the three-course, fixed-price meal this time but rather chose from the entrée list. The lamb chops and veggies were good.



Astra

There’s a waitress here who remembers me, and I receive good service. This was the longest short rib I’ve ever seen. Good enough, but not fabulous.



Boka

This is a place I read about on Facebook. It’s two doors from Café Atlantico and has very good food at amazingly low prices. One lunch was chicken and veggies. The chicken might be even better than what you get at Pollos Hermanos, where I had takeout several times. They are open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I never made it for breakfast but did have lunch and dinner; it’s very convenient to Horny Toad, where I was staying. This was a chicken lunch.



Sublime

Another FoodPorn event was at Sublime, where I again had lamb chops. Very, very good.




Captain Frenchys

One of the best meals of the trip was the steak I had at Captain Frenchys. It was a special and not much to look at. The particular cut of meat, which I don’t recall, had a lot of gristle, which had to be cut away. But the edible meat was fantastic: cooked perfectly (medium rare) and very tasty. And the marrow – OMG! A surprising win.



La Main a la Pate

I went to the marina hoping to eat at either Be Kool or Enjoy, both of which were closed, for several weeks, I later learned, so this place was by default. There was a “lobster extraordinaire” salad on the special board, and I asked the waitress to tell me about it. She indicated it came with chicken and shrimp, lettuce, etc. Obviously, she needed to learn more about the menu.



Sale and Pepe

I’ve never been very impressed with this place but have to give them a thumbs up on this meal. It’s sausage with vegetables and was quite tasty. In addition, the piped-in music was jazz, which made the meal all the more pleasant. Service was fine.



978 Beach Lounge

This is the place next door to Kali’s at Friar’s Bay. I picked salmon; I should have known better. It was a bit dry, but they tried to accommodate my needs.



No1SXM

I have to give Mirian Ebbers of No1SXM a special shout-out. More about the sails in another report, if I get to it. She normally serves sandwiches on board. I emailed her ahead of time asking her to not be offended if I just ate the sandwich contents and not the bread. She offered to make me a salad instead, which was just perfect. She did this on both day sails I went on, and I couldn’t have been more appreciative.



Karakter

Went here for breakfast one day and ordered eggs with gouda and bacon. I thought the gouda would be IN the eggs but was obviously mistaken.



Mezza Luna

The waterside part of this restaurant was new to me; I thought it was just the little hole-in-the-wall pizza place you see from the street. It’s gorgeous, and the food was wonderful; lamb chops again.




Sunset Café at Grand Case Beach Club

For breakfast I had a salmon and goat cheese omelette with bacon on the side. Good.

Le P’tit Bistro

This was the third FoodPorn event. I had another Caesar with chicken and bacon, which was quite tasty.

Jax

One of the best meals of the trip. Started with an amazing wedge salad, followed by lamb chops. Both were wonderful. Service was almost too attentive; I was constantly being asked if everything was okay. Even the chef came out to see how I liked the meal. Excellent experience all around.




Bamboo House

Had dinner with several friends on my last night. Wouldn’t you know, I neglected to get pictures of the food and couldn’t tell you now what I had, but it was good. We were there on “Jazz Night,” and I think everyone enjoyed it. It was the first time there for everyone else. A delightful evening.

We used the shuttle from Carrefour. When leaving Bamboo House, we experienced the shuttle driver going backwards. Quite exciting!

Ah, thanks for posting! Lovely pictures, as always.

I did a low carb diet a few years ago and was very successful. Covid took care of gaining back the weight, unfortunately.

Thank you! That was an amazing report! Quite a few places we have never been. Wish I liked lamb chops they all looked terrific.

Great report and pictures. I see you like Lamb chops and Duck. My kind of girl. At home we have lamb chops at least once a week and being an avid duck hunter it's a go to dinner for me. Sorry we missed you on the night you arrived as we had a lot of packing to do to fly out next day.

Did I see carrots in some of your food photos? What did you do, pick them out?

Very nice report Linda. I love food, and your pictures are so beautiful!

Congratulations on your weight loss. That’s very impressive.

Nice report and pictures. Thanks.

Yes, when possible. When they were shredded, I just ate them. Didn't appear to adversely affect my results.

Very nice pictures of great food that you had .

Outstanding report and food pics, they made me hungry. I found it interesting that you found the service at Jaxs to be too attentive. We had the same experience in Dec and the dinner was delicious also.

Good for you losing almost 10 lbs!

Oh, thank you for sharing all of these photos and places. To the contrary of your warning, I see many places I'll try to incorporate in future trips. The lamb chops from Sublime look particularly good, and Mezza Luna looks to be a lovely spot.

Keto is a very rich diet. I would miss French Pastries, frenchbread, cold Heineken, pizza, pasta, rice sides & desserts.

To each his own. I have never felt better and don't miss starches at all.

Always enjoy your reports and photos, thx!

Wonderful report--the pictures are making me hungry!!

Glad it is working for you Linda. Of course Moscato is not permitted because of the high sugar content so what is your preferred drink now?

Water works just fine.

Thanks Linda! Love all the Food pictures!!!

Thx Linda! Great tips and pics. It was so nice at least enjoying one dinner with you before you had to leave. Larry and I noticed your weight loss, and I wish you continued success with keto. To lose that amount of weight, on vacation, in SXM, is astounding 👍🥰🏝️. Till we meet again…..

Thank you, Cleta. Our evening at Bamboo House was one of the highlights of my trip!