TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Les Galets

Les Galets in the gated community Jardins of Orient Bay (directly across from the main entrance to Orient) has been one of our favorite restaurants since opening two years ago
The open air kitchen overlooks the 5-6 tables surrounding the pool, much the Astrolab but on a smaller scale
There are also several rental units on property close to the restaurant separated by a private walk way
It was a five minute drive from our condo in Orient mostly because of the speedbumps and the Orient donkeys

We were saddened to hear of it closing almost a year ago, but
We were excited to hear the former chef and property owner is leasing out the restaurant space
Our island food critic who has been there 5 times in 7 weeks has given it glowing reviews
Linda you know who I am speaking about

You are given the daily code to enter the community and it is a quick left and right onto the property which does offer limited parking
We were the last reservation for the evening and lucky to secure the last very tight parking spot

As someone mentioned yesterday about being welcomed, we were welcomed like family by Alexsandra who is the chef's wife and oversees the service
We were seated about 10 feet in front of the kitchen where I was able to watch both the service and cooking
A happy anniversary card was on the table on which the chef wrote on of my wife's quotes, somehow it had got a hold of it since my wife is a romance author
Such thoughtful gesture showing attention to the smallest detail
There is minimum talk between chef, sous chef and service and they have quickly perfected food and service

Get ready to enjoy a three hour well timed culinary adventure which changes every week from Friday to Sunday
The menu is posted on their facebook opening page well in advance so you are able to make a reservation before they are completely booked
The table is very simplistic set with a crisp white cloth and personal lamp allowing you see the wonderful presentation of courses and letting the food be the star

A choux pastry filled with gouda served on a "rock" was offered as an amuse

The first course expresses the imagination of the chef
Finely diced cucumbers were served atop a cucumber gelee with a cream cheese mousse and granny smith apple, garnished with a mild blistered pepper
Okay they are vegetables but how did chef make it taste so good, there was a harmony of the melting flavors

house made, hand rolled ravioli were filled with local oyster mushrooms along with chanterelles in a chicken sauce garnished with coppa strips and pickled mushroom
The pasta was cooked perfectly al dente, and I wiped every drop of my sauce with my house made crispy bread

The nice part of the prix fix is that you are offered a choice of your main
My wife choose the grouper atop cauliflower and a lightly seasoned cauliflower cream
the thick slice of fresh grouper was cooked in a banana leaf keeping it moist

Never allowed to order the same entree, I selected the meatly lamb chops cooked a perfect medium rare atop a slice of eggplant and eggplant "caviar"
A small house made "pita pocket" was filled with a tasty lamb shoulder slow cooked in to a heavenly tenderness
Even in this fine restaurant, I made sure to leave no meat on the bone expressing my compliments to the chef

The new owners have scaled back to the cheese trolley and narrowed it down to 6 choices
a placard is placed on the table so you are able to remember your choices
We enjoyed a small slice of each garnished with their banana "jam"

We could smell the sous chef browning the butter for the fig dessert
Fresh figs served along a "stewed" fig served on a honey shortbread with the brown butter and garnished with nuts
Dessert does not have to be chocolate to be enjoyed

Before closing out for the evening, two petite chocolate friandise perfected our night

The five course prix fix is very reasonably priced at 69e

Alexsandra noticed me having trouble getting out of the tight parking space and kindly moved the car next to ours for an easy back out

Our three hour diner was perfectly timed did not feel that long

Our sincere thank you to chef Sebastien, Alexsandra along with sous chef and assistant waiter

Very interesting! At what time did your 3 hour meal begin?

That really does seem a reasonable price for such an amazing repast! Do they offer wine pairings with the meal?

Thanks for another detailed review and great pics. We were thinking of L’Astrolabe in Nov,but Les Galets may have trumped that choice. I am betting that I could name your review source also.

Wow everything sounds just like the original restaurant that closed last year. Food was excellent then! Looks like only thing different is the cheese cart had an overwhelming selection and was included in the fixed price. Inflation i guess we will have to visit it again this winter.

We had a 8:30 PM reservation and no other table was on a different course than us so assuming all arrived around 8:00 PM and later.

Since my wife and I enjoy different wine, I started with a Sancerre, second was a Borgone followed by a Cote du Beaune pinot noir
they have dual temperature wine storage so all wine was served at proper temperature

Interesting but when the table of eight food was ready the chef followed and served the last two plates
He did visit each table at the end of the evening

If I had to choose, definitely Les Galets for the experience
If the menu looks good in two weeks, we are hoping for a return visit

Yes my wife loves cheese and that is her favorite course, 6 cheeses was plenty

We love this kind of experience! We will be staying fairly closeby for one of our weeks in January. We typically go to Grand Case several nights, but with all the issues reported lately, this might be a nice alternative for at least one of the nights. Could you post a link to their Facebook page? I'm having trouble finding it.

I just love it when you are in SXM. Your reviews, photos make me wish that I were there with you! Enjoy reading everything about your trip. Keep it up!

Les Galets - facebook page

LINK

What a fabulous evening! Thank you for the detailed report of your experience.

The final night of our December trip just happens to be our anniversary, and I now know where I'm going to suggest that we have dinner!

Got it - Thank you!!

Wonderful review and great pictures! That lamb looks out of this world. I have yet to go there and, with my Keto eating plan now, not sure I will. My loss, I'm sure. Thanks for the review!