we have been blessed with great weather for our first 13 days and hoping the final week the weather remains the same while pool gravity keeps us at the pool, I am still hoping for a few beach days and lunches
we enjoyed our usual breakfast at Chez Mahokid which may have more hours in the future since a catering guy back in the states is about to retire
then we headed out to the Marigot market to visit the souvenir ladies and to check out the fish offering which are only there Wednesdays and Saturdays
we parked along the water directly in front of the fish stall where I only saw red snapper and another smaller fish which I believe was old wife's we got there just past 10:00 am and believe the fish stall opens much earlier than the rest of the market so may have been sold out I looked over the hanging price list and lobster was priced at 28, I am assuming 28e per kilo or less than $13 a pound as long as your condo has a large enough pot, it may be an option to boil one at home since there is no secret to a good lobster
we walked through the container restaurants which had a decent crowd many of which were enjoying soup it is hot already and they are eating soup at 10:00 AM, must be an island thing
Before souvenir shopping, we stopped over Chez Fernand bakery, instead of the prized pistachio croissant, we tried the lemon and strawberry which aren't as good as the pistachio also ate a fresh apple "doughnut", it was the only fruit choice left since they were out of other flavors, the beignet was good but would have been better with a different filling such as raspberry which we originally wanted
an excuse to get of the condo, we always bring back something for the child of our cat sitter as small as the gifts are, young children think the world of it this year we found st martin change purses that I will put some French coins in and maybe a few US coins We are very fortunate to have a trusty pet sitter who lets us know our spoiled fur babies are fine
It's nice in Maho that you have more variety of restaurants to choose from although we usually keep the list pretty much the same from year to year we did skip Pineapples Petes last year since we had just visited Maine before vacation and already had a big thermidor at Bistro Caribes earlier with the going rate of about $35 at Bistro Caribes this year and also another previous trip to Maine just about a month ago where the price is about $10-12 a pound for the larger whole lobster, we selected PP for our lobster fix
Simpson Bay was packed like I never seen it before in low season, almost all locals out having a good time The head pineapple escorted us to the bar while we waited about 10 minutes for a table a couple of frozen mojitos and we were shown to a table just below a fan as requested and close to the entertainment A gentleman was playing the sax and signing to background music at a nice low level to allow conversation I had already checked with Pete if the big lobster were availably and he confirmed they were
wife started out with a nice sized portion of crabmeat stuffed shrimp with a cream sauce considering we are close to Baltimore's great crabmeat, the stuffing was very good, while the sauce was just a bit rich for my wife who is trying to limit cream intake, I loved it I really took a dive into the deep end and selected the one love sushi roll we are spoiled by some great sushi places back home and very particular to fresh fish and the proper rice besides Bamboo which is overpriced, not sure if sushi is a good island choice surprise, surprise, both my wife and myself agreed that the sushi roll was up to par, It was beautifully presented and saw our neighboring table starting off with sushi which looked just as good
For our main we shared the large lobster thermidor surf and turf with a 8 ounce filet which was cooked just a little past the medium ordered in the past, I have had a great filet with the combination, but this year it did not impress even with the provided mushroom sauce. next visit we will stick with just the large lobster as it was plenty and did leave a small leftover to enjoy for next day's lunch while no lobster can compare to Bistro Caribes, Pete's version is creamy and cheesy and much more affordable the surf and turf combination was $81.95, guessing from the size, it might have been a two pound lobster with an 8 ounce filet very fairly priced
wrapping up some lobster left just a little room for the rum creme brulee I am a chocolate lover but the renowned brulee lived up to the hype
we stopped in the back game room to try our luck winning a stuffed animal that all the children were walking out with no luck for us but Pete is banking some good change as we saw plenty of families with their children dumping some coins
While the service is always friendly it is sporadic and it seems no particular server is in charge of your table you pretty much need to ask for anything and then still a wait again island service on the Dutch side but nothing to keep us from coming back
A small donation to Casino Royal to even things up and with no electric outage like the previous two nights ended our evening not much foot traffic as you don't see many all inclusive Sonesta guests leaving that "glorious" place they bring in a (apologies) a rough looking NY crowd that think they are at the world's best resort
