TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin November lunch in Grand Case

......we will be staying in Orient, and don't like to drive in the dark....if we can't do dinner, what is our best experience at lunch?

Highly recommend Rainbow Café. Eat inside or on the beach, plus they have off-street parking.

Calmos might be a good option. Eat with your feet in the sand.

....love the idea of feet in the sand......would it be an afternoon experience, like Kakao or Dreams?

The quality of the food at Calmos is nowhere near Dreams or even Kakao. I enjoy Calmos mostly for a sunset view.

My suggestion would be Ocean 82. It's on the water, high end French, if that's what you are looking for. Not casual.

As Carol said, Calmos is a casual beach bar atmosphere. Personally, I think the food is quite good, not the French meals you get on the strip in Grand Case but still very satisfying. If it was me and I was staying on Orient I'd get up to Palm Beach and you've got the best of all worlds, fabulous French food served right on the beach.

Have you been to Palm Beach recently? We haven't been there for a while and people have been saying that their quality has gone down. When you've only got a short time on island, it's hard to go someplace where the recent reviews have not been that good..

Without a doubt and maybe a hidden secret to many, L'Effert Mer is ranked second on my list of Gran Case restaurants behind Le Cottage which does not serve lunch.
Stephane the chef (formerly from L'Astrolab) has won the Gold Medal of Taste Award in St Martin. I am dinning there tonight with a review to post in two days.

...looking forward to your (next) review......

...love Palm Beach, but looking at Grand Case...or should I?.....new question.....Orient vs Grand Case......

Paradise View would be my recommendation in the vicinity. They serve breakfast and lunch 6 days a week with dinner on the weekends. A full menu with crepes both savory and sweet as well as other French dishes and daily specials. Great view too and lovely owners.

For a nice lunch I prefer Orient. There are just so many choices, and you can spend the day on the beach. We often have our main meal of the day on Orient, usually at Kakao, and then just have wine and cheese in the evening at "home".

Haven't been to Palm Beach since late January but the food and service was outstanding and on par with most of the better restaurants in Grand Case. We've been going to SXM since 93 and food is my passion so I'm comfortable with my assessment of Palm Beach unless something has changed recently. I'll certainly let you know January 12th as that is my wife's birthday and we always celebrate it at Palm Beach.

As an addendum to my note above I just went to Trip Advisor and the reviews of Palm Beach for the past few months were almost all 4 stars or better.... Apparently I'm not the only one pleased with this restaurant. The overall rating was 4 and 1/2 stars.

OK, I haven't been there in over a year I know. Just have not seen that great a reviews here recently.

+ 1 for Rainbow, feet in the sand service on the beach, great people. Sundays may be crowded with locals for the two hour lunch. The beach is primo

Another vote for Rainbow!!!!!

Anse Marcel Beach Club. We ate there last February 12 times out of our 16 night stay. Cannot wait to return in February 2016. High class and fabulous food.

Sunset Cafe at Grand Case Beach Club is very good and you can use their beach chairs and umbrellas if you dine there. Rainbow is excellent and I hope will be open this year - was closed last November when we were there. Enold's is good - more of a LoLo style but set inside a nicer building than the typical outdoors LoLo. And, I agree with another poster - Paradise View, although not in Grand Case, should not be missed. You can get traditional French dishes like crepes or foie gras all the way to a cheeseburger and fries - and it is all very good.

...except it's not in Grand Case..

For a lovely lunch in Grand Case, my vote also goes to Rainbow.
Calmos is nice, but food and beach space at Rainbow are better.
They have a small private lot to park, but you have to get lucky. Chairs are complimentary if you are eating and drinking there. I was amazed at the quality of the food, beef was from South America....yum!



Delicious filet, with cristofene au gratin. I've since gotten the recipe and made this at home. Nice islandy alternative to potatoes.



Nice view, easy water and access.

Beautiful pictures! Looks good enough to eat! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

Looks like a great menu! Do the beach chairs have pads?

Sunset Cafe Grand Case Beach Club or Rainbow

oops forgot to add that our photo here is from the deck going down to the Sunset Cafe.

We will try it in February.

And that's just the daily specials board! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" />

The chairs aren't the type with big fluffy cushions. That's fine with me, as if there's been a shower, they are wet...or the previous occupants have left them soaked. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Yikes.gif" alt="" /> They are adequately comfy (I bring extra towels) and have an attached sunshade over your head.

Would you share your recipe for the cristofene?

No problem! I posted it in the recipe section for you. Main Index, People Talk.
Let me know if you try it. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" />

Thank you! They do look pretty comfy even without pads. We've added Rainbow to the list for our next trip.

I couldn't help notice that they had the 1 euro equals $1 on their sign. Now that the Euro is down, are most of the restaurants accepting $1 equals 1 Euro?

Le Soliel is great for lunch in Grand Case, Great food and view of the sea.

Thanks!

And good wishes to you for a very happy birthday!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Joy.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Joy.gif" alt="" />

Thank you!