TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin L'Ardoise Review

Housed in the shell of the former Hibiscus restaurant ( next to Octopus diving, closer to Spiga end of Grand Case) is L'Ardoise which means chalk board. We chose outdoor seating on this breezy night on the quieter end of Gran Case. The smaller indoor dining room does offer air condition and only about 5 tables. With the menu, wine list, and wines by the glass offered on hand written chalkboards, David the chef is able to change his menu weekly. Five appetizers and five entrees were available, but still made the decision difficult. A nice change of pace from the nearby restaurants which seem to have the same base menu yearly. A small taste of gazpacho was offered from the chef. My appetizer were filled with fork tender duck confit and finished off in a not so rich foie gras sauce. Peggy our cute and friendly server (co-owner) offered the seafood veloute on the house as she miswrote it on the order to the kitchen. It may not been the original order of scallops in bacon, but delivered a wonderful seafood broth finished off with a touch of cream and garnished with small pieces of fish. A lighter bottle of Rose was enjoyed with the courses. A duo of shrimp and scallops was lightly sauce with a saffron cream and finished with basmati rice and perfectly cooked vegetables. My seafood combination had pristine clams, mussels, shrimp and scallops garnished with puff pastry and a similar sauce. I wish I had more of the sauce to dip the pastry in. David introduced himself and to check on our pleasures We were comfortable after dinner and passed on desserts. A smooth coffee flavored rum was offered with the check. At $100. L'Ardoise is very nicely priced on a street filled with high end choices.

Sounds wonderful! And yet another restaurant I had not heard of. Thanks for taking us along on your gastronomic journey! (...still wish there were pictures though. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" />)

Sounds like the kind of place we would enjoy. Thanks for all of your reviews.

I have very busy on this vacation as you can only imagine.
I have a very difficult decision on where to spend our last night eating. I have briefly tried to add picture and would like to title them so to be able to identify the food and restaurant. I am hoping to accomplish this soon.

Loved your review. Will definitely be on our list come April. Many thanks.

This is just a short walk from where we stay. May have to try it this year.

Thanks for the review. Sounds like a place to visit during our next trip.