Well, we found the traffic Haha! Due to rain on Friday morning, we were heading to Chesterfield’s for lunch, Phillipsburg to do some shopping, and Carre Four. Got to the airport roundabout and found traffic already backed up there, even before the drawbridge opening time…. Then, decided to try to go through Cole Bay… it was worse. So headed to Marigot. Drove by Monoprix and recalled someone saying on here it was nice (it is!), ran in to get some salami, cheese, water etc. Then headed to the marina to see if we could find Tropicana or Be Kool. We parked in the lot near the roundabout. We found both, but came across Tropicana first so ate there. (It’s been on my list for years, but we typically don’t eat out at lunch because we are beach bums and it always just seems a little sketchy in the evening). Although we did not have a reservation, we were early and got a table. They were very welcoming and the service was great, as was the food. Split the warm crabcake (it was one of the daily specials) for appetizer – as I’ve mentioned on another thread, it was amazing!. Mussels and chicken scallopini (more "eggy" than we are used to...maybe a French style scallopini??? it was very good) for entrée, chocolate mousse for me for dessert and we shared a bottle of pinot grigio. Unsure of the price, as my husband paid and he doesn't keep receipts, but whatever it was, it was well worth it lol. It was all top notch and we’d highly recommend. Clientele seemed to be a good mix of locals and tourists, which I prefer to having only tourists around me! (I am aware it sounds hypocritical, but.......).
Weather had cleared up after we returned to our villa, so we put up groceries and headed down to Long Bay for a couple of hours and then had wine and cheese at the villa for dinner…actually, we didn’t hardly eat anything as we were still so full from lunch.
Same weather on Saturday morning, so we elected to just hang around the pool and hot tub here, in between showers. By the time the weather cleared, I didn’t really feel like going out to a beach, so we just read and relaxed before heading to dinner reservations at French Cocotte in Porto Cupecoy. They were pretty busy as it was a weekend night. We intentionally came a little early for drinks at the bar. They have a good selection and the drinks were nice. The service was spotty at first (our waiter didn’t even present the specials, which was disappointing). When I noticed and asked the manager who was carrying the board, he said we could change entrees, which we did swap one - veal stew for duck and wished we hadn’t! We had French onion soup and escargot for appetizers – both good. Grilled scallops in some sort of sauce/soup – excellent (best dish of the night) and duck fillet, which is not the same as a duck breast apparently. It came cut in one inch slices (it looked similar to a London broil or flank steak) that were so tough they were almost unchewable. The flavor was good, but it needed to be sliced much more thinly or cooked longer! Granted… we were unaware that it was different from a typical duck breast, but surely there is a better way to prepare it! Neither of us would order that again – ever. Dessert was a highly recommended special, chocolate, praline, caramel, coconut tart. The filling was good, but the crust was so hard we couldn’t cut it with the spoon they gave us. The waiter noticed our struggles and brought us a knife and fork! I would go for the crème brulee next time. Added 15% service charge and I added a little more because after the specials fiasco, I felt like they really tried. The bill came to $167 (before added extra tip) for 2 cocktails, 2 glasses of wine, appetizers, entrees and 1 dessert, which I feel is a good price. I think we didn’t hit them on a good night, so we will probably give them another go.
