St Barth: Le Carre (April 2016)

My spouse and I ate lunch at Le Carre on a weekday in late April 2016. We were looking for a restaurant in Gustavia near the harbor that was open for lunch, so we were pleased when we found Le Carre. (Many of our restaurant choices were open for dinner only, including Bagatelle, BAZ Bar, Black Ginger, Bonito, Eddy’s, and L’Isola.) Le Carre offered a pleasant-looking al fresco atmosphere, and the shaded location between buildings seemed cooler than some other restaurants that we walked past. Le Carre is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (with breaks/closures in between meals) daily except Sundays. The “Carre” in the restaurant name is an acronym that stands for Cocktail Apertif Restaurant Raw bar Events.

Le Carre is located in the passageway/arcade of the Carre d’Or Plaza (which hosts stores like Cartier, Hermes, Roberto Cavalli, Ralph Lauren, and Calypso) just off the main street (Quai de la Republique) that runs next to the harbor. The restaurant is completely open air; however, it offers an awning for protection from the sun. In the shade, with the breeze blowing off the nearby harbor, the temperature was comfortable, and the view was nice (although we had to look over the tops of the cars in the public parking lot to see the boats and the water). Le Carre has a bar, table seating, and lounge (couch) seating. Tables are available in several shapes, sizes, and configurations to suit every group. The kitchen is located among the shops toward the back of the plaza, and a tiny bathroom is located around the corner. (Ask an employee for the key to what is a very small but spotlessly clean unisex facility.)

The lunch menu at Le Carre features pasta, sushi, sandwiches, and salads. In the evening, meat and seafood entrees are also available. The restaurant hosts a DJ at night, when the outdoor restaurant takes on more of a club/lounge feel. The restaurant also offers take-away food. We saw a few locals eating here (or at least we thought that they were local businesspeople or shop owners/workers, because they were sitting one to a table and were dressed more formally than the tourists), which is generally a sign of a decent restaurant; in fact, the locals each seemed to have ordered the chef’s daily special (plat du jour), which was a good offer price-wise. As with every restaurant on the island, Le Carre offered us complimentary bread; however, we did not eat it because it was delivered without any butter, spread, or dipping oil. (Maybe they just forgot? We suppose that we should have asked.) We ordered two bottled waters, two rounds of drinks, a Nicoise salad (which had a lovely presentation of a pyramidal stack of greens, tomatoes, capers, crispy onions, and of course tuna slices), and a club sandwich (two halves cut at an angle and then grilled/pressed like a panini and served with well-executed French fries piled in a small fry basket), and our bill totaled just over $50 Euros, which was our most reasonable (yet filling, delicious, and nicely presented) meal on St Barths.

Le Carre is a great find in Gustavia while you are shopping or exploring the harbor!