St Barth: O'Corail

My spouse and I visited O’Corail for drinks one weekday afternoon during our 4-night stay in late April 2016 at nearby Le Sereno Resort in Grand Cul-de-Sac. The location of O’Corail was a quick walk either on the (side) street or on the beach between our hotel and the restaurant. O’Corail serves breakfast and lunch daily except Mondays. Although the restaurant stays open until 5:00 pm, they stop serving food around 3:00 pm; however, you can still enjoy drinks and dessert after 3:00. Ouanalao Dive Center, located just behind O’Corail (when looking from the beachside), offers diving and snorkeling, and rents stand up paddle boards, (clear) kayaks, and pedal boats.

O’Corail is located beachside on the sand; however, it is one of the few waterfront restaurants on the island that does not offer complimentary use of their beach and chairs because they do not have any beach chairs - the restaurant seating extends right up to the water line. You can choose to sit either at immoveable picnic tables on their very tiny sliver of sand, or you can sit at a higher altitude at a high wooden dining bar in the main part of the restaurant with a full-on view of the water. This beach shack features lots of light wood and a white sunshade that covers both dining areas.

The lunch menu offers fish, salads, and burgers, and ice cream for dessert. Oddly, the only time during our visit to French St Barths that we received the wrong order was when an American waitress at O’Corail brought us two identical tropical drinks, instead of the one pina colada and the one beer that we ordered.

If you are in the Grand Cul-de-Sac vicinity, O’Corail is an option for a drink, snack, or meal.

St Barth: Le Piment (April 2016)

My spouse and I enjoyed lunch at Le Piment on a weekday afternoon in late April 2016. The word “Piment” is French for “chili pepper”; however, that bears no influence on their food. The restaurant is open daily for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Le Piment is located on the main road in St Jean near the roundabout/traffic circle/rotary near three small shopping centers (including La Villa Creole and Vaval Centre), each of which offers complimentary off-street parking. The restaurant windows are open to the outdoors, and the restaurant has positioned many fans to keep the air circulating, so the temperature is pleasant. This restaurant is casual with a laid-back vibe. The staff at this restaurant were some of the most pleasant that we encountered on the island because they seemed to enjoy their jobs. The restaurant has a small bar with a TV for sports-watching. Individual tables share the same banquette on one side. The interior wall of the restaurant is stone, and a dark window allows a frosted peek into the kitchen.

We had eaten a large breakfast on the day that we dined at Le Piment, so we shared the charcuterie plate, which Le Piment served with grilled bread, another type of white (untoasted) bread, and some cornichons; we also ordered a few rounds of drinks. We had intended to also share a sandwich, but the charcuterie was so plentiful that we were too full to order another course. Prices were reasonable for St Barth, and thus, we saw some locals dining/drinking there. The menu was large and varied, with items to please every taste and budget.

Le Piment offers something to satisfy even the choosiest eaters in a casual, fun setting.

 

 

St Barth: La Gloriette (April 2016)

My spouse and I visited La Gloriette several times during our 4-night stay in late April 2016 at nearby Le Sereno Resort in Grand Cul-de-Sac. It was a quick, easy, and safe walk either on the (side) street or on the beach between our hotel and the restaurant. (Another beach shack O’Corail is located even closer between Le Sereno and La Gloriette.) La Gloriette serves lunch and dinner daily except Wednesdays; however, the restaurant closes in the late afternoon/very early evening between those meals. Even though we visited St Barth just after the busy season, La Gloriette was crowded each time we visited. We are not sure if the restaurant accepts reservations for dinner, but you might want to inquire so that you do not have to wait (because there is no formal bar at which to pass the time).

The majority of the tables at La Gloriette are completely al fresco, although a few tables are positioned under the roof adjacent to the main building (which is more of a beach shack that contains the kitchen and bar/service area). Most tables are located on the sand beneath the swaying cocoloba trees. In the morning/afternoon, the restaurant offers the use of their reclining beach chairs and small side tables if you dine there (but they do not offer beach umbrellas, so bring your own).

The lunch menu at La Gloriette is varied, from salads and sandwiches to complete main courses and desserts. The dinner menu, although extensive, consists primarily of pizzas, calzones, and burgers. Pizza is also available to carry out if you want to eat at your own hotel or villa. A tiny shop to the rear of the property (from the beachside) sells rum, but it did not ever seem to be open when we visited. A paved parking lot offers plenty of complimentary parking.

During our two afternoon visits, we tried two of their desserts: the banana bread (served warm) and the panna cotta (served with a shot glass of raspberry sauce to pour over the creamy custard). We visited after 3:00 pm, so the lunch menu was no longer offered, but fortunately we could still order dessert. The panna cotta at La Gloriette is the best we have ever tasted anywhere, and we ordered it several more times when we visited. We also ate dinner at La Gloriette one evening, when we shared a pizza (there offer 20+ different varieties, both with traditional red sauce and “white” without sauce) and a bacon cheeseburger (with fries). Although the food was not as inexpensive as we expected (for example, it was not much less than the cost of similar food at nearby resort Le Sereno), the drinks prices were noticeably less than at the hotel. Service was perfunctory but not particularly friendly or welcoming.

La Gloriette is great for what it is – a restaurant that provides a laid-back meal in casual surroundings. It is not a dining (or beach) destination, but if you are staying nearby, it is worth a visit.

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!

St Barth: Bartolomeo at Le Guanahani (April 2016)

My spouse and I enjoyed dinner at Bartolomeo restaurant at Le Guanahani resort on a Sunday evening in late April 2016. Bartolomeo and Guanahani are located in Grand Cul-de-Sac near the hotel where we stayed, Le Sereno. Unfortunately, due to the rocky terrain/cliffside, you cannot walk between the two resorts on the beach because there is no beach! You could potentially walk between the two hotels on the street; however, it is quite a distance from the main road through the Le Guanahani property to reach the restaurant. Bartolomeo is open for dinner daily except Thursdays, with an annual closure in September and October. The restaurant institutes a dress code of long pants for gentlemen, which everyone obeyed on the evening that we dined. (Supposedly, Bartolomeo is the ONLY restaurant on St Barths with such a dress code, which seems unnecessary because the weather can be warm and the dining space is not air-conditioned.) Guanahani dining offers a unique “cook what you catch” program, whereby the chef will prepare the seafood that you caught while fishing as part of a lunch or dinner tasting menu. Another more casual restaurant, Indigo, is also located at the Guanahani resort, but it is primarily open for lunch (except that it serves dinner on Thursday evenings because Bartolomeo is closed).

Bartolomeo is a lovely open-air restaurant. Tables are set either under cover of the roof of the main structure (but still open on two sides) or on a large wooden deck that extends into a garden-like setting. The garden also features a grouping of sofa/chairs/coffee table/outdoor lamps where you can enjoy drinks near the small pond and waterfall. Bar’to Lounge, the bar adjacent to Bartolomeo restaurant, serves a selection of wine, beer, liquor, and cocktails in a climate-controlled enclosed setting that features vaulted ceilings, slatted window shutters, and low lighting. The restaurant building reminds us of a beautiful plantation house with gingerbread trim. A few friendly cats call the Le Guanahani home resort home; one particularly vocal kitty trolled the restaurant looking for table scraps (fortunately, we love cats, so we enjoyed this one).

Bartolomeo serves French and Caribbean cuisine. As our starter, we shared the risotto king crab (accented with raspberries and licorice powder, which sounds odd but tasted good!). The kitchen nicely split our shared starter onto two plates, and each individual portion was so large that we thought that they had misheard our order and delivered two separate dishes instead of one shared. (We were pleased when our bill arrived that we were only charged for one portion.) The bread “basket” at Bartolomeo is quite impressive; it was hard to resist the many carbohydrate selections that arrived on the bread tray! (We wish that we had taken a photo of this most remarkable site!) As our main courses, we ordered the suckling veal (served with carrots, chard, and morels) and a white fish dish (served with green peas and other green veggies, so the overall effect was dichromatic and gorgeous!). The presentation of the food at Bartolomeo was the most beautiful that we saw during all of our meals on St Barth.

We spent a mostly pleasant evening at Bartolomeo, where we admired the beautiful setting and the tasty and nicely presented food. Our service was good until it came time to pay the bill. When our server tried to swipe our charge card through her portable card machine, it rejected our plate, which she tried to run several more times with the same result. She inquired as to whether we presented her a valid card, and we explained that we had used the card recently without issue; however, she could not make it work. Then she asked for an alternate card, which was also not accepted! By that time, she realized that the problem existed with her machine and not with either of our cards, so she successfully ran the first card at the machine at the bar. This matter put a damper on an otherwise nice meal, because the server did not handle the issue with grace and tact, instead making us feel like we were deadbeats who were trying to pull some sort of scam! Had she thought about the issue logically, we presented an American Express Platinum card, which is not a “credit” card, but is instead a “charge” card that has no credit limit, so there was no way that funds were not available to pay for our meal. She made no apology to make up for her insult, which would have left us with an entirely different final view of Bartolomeo.

 

St Barth: Sand Bar at Eden Rock (April 2016)

My spouse and I enjoyed lunch at The Sand Bar restaurant at Eden Rock Resort on a Sunday afternoon in late April 2016. The Sand Bar is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily; however, it closes annually from the end of August to mid-October. We suggest that you make a reservation, even for lunch; we were not seated at one of the choice tables adjacent to the sand because it was so crowded and we arrived without a booking. (Eden Rock’s more formal restaurant called On the Rocks participates in the Open Table reservation system, and it seems to accept reservations for lunch, even though it is a dinner-only restaurant, so we think that the lunch reservations must apply to The Sand Bar instead.) Eden Rock offers complimentary valet parking for diners who are non-hotel guests.

The Sand Bar, which overlooks the beach and the clear-blue sea in St Jean, retains an elegant atmosphere, despite patrons in swimsuits, cover-ups, and bare feet for the lunch service. The décor of the open-air Sand Bar features lots of white, with red pops of color from placemats, cushions, and pillows, which contrast with the dark wood deck/floor and lighter wood of the beams that support the roof. The restaurant offers table seating as well as seats at tables at which one side shares the cushioned banquette. As with most restaurants on the island of St Barths, roll-down clear plastic shades protect from rain and cold when necessary. The restaurant features an interesting copper pizza oven, an atypical site on the island. The hotel bar area adjacent to the restaurant space (some of which offers indoor seating at high-top tables) looks a bit dated with its nautical feel including lots of wood and brass-rimmed porthole windows, but otherwise, the Eden Rock property is lovely. Restrooms are located a bit far from the Sand Bar restaurant, out past the shops and adjacent to the parking lot and valet stop.

Jean-Georges Vongenrichten, who comes from Alsace France, created the menus at both The Sand Bar (and On the Rocks). The executive chef is Eric Desbordes from Paris. Vongenrichten holds three Michelin stars in one of his restaurants (Jean-Georges in New York City), and Desbordes holds one from his previous restaurant. The menu at The Sand Bar features international cuisine, with items at many price points and degrees of formality; for example, at lunchtime, you can order a less expensive hamburger, pizza, or salad, or you can break the bank and order the lobster or the Dover sole. (We watched guests order menu choices from both ends of the spectrum and everywhere in between.) As we perused the menu, our server delivered three small bowls of complimentary nuts (cashews and almonds), each coated with a different type of flavoring/herb/spice. We also received bread and oil as we waited for our meal. We shared two menu items, but we requested that they be delivered in two courses: first, we shared the pizza Jambon San Danielle et Roquette (topped with prosciutto and arugula), then we shared the Sandwich de Poisson Pays Grille and Frites (grilled local fish sandwich with fries; the top of the sandwich bun features the initials of the hotel ER written with black poppyseeds, which was cute!). Our food, as well as two rounds of drinks and a large bottle of water amounted to just over $100 (service included), which is not much more than we would spend for a similar lunch at a scenic restaurant in the United States, so we did not feel that the prices were outrageous.

We enjoyed our leisurely lunch at The Sand Bar, and we would visit again, or more likely, to visit On the Rocks at dinnertime.