On our first full day in St. Martin, we drove to brunch at a spot I’d read about in multiple travel guides and blogs. A lot of people raved that Zee Best had great croissants and their breakfast was the best on the island so Ken and I decided to drive to the restaurant, which was about 30 minutes away from our resort (there are multiple locations on the island but we visited the one in Simpson Bay):
Everyone said their almond croissant was the best they’d ever had, so of course I had to order one:
The almonds were a little soggy and the croissant wasn’t flaky or buttery enough. Also, the almond creme in the center was very sweet and since they sprinkled the croissant with powdered sugar, it was too sweet to eat. Ken ordered the chocolate croissant:
Ken’s croissant was also flimsy and didn’t have nearly enough butter or chocolate; there were literally two little pieces in his croissant! For our main courses, I ordered the banana French toast (which was made with almond croissants):
The croissants didn’t have enough of an egg coating and it was actually quite dry, even with the mashed up bananas.
Ken ordered the savory crepe with ham, mushrooms, and an egg, sunny side up:
The buckwheat crepe was a tad rubbery and none of it was seasoned enough; it tasted very plain and the textures were all very similar. Ken couldn’t finish his because he was still feeling sick from the night before so I ate the crepe, which was slightly better than the croissant French toast I ordered.
Birds came to visit us throughout our meal:
And the view was much better than the food we ordered:
After lunch, we headed to the grocery store to try and pick up some fruit (which ended up being very expensive). We spent the afternoon lounging around the resort, playing in the water, and enjoying each other’s company.
Two weeks ago, Ken and I took our first vacation together to St. Martin. I flew from New York and Ken flew in from Orlando because he was there for a company off-site. Originally, our flights were supposed to arrive within 20 minutes of each other (mine arriving 20 minutes earlier) but Ken’s flight was delayed by a couple of hours and it pushed our plans back. I sat at the airport and read up on travel magazines and Ken finally arrived in the late afternoon. We picked up our rental car and set off for our hotel, which we didn’t reach until after sunset. The island, although very small, was slightly difficult to navigate (and since the roads were so bumpy, I got carsick more than once!)
After we checked into our hotel (the Westin at Dawn Beach) we went to the concierge to ask for a dinner recommendation. Our original plan was to hang out on the beach after we arrived and then eat in town but by the time we arrived at the hotel, it was already a little too late to go back into the main part of town. The concierge suggested we try Beau Beau’s, which had seafood, al fresco dining, and wasn’t very far from the hotel. A $6 cab ride later, we arrived:
Beau Beau’s is actually located on a time share complex and was very close to our hotel (during the day, it might have been walkable but at night, since there were no streetlights, it would have been too dangerous). We started off with some cocktails – I wanted to try their guavaberry daquiri:
It had a nice combination of coconut cream and alcohol (maybe a little too much alcohol) and a nice mix of St. Martin’s national liqueur, the guavaberry rum.
I was quite hungry since I’d only eaten a yogurt in the morning before my 7am flight so we ordered right away. We started off with the fried conch salad:
The conch is hidden in the salad, but the tiny pieces of fried conch had a light sweetness and chewiness that we both enjoyed. There was also a house-made vinaigrette with the salad that was refreshing and light.
For my main course, I ordered the Island ribs with a side of rice:
And Ken ordered the Caribbean chicken:
We were both a little surprised when Ken’s order arrived because it looked like chicken fingers from Trader Joe’s (in fact, we had made the exact same meal earlier in the week). My ribs were on the tough side even though the menu promised ‘fall off the bone’ meat and overall, we weren’t impressed with our main courses. In addition to the chicken being a little on the amateur side, it was also really undercooked and ended up making Ken ill for the first full day of the trip (ack!)
We sat outside and enjoyed the sound of the waves as we tried to enjoy dinner and then took a walk on the beach after dinner. While I wouldn’t recommend Beau Beau’s for their food, it’s a nice place to enjoy a drink at sunset if you’re staying at the Westin.
By
grace.g.yang
· March 4, 2011
Under:
My Life I’ve been posting less these days because I haven’t been on any amazing dining adventures recently. Why? Because I decided to join in an office diet, The Fight Diet, helping us lose weight, develop good habits and exercise more.
I’m on my last couple of days (it’s a 21 day fight…for your life) and the first couple of days were brutal; the diet requires 5-6 feedings a day (not a problem), but limits women to 1300 calories a day (kind of a problem) without any grain, milk, cheese, desserts, sugar, cream sauces, breaded items, or fruit juice (definitely a problem). The first couple of nights, I’d make a list of all the foods I really missed. Poor Ken had to listen to my 20 minute list (no exaggeration – the list included almost every type of bread/dessert/sweet/cheese ever made) but eventually, I’ve weened myself off processed foods. I’m not saying I won’t be running to The Doughnut Plant after tonight’s weigh in, but I will be making healthier decisions (I hope).
You’re also supposed to exercise 4-5 times a week which I’ve been trying to follow (if you follow my foursquare or twitter, you’ll notice that I’ve been doing bikram yoga a lot). I really did feel like crap the first couple of times I went, but I haven’t done bikram yoga since last summer and it took some time to adjust. Now, my body craves the heat (so weird!) and I can’t wait to go every night (or morning when I manage to wake up in time).
The results? Absolutely amazing! I’ve lost 7 pounds so far and have been keeping really good habits – eating more organic proteins and vegetables, making my lunch and exercising every day. The diet ends today and we’ll do our final weigh ins – I am 3 pounds away from my ideal weight so I might continue on the diet, but definitely let loose a bit (I haven’t had steak in such a long time it literally hurts my heart)
Next, I’m trying a juice cleanse – something I’ve never thought I would ever do, but it seems interesting and challenging and hopefully it will help me detox a bit more. But before I start my cleanse on May 16th, I’ll be indulging a bit (starting with a nice steak dinner tonight at Benjamin’s Steakhouse followed by a huge team lunch at a location TBD).
Have you ever tried diets with success?
When I lived in Pittsburgh, David and I used to walk home from swim team practice and stop at practically every restaurant we could to grab a bite before heading home for dinner. Our favorite places included Eat-N-Park, Bruegger’s, Pam’s, a pizza place, and a small Jewish deli that served awesome pastrami sandwiches with mustard. When I moved to New York, I sampled some of the more famous delis but thought the meat was all too dry and lean but one night Ken and I were in the mood for a late night snack and found Sarge’s deli on seamlessweb and caved in to the pastrami and corned beef sandwich:
The pastrami and corned beef combo reminded me of the days when David and I would plop down at the deli and count our change before ordering our pastrami sandwich with a dollop of mustard:
Yes, we ate in bed and yes, it was so awesome. The sandwich had the perfect amount of lean and fatty meat and we definitely devoured it in an very short amount of time. I’ve never visited the restaurant but the service for seamless is very quick and it’s one of the better pastrami sandwiches I’ve had in the city!
On our way home from a friend’s birthday party, Ken and I decided we wanted to get a late night snack before going to bed. Our usual snack procurement involves placing an order for pizza on seamlessweb when we get in the cab so the food arrives around the same time we get home (I imagine we’ll actually make the walk across the street to the place we order pizza from when the weather gets nicer, but for now, it’s way too cold to walk outside). Last Saturday, we decided to try a new-ish pizza place close to the apartment: Revd Up Pi.
The place was completely empty when we arrived and we almost walked out but decided to stay because it was too cold to walk up the street to Pizza 33. I didn’t know the concept of the restaurant before walking in, but quickly found out they have a healthy spin on pizza: low fat cheeses, turkey pepperoni instead of the real stuff, and whole wheat crusts and pastas. I gave it a try by ordering the marathon grandpa pizza (made with a whole wheat crust and low fat mozzarella):
The crust was really crunchy (almost cracker-like) and the cheese was a tad rubbery but didn’t completely lack flavor. It actually reminded me of the pizza from Za’s (in Champaign) that I used to eat all the time.
Ken ordered the turkey pepperoni calzone because I wanted to order that and the slice of pizza and couldn’t decide which to get:
The turkey pepperoni was much drier than regular pepperoni (there was absolutely no grease oozing from the calzone) and I thought it was pretty good but also a tad on the dry side. They definitely overdid it on the turkey pepperoni (even though it’s supposed to be healthier, it’s definitely just as sodium packed as the regular stuff). The prices were a little shocking: a slice of pizza was around $4.50 and the calzone was $8.50, which seems a little high for both (I don’t think I’ve ever eaten a calzone in the city but they can’t be that expensive, right? It seemed like it was a pizza that was wrapped up).
I found a discount on yelp right as we were checking out but the server wouldn’t let me use it because he already ran the transaction through. The restaurant has a ton of coupons and specials (I’d check yelp, facebook, twitter, and foursquare before placing your order) – I’d return for a quick bite to eat, but not without a discount.
