Restaurants

To save money on St. Maarten/St. Martin, get take-out food for picnics and buy basics (snacks, soft drinks, milk, beer) at local grocery stores. Several restaurants take the sting from the euro's strength by offering 1€=$1 exchange rates for customers paying cash (this rarely applies to credit card users). Several restaurants, especially on the Dutch side, provide Internet coupons for free drinks or a second main course at half price. Lunch is generally less expensive, and the menu selection often simpler. Look for multicourse prix-fixe menus; these can represent bargains, often including a beverage. Tipping is usually hassle-free (the menu will state whether service is included), but always confirm whether gratuities are added (and what the percentage is) and give a little extra when you feel the staff warrants it. If there's no service charge, add 15% to 20% to your bill.

Note: Entrée is actually the French term for appetizer; plat means main course.

Without a doubt, St. Maarten/St. Martin has some of the best food in the Caribbean. Although both the French and Dutch sides offer epicurean experiences galore, with nearly 500 restaurants, it's the French side that gets the nod for overall excellence. St. Martin has drawn a number of classically trained culinary wizards and become a competitive training ground for Michelin-bound chefs. The Dutch side is more uneven and much more Americanized (you'll spot KFC and Burger King, among others), but some of the island's most exciting restaurants are opening up here.

Truth be told, the standards are so high on both sides of this tiny island that few restaurateurs can get away with mediocrity for long; even the hotel restaurants are better than most. Speaking of which, I'd like to mention a couple of hotel restaurants that for space issues aren't reviewed below. La Samanna's The Restaurant (www.lasamanna.com) offers a sublime fine-dining experience in a setting that's truly hard to beat: high above curving Baie Longue. At the other end of the dining spectrum is the Tides, a modest, old-fashioned dining room with a spectacular beachside setting at Mary's Boon Plantation (www.marysboon.com/marysboon). The head chef, Leona, has been cooking here for 36 years, and the food is delicious and the experience surprisingly satisfying.

Yes, you can eat well pretty much wherever you go, but as you might suspect, many of the top restaurants are located in the most highly trafficked areas. You'll find great dining in Marigot, in atmospheric restaurants lining the waterfront and at Marina Port la Royale. Philipsburg, for all its slightly tawdry tendencies, has a number of truly fine eateries on and around Front Street. Numerous excellent options have sprouted in St. Maarten's Maho district, while its neighbor Simpson Bay has dozens of casual but topnotch watering holes overlooking the lagoon where fresh seafood reflects the community's longtime fishing heritage. But the island's true culinary mecca is the charming little fishing village of Grand Case, perched near the northern tip of St. Martin: No other Caribbean town offers so many wonderful restaurants per capita, sitting cheek-by-jowl along the narrow mile-long main road fronting Grand Case Beach.

La Belle Créole -- Befitting its turbulent colonial history, St. Maarten/St. Martin is a rich culinary melting pot. The local cuisine, symbol of the island's voyage on many levels, is primarily a savory blend of Arawak (the indigenous people), French, African, even East Indian influences. The Arawaks contributed native tubers like yuca (aka cassava) and dasheen (whose leaves, similar to spinach, are also used), as well as cilantro, lemon grass, and achiote for flavoring. The slave ships introduced plantains, sweet potato, green pigeon peas, and assorted peppers. The various European influences bore fruit in fresh garden staples like onions (and breadfruit imported from Tahiti because it proved cheaper for feeding slaves). The East Indians brought curry with them, an essential ingredient of Colombo, a meat or chicken dish of Tamil origin, as well as exotic spices.

True Creole cuisine is fast vanishing: It requires patience and work, long hours marinating and pounding. But you can still find authentic dishes whose seasonings ignite the palate. Look for specialties such as crabe farci (stuffed crab), féroce (avocado with shredded, spicy codfish called chiquetaille), accras (cod fritters), blaff (seafood simmered in seasoned soup), boudin (spicy blood sausage), bébélé and matéte (tripe dishes stewed with anything from breadfruit to bananas). Conch (lambi) and whelks are found in fritters and stews with fiery sauce chien. Wash them down with local juices: mango, guava, papaya, and less familiar flavors like the tart tangy tamarind; milky mouth-puckering soursop; pulpy passion fruit; bitter yet refreshing mauby (made from tree bark); and the milkshakelike, reputedly aphrodisiacal sea moss. And try a ti' punch aperitif: deceptively sweet, fruit-infused 100-proof rum.

-- Jordan Simon

Resources for Self-Catering

As a large provisioning hub for passing boats, St. Maarten has plenty of options for visitors with self-catering capabilities, whether a hotel kitchenette or a fully equipped kitchen. You can buy meats, fresh fruits and vegetables, snacks, drinks, and kitchen supplies at Le Grand Marché, a full-service grocery chain with three locations on island, including one at Simpson Bay (tel. 599/545-3055; www.legrandmarche.net). In Marigot, Match supermarket, located in the Howell Center, has a good selection of French foods. The U.S. Imports Super Marché (tel. 590/52-87-14), a supermarket chain on the French side, has a branch at the drawbridge in Sandy Ground that's open till 10pm (it also has baguettes, pastries, and a cheese selection). You can also find takeout foods at traiteurs (takeout/caterers), pâtisseries (pastry shops), and boulangeries (baked goods). For an excellent selection of wine and spirits, head to Vinissimo, at 1 Rue de Low Town, Marigot (tel. 590/877-078). For fresh fish, head over to the Simpson Bay Fish Market, a new open-air seafood market facing the Simpson Bay lagoon, which sells Simpson Bay's fresh catches daily. Finally, the island is home to 130 nationalities, from Latino to Lebanese, Italian to Indian. Don't shy away from the glorified bodegas serving comida criolla, Hong Kong Chinese holes-in-the-wall, and shwarma shacks.

Lolos: Local Barbecue Joints

Every Caribbean island has roadside shacks (and mobile vans) serving savory local specialties. These barbecue stands are a St. Martin institution, dishing out big, delicious helpings of barbecued ribs, lobster, chicken or fish grilled on split metal drums, garlic shrimp, goat stew, rice and peas, cod fritters, and johnnycakes -- all for around $10, a real bargain on pricey St. Martin. In Grand Case, the two best, Talk of the Town (tel. 590/29-63-89) and Sky's The Limit (tel. 690/35-67-84) have covered seating, a waitstaff, and sea views. In Marigot, there's Derrick Hodge's Exclusive Bite (no phone) by the scenic cemetery and Enoch's in the open-air Marigot Market (tel. 590/29-29-88). The Dutch side counters with its own versions. For lunch try Mark's Place (no phone) in Philipsburg's Food Center Plaza parking lot; after 6pm head for Johnny B's Under the Tree (no phone) on Cay Hill Road in Cole Bay.

Dinner in the Treehouse

Set on a carbet (covered wood patio) at Loterie Farm's entrance, the Hidden Forest Café (www.loteriefarm.net) serves delicious lunches and dinners Tuesday through Sunday. It sports a funky-chic treehouse look, with photos of dreadlocked musicians, a blue-tile bar, oars dangling from the rafters, and hurricane lamps. There's live music several evenings in season (perfect for an aperitif). But this is the domain of Canadian-born, self-taught chef Julia Purkis, who says her surroundings provide inspiration (and, of course, fresh ingredients from the organic gardens and forest). Her sophisticated culinary techniques and presentation (including often-edible floral garnishes) are all the more impressive given the cramped, basic kitchen and frequent power outages. You might start with cumin chicken rolls, mahimahi fingers with red pepper tartar sauce, shrimp spring roll, or brie in puff pastry with mango chutney. Standout main courses include grilled salmon with apple-ginger compote, rare duck breast with banana-mint-tamarind salsa, pan-seared sea scallops with vanilla rum sauce, and Julia's signature curried spinach-stuffed chicken.