super market

Arriving on 11/18 for 8 days and staying in the simpson bay area. Any suggestions on a good supermarket. Have not been to st martin in 10 yrs. Looking to find usda grade meat and cold cuts. have a nice condo on beach so want to enjoy breakfast and lunch on the deck and will go out 3 or 4 nights for dinner in grand case. Any suggestions on places to eat on dutch side. thanks

It's not in Simpson Bay, but the best supermarket with the best prices right now I think is the Super U in Marigot. It is where the Match used to be, if you remember that. Their prices are the best on island and while they do carry a lot of French products (as opposed to USDA grade meat <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Laugh.gif" alt="" />), please don't hold that against them!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" /> Their meats and produce are excellent and they have wonderful prices on most everything, including wine!

For places to eat on the Dutch side, for high end, Temptation and Bajatzu, next level down, Pineapple Pete, and for good local food, Captain's D's, basically a lolo next to Royal Palm, and old favorite, Mark's. And as far as the French side, don't limit yourself only to Grand Case, although there are many great restaurants there, including my current favorites, Bistrot Cariabes, and Ocean 82. Do check out Dreams, on the beach in Nettle Bay, for lunch or dinner.

Enjoy!

Thank you for the info. I was just looking at Dreams website and will try it! thanks

Dreams really is a lovely place to spend the day, with great service at your chair, of wine served in a real glass, and then head up to the restaurant for a fabulous french meal.

Jimisue,

If you're looking for another 'higher end' restaurant for a great lunch and a perfect day at the beach, although it's about as far away from the Dutch side as you can get, you might also try the Restaurant at Anse Marcel (there may be a more formal and official name for it, or that may be the actual name), on the same stretch of beach as RIU (formerly the Radisson and before that, perhaps L'Habitation?).

We had been hearing about it from a lot of different sources and tried it ourselves in April and it was lovely. That cove is completely protected so there are no strong waves; the beach is find powdery white sand; the beach service is very good; the restroom facilities are very nice, clean and well maintained; and lastly - the food is yummy, too.

The experience of getting there is half the fun and you sure do get to see some scenery along the way but once you come down the hill into the property itself, at the guardhouse turn left and keep driving until you can't drive any further along the road and you will run right into it.

The only thing I could remotely find to say in the negative is the chairs are not free with meals, or were not when we were there, but they are so comfy and everything else is perfect so in the end, that was okay, too.

What Pat said. Anse Marcel is memorable: Dreams with a better beach and calmer water. Here's a nice video of the area.

Thanks for the video. Stunning! I didn't understand what you meant to begin with, thought you meant that Dreams had a better beach, which is not what you meant at all. Do you know whether they have a website online with a menu?

Linda,

It was mostly thanks to you and Kim that we tried this place and once there, it was easy to see why you loved it so. It's a bit of a trek from where we stay, but they always say, the good things in life are worth a little extra effort. This particular beach and restaurant is everything one could hope for and more and so very much worth the effort to get to.

And Carol, we enjoy Dreams too, and it's certainly more convenient for us, but the beach is definitely superior at Anse Marcel. The food and service along with the beach furnishings were similar to the last time we were at Dreams but the beach and water are far superior here, IMHO, anyway.

Want to spend a day at dreams. So you can go there, rent a chair and have lunch. How much are chair rentals

The chairs are free at Dreams with meals. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />

great! I am assuming that means lunch. Can't wait to check it out for a day.

Yes, chairs are free with lunch, and actually I think the chairs are free regardless, so long as you are EITHER eating or drinking.. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" />

Yes, that is a big advantage of Dreams, how close it is to where we stay.

Wow. Anse Marcel looks so different from the first time we were there, back in 1994! None of those structures were there.
It was a Parker Meridien.
Cheers
irina

Ah, thank you, Irina - that's the name I was trying to remember when I mistakenly came up with L'Habitation, which I think was at the top of the hill and at about the midway point to the beach from the turn off the main road and before you started going down again towards the water. Do you remember the helo pad up there? We considered taking a ride until we saw the prices.....yikes! At that point we decided the airplane view was good enough?... And if we couldn't see it from the plane, chances were, we didn't really need to see it!

It's all in the punctuation, Carol. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" />

I haven't been able to find a menu on line. They have some fabulous food pictures on their Facebook page, but I know you aren't on FB. And their website is really funky. Took forever to load, and then it appeared to be just a site map. So you just need to GO. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" />

OK, thanks. I really don't understand a business that doesn't have a REAL website. It's not that hard to have a real website.. I won't be back in SXM until March, not sure whether I will be able to go then or not, but it sure looks wonderful!

I thought this was about a super market. What happened? Just saying. That's the problem with two questions with one post heading I guess.

Someone got a little carried away with their new drone.

What a find Anse Marcel was! We went based on recommendations from everyone here. I was trying to decide between Dreams and Anse Marcel and then read a review somewhere about the potential for it to be too breezy at Dreams. We were going with a group of 7 and I was nervous if the day was exceptionally windy, I might hear some complaints. I had convinced everyone to leave the confines of Divi for the day. Well--everything from the beach, the comfy chairs, the service, the food and the drinks (best mojitos ever) received rave reviews from the group. I still haven't mastered the art of posting photos or I would certainly post a few of our day. Dreams is on the list again for next year

I'm so glad you enjoyed it! It's always a little scary recommending a place in case someone else's tastes are different from your own. I certainly don't mean to bash Dreams; it's a wonderful place. The food there actually might be a tad bit better than at Anse Marcel. But the beach . . . Anse Marcel is, hands down, my absolute favorite on the island.

Thanks for reporting your experience!

Dreams was beautiful today! The calmest I've ever seen it and no wind.