Best of St. Maarten / St. Martin
The SXM Daily Herald at the end of January each year does its annual "Best of" edition. You can download the PDF, free, at http://www.thedailyherald.com/images/stories/bestof/BESTOF2011.pdf -- but here are highlights and our own comments.[From early 2012.]
Members: Many of these places offer discounts to our members; see the Member Benefits List / Welcome Letter on the secret site to get all your benefits (soon increasing to 125 across SXM) www.everthingsxm.com/secret
These are in order of publication by the Herald:
Best Gift Shop: Shipwreck Shops. [Shipwreck offers discounts to our JMB members; see how to get them at http://everythingsxm.com/sxm/about_sxm/paypal.shtml ]
Best Pizza: Pizza Galley. Second place, Domino's [Domino's and Island Pizza offer discounts to JMB members. The Domino's discounts start soon. See http://everythingsxm.com/sxm/about_sxm/paypal.shtml ]
Best Sushi: Bamboo Bernie's. Pricey but good.
Best Chinese: White Swan; second place, Pink Pearl.
Best Nightclub: Tantra.
Best French: Le Moulin Fou. [The selection process ignores the French Side; our choice without question is Le Pressoir, far and away the best on the island. See www.lepressoir-sxm.com .]
Best Indian: Lal's, Simpson Bay. We agree... we love Lal's.
Best desserts: the Carousel.
Best high end restaurant: Temptation. It's superb; and Temptation will soon offer discounts to JMB members. Second place, Rare; third place, IZI. Rare will soon offer our JMB Website Supporters members discounts and IZI already does. [See http://everythingsxm.com/sxm/about_sxm/paypal.shtml ]
Best Italian: IZI, which we love. IZI, Spiga, and Daniel's by the Sea, all outstanding Italian restaurants, all offer discounts to our JMB members. See http://everythingsxm.com/sxm/about_sxm/paypal.shtml ]
Best Place for Steak: Peg Leg Pub & Steakhouse, [Peg Leg offers discounts to JMB members; see how to get them at http://everythingsxm.com/sxm/about_sxm/paypal.shtml ] Rare was is second place and it, too, will soon be offering discounts to our members.
Best Breakfast: Zee Best, Simpson Bay. We actually love Mr. Busby's Beach Bar near Oyster Bay Beach Resort, Dawn Beach; Ernest & Fidel's Cafe, Porto Cupecoy; and Tropical Heaven at Summit Resort, Jordan Road, Cupecoy -- three outstanding choices. If you go to Zee Best, avoid the baskets of croissants. We know passing baskets is a French thing but it's really not a good idea....
Best Coffee: Cafe Ernest and Fidel, Porto Cupecoy. It really is good, but you pay by the cup.
Best Lunch: Pineapple Pete, Simpson Bay. Second place: Karakter, Simpson Bay Beach; Third Choice, Top Carrot (vegetarian), Simpson Bay. [Pineapple Pete offers discounts to JMB members; see how to get them at http://everythingsxm.com/sxm/about_sxm/paypal.shtml ] Fusion in Simpson Bay, Tropical Heaven at Summit Resort, and Busby's at Dawn Beach also offer great lunches -- and they also offer discounts to JMB members. So does Island Pizza at Busby's. Skipjack's is open for lunch as well -- plenty of delicious choices.
Best Sandwich / Fast Food: Subway. See above -- also, Domino's now has very good sandwiches and it will soon be offering discounts to our JMB members.
Best Bakery: La Sucriere, Simpson Bay. We actually prefer Sarafina in Marigot (on the waterfront between the roundabouts). Sarafina is a boulangerie and patisserie and is both outstanding and reasonable. Breakfast, lunch, late lunch, outstanding bread; huge menu. Sucriere is much more limited.
Best New Restaurant: Taste Factory, Simpson Bay. Vaguely similar to Sarafina (see above). We like the interior of Taste Factory more (new, immaculate, a/c, good selection, good quality) though we like what Sarafina offers better (huge selection, all made right there we are told). They're both mainly bakeries. Best new restaurants to us are Cafe on the Bay (Simpson Bay), Fusion (behind IZI) in Simpson Bay, and Tropical Heaven at Summit Resort, Jordan Road, Cupecoy. The last three all offer discounts to JMB members; see how to get our discounts at http://everythingsxm.com/sxm/about_sxm/paypal.shtml .
Best Mexican: Jimbo's Rock & Blues Cafe. Great stuff, beautiful setting at the Yacht Club. Jimbo's offers discounts to JMB members; see how to get our discounts at http://everythingsxm.com/sxm/about_sxm/paypal.shtml .
Best Sports Bar: SPN (formerly ESPN), next to Pineapple Pete, Simpson Bay.
Best Barbecue: Johnny B Under the Tree; Lee's Roadside Grill; Talk of the Town lolo, Grand Case.
Best Seafood: Lee's; second place, Pineapple Pete; third place, SkipJack's. The latter two offer discounts to JMB members; see how to get our discounts at http://everythingsxm.com/sxm/about_sxm/paypal.shtml .
Best Beach Bar: Sunset. Sunset gets a bit crazy...you'll understand if you go. It's at the end of the airport runway, Dutch Side. We like Busby's, Dawn Beach, and Dany's, at Cupecoy Beach. They're all outstanding... Busby's and Island Pizza (same place) offer our members discounts; see how to get our discounts at http://everythingsxm.com/sxm/about_sxm/paypal.shtml .
Best Excursion: Loterie Farm Fly Zone / Hike. Third Place here was Random wind, which offers a discount to our members.
Best Real Estate Team: Century 21, which partners with us. See http://everythingsxm.com/sxm/sxm_real_estate/index.shtml
Best Guest House: Mary's Boon; Horny Toad (2nd place), La Vista 3rd place -- all neat accommodations.
Best Jewelry Store: Caribbean Gems. Caribbean Gems, Zhaveri Jewelers, DK Gems, and AMA Jewelers all offer discounts or benefits to our members. See how to get our discounts at http://everythingsxm.com/sxm/about_sxm/paypal.shtml .
Best Schwarma: Abu Ghazi.
Best Vegetarian: Top Carrot, Simpson Bay.
Best Radio Station: Island 92; listen live using the link on our home page at www.everythingsxm.com .
Best Radio Personality: Soc, Island 92.
Best Artist: Roland Richardson. See www.rolandrichardson.com and see the Secret Website; Sir Roland offers benefits to our JMB members.
Best Live Music / Local Food / Pool: Pineapple Pete which, as noted earlier, offers discounts to our members. See how to get our discounts at http://everythingsxm.com/sxm/about_sxm/paypal.shtml .
Best Local Band: Orange Grove.
3/14/12