Bonjour!
Today’s blog was written by our St. Barth Properties USA office’s St. Barth Villa and Hotel Specialist Allegra Pawlowski. Allegra was lucky enough to start her time on St. Barth as a vacationer before swinging into work mode.
As many of our repeat guests know, vacationing in St. Barth is worth the extra effort it takes to get there. Occasionally, a glitch or two, through no fault of our own, can make for a very long travel day. Allegra shares her story.
Enjoy!
Peg
GUEST BLOG BY ALLEGRA PAWLOWSKI
I went to the island for some vacation time with my mom and best friend and then I was to stay on for another week for my bi-annual inspection trip. The vacation portion was first and as it was a special getaway for my mom after a very tough year with medical hurdles and a death in the family, I arranged to have her pampered a bit on this trip. The first step was to hire a chef for our arrival night. Little did I realize that this was to be way more appreciated than originally planned… FOR ALL OF US.
Our travel day started with rising in Boston at 2 a.m. for a flight leaving at 5:30 a.m. followed by a connection in NYC and landing on St Maarten in a rain storm. This kind of weather is infrequent, so it was my first experience. Instead of waiting out the storm, we decided to jump in a taxi, cross the island at rush hour and head to the ferry.
Let me take a moment here to add that our Director of Concierge Services, (located in the US) Julia Hurd is a godsend! With one quick call to Julia, she reassured us that all would be ok on the island – she swiftly arranged to have the rental car waiting at the dock (rather than the airport), the chef was to arrive later and the manager of the property was alerted of our delay. I could sit back and enjoy the ferry ride to the island (a VERY rough, but fun ride, especially with a Planteur’s Punch in hand!).
Once we disembarked, we jumped in the car, drove to the Marché U to get the requisite (and much needed) bottles of wine, water and a few things to get us through the night. The chef, Christophe was hard at work already in the spacious kitchen of GORGEOUS Les Etoiles (our home for 2 of our 6 nights on the island). We were welcomed to the scent of parmesan crisps being toasted in the oven! We parked ourselves at the bar in the kitchen, watched the rain through the glass windows surrounding the living and kitchen area, poured ourselves some rosé and enjoyed the show in front of us with Christophe!
This was the agreed upon menu:
- Amuse Bouche de la chef
- Burrata di bufala with heirloom tomatoes, pear capers tartare, crispy prosciutto and parmesan chips
- Beef Wellington, mushroom duxelles, grenaille potatoes, Mediterranean ratatouille
- Roasted pineapple with citrus and honey syrup
HEAVEN! The zombies we were, sitting at the bar allowed us to watch Christophe work his magic and magic it was! He kept refilling our glasses with the rosé we picked up at the market (He can provide the cocktails and wine if you wish) and we watched with our eyes wide and mouths drooling. What a fantastic way to end an adventure-filled day! I strongly suggest that you ask Julia to arrange your first night’s dinner on your arrival day.
Thank you and sunny regards,
Allegra Pawlowski
St Barth Specialist
