during St. Maarten’s culinary festival
The annual culinary festival Fête de la Cuisine is taking place this week. A full dine around program, arranged for visitors to sample the international cuisine of St. Maarten, has already started. Monday night, the first of the exciting gourmet evenings took place at Infinity, Oyster Bay Beach Resort, and Tuesday evening a wine tasting at Divi Little Bay Resort.
The event at Infinity was fabulous, the setting is conducive to some really fine dining. Infinity has recently been refurbished and is perfect for large groups to enjoy the finest cuisine. The many discerning gourmands enjoyed excellent synchronized service by Sundial School students. The organization for the evening, from the bottom up, was notable.
Four top chefs from the Netherlands have been invited to participate in the Fête de la Cuisine. During the week of the festival they will demonstrate their cooking skills at a grand 5-course food/ wine pairing event at Holland House.
The other events planned during the week are: a Wine Tasting at Divi Little Bay Resort, a Comedy Show at Back Street Cultural centre, a BBQ on the beach at Karakter.
The menu at Infinity was led by Chef Russell Philips, with executive chef Pieter Holstein, pastry chef Ronald Stephane, coordinator Bart Peut and F&B director Enzo La Rosa on the team.
On arrival, guests were met with a glass of bubbly, always a perfect welcome drink and the canapés served were delicious “bitterballen” with a difference. Large spheres of crisp-coated fish cakes topped with a tasty salsa.
Waiting at the table were baskets of warmed rolls and some truly delectable, elegantly small, warm and crisp, salted Johnny cakes.
The appetizer course was more than up to par. Beautifully plated, the seared Anguillan crayfish sat nestled surrounded by artfully-placed cucumber, drizzled with a consommé of lobster; on the side was a wee glass of apple and cucumber bisque. This course was paired with a crisp Rodney Strong Sauvignon Blanc 2014.
An Amuse Bouche followed; this delicate sorbet of basil and mint was a perfect choice as a palate cleanser, it looked as appealing as it tasted.
The entrée certainly did justice to this fine meal; Caribbean Jerk veal tenderloin took pride of place on a platter of christophene, callaloo and mounds of sweet potato garnished with grilled plantain. The pairing with this was a Chateau Bel-Air Gallier 2011 Graves Gironde, a wine that has power, is fruity and a long finish.
The dessert swept in as a fitting ending to this delightful meal; a bomb of passion fruit, garnished with a white chocolate medallion and a spray of caramelized sugar. Light and not too sweet it was paired with a sweet Astoria Ventus Moscato 2015. This very rich dessert wine from Sicily was great to finish dinner with.
The Divi Little Bay event was amazing in spite of weather that attempted to dampen the crowd. The area outside the dining room, pure ocean, is perfect for festivals of this nature. Seating, tables for small groups and stalls were set up. Large tents were erected to cover the crowd and a crowd there was. The wine tasting stalls offered a wonderful variety of champagne, wine and rum. There were small plates of cheese from a well-known cheese emporium and yummy sweet, delicious cake bites from the bake stand. NIPPA had a stand and served delectable small bites.
Servers walked around offering some of the tastiest bites imaginable to the guests that the in-house chefs and guest chefs prepared.
The chefs offerings truly titillated the taste buds; of note were the crispy-battered soft-shell crab topping a smooth leek and potato soup; pumpkin soup shots; gazpacho shots; wee stuffed pocket bites; spicy pig’s feet; various canapés and an outstanding bite of grilled shrimp on a bed of grits.
The Fete de La Cuisine is a wonderful event to attend; Thursday at Holland House for a 5-course dinner; a comedy show; a Beach Party at Karakter – have you bought your tickets yet?
If you find that the events are booked out already, make sure you get your places booked in time for next year’s events!
