The Sibuet’s had been eyeing St. Barth for a while and seized the perfect opportunity to turn the old, iconic François Plantation hotel and restaurant into a lush paradise.
The Sibuet family made their official grand appearance in St. Barth in 2016. Villa Marie St. Barth used to be a hotel and restaurant called François Plantation. Françoise and François were a couple that ran the property and made it a very well-known and highly regarded staple on the island. It had its glorious years, but overtime leadership changed and the restaurant wasn’t maintained. It eventually closed down. When the Sibuet’s took over in 2016, they chose to keep the name of the restaurant and breathe life back into it. Locals and long time visitors of the island couldn’t be happier to see François Plantation come back to life. Pat and I decided to try this talked about iconic location with drinks at the pineapple lounge accompanied by dinner prepared by Chef Emmanuel Motte.
Cocktails in the Ananas Lounge
Meet The Hotel Director: We Talk To Sonia Morel, Director of Maisons & Hotels Sibuet
Patrick and I caught up with Sonia Morel, Director of Maisons & Hotels Sibuet, to learn more about Villa Marie St. Barth and the unique experience Maisons & Hotels Sibuet offer. Our meeting place? The ananas lounge, or pineapple lounge (named for it’s pineapple-themed décor), at François Plantation at Villa Marie St. Barth. Over the next hour and a half, Pat and I chatted and cracked jokes with Sonia Morel. The warm conversation, a pure reflection of the Villa Marie St. Barth atmosphere, spanned everything from what makes Villa Marie St. Barth unique to her favorite Maisons & Hotels Sibuet property, non-hotel guest amenities, and the can’t miss dish at François Plantation.
Throughout our conversation, I enjoyed a cocktail invented by Anaes, the bartender, called the Chocolate Thirst cocktail. It’s made with rum, homemade maple syrup, fresh grapefruit, lemon, and lime. Between each sip you’re supposed to take a bite of a small bitter dark chocolate to complement the sweetness of the cocktail. The result is a heavenly flavor that makes your taste buds tingle. Superbe! As they would say in France. I would definitely call it a unique and personal culinary innovation only available at Villa Marie. St. Barth.
Dinner
– The Ambiance –
François Plantation’s earthy-bohemian vibe is anchored by the plantation’s original colonial design, fixtures, and furnishings reminiscent of a St. Barth bygone era: wooden slat shutters, tables made of local wood, and open armchairs with carved woodwork. Ms. Jocelyn Sibuet chose all the furniture throughout the hotel. After finding some abandoned books within the former François Plantation library, she used them as inspiration for Villa Marie’s design. Interspersed throughout the property are finds from her travels including chests of drawers from Jaipur, tables from Indonesia and fabrics from Peru, Pakistan and Tunisia. A true global citizen’s oasis. I’d be amiss to note the bold and bright prints, shades of yellow, tropical-themed décor and upholstery, and rattan furniture accented by vintage pieces.
– Wine –
While François Plantation has an extensive and impressive wine list, we wanted to be completely immersed in the Villa Marie St. Barth experienced so ordered a glass of the house white wine. The Sibuet family owns a vineyard in Ménerbes where they produce their own family wine. We ordered a bottle of the AOP Luberon Blanc Marie 2019 white wine. What comes out of the Domaine de Marie winery is a fascinating mélange of old noble grape varieties like Grenache and Syrah and newer ones like Roussanne and Vermentino that says a great deal about the Sibuet’s passion and breadth of knowledge and experience. The wine was fruity, but dry at the end. It actually wasn’t as sweet as I thought. And best of all? It was almost like it was made to complement Chef Emmanuel Motte’s culinary genius.
– First Course –
Pat and I studied the menu weighing our longtime favorites like foie gras or experimenting with something like Langoustine with oscietre caviar from the Petrossian house. Pat ordered his go-to home-made foie gras terrine (similar to a pâté) with a hint of pineapple chutney to give it a tropical flavor accompanied by a brioche. I, on the other hand, ordered foamed Caribbean lobster ravioli. I could just imagine local Chef Emmanuel Motte, who has been at Villa Marie St. Barth for five years and prior was Hotel Carl Gustaf, creating iconic French flavor combinations with sea creatures, but in a unique St. Barth style in the kitchen. It’s this uniqueness that’s given him his long reputation. So the lobster was a must.
Hidden behind a foamy layer with the faintest suspicion of some sort of fromage, or cheese, was the Caribbean lobster ravioli. The result was velvety, soft, delicate, sharp, an astonishment of texture and tang. The dish was unexpected and impressive. Patrick’s foie gras was delicate and impeccable with the perfect balance of sweet and salty created by the pineapple chutney.
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– Second Course –
I ordered the signature dish within the mer or seafood section: local fish bouillabaisse with potatoes. The fish is caught same day by local St. Barth fisherman Patrick Laplace. Laplace is the son of a fishermen whose family has lived on the island for seven generations. He still believes in the traditional technique of fishing with a handline, so you can be sure that your fish was hard earned. A deep blue dish was brought to me with the bouillabaisse‘s various scallops, swordfish, potatoes, and other fish bulked in the middle. The waiter proceeded to pour the hot stew onto the fish. The fish in a tangle of vegetables was sublime. It turned out to be a lustrous blend of textures and tastes whose clarity and honesty were poetry in a pot.
Patrick indulged in the sea bass fillet with herbs and vegetables made in Provençal style. Provençal style just means that the cuisine, like much of the Mediterranean cuisine, is simple. It’s focused on preserving the taste and texture of the seasonal ingredients, in this case the vegetables, wild herbs, and fish. The Provençal style vegetables are sliced and layered on the bottom creating a rainbow of colors, reminiscent of a ratatouille. The vegetables are majestically topped by a slab of grilled sea bass. The sea bass was well seasoned with herbs and grilled to perfection. The dish was finely prepared, full of flavor, and elegantly presented.
Bonus for you! While my stomach was not up to food on the first night, Patrick’s was. He ordered the pineapple braised lamb shank, which literally fell off the bone it was so tender and came with a slice of grilled pineapple. It came with a pot of cooked vegetables in a slightly spicy broth of Colombo spices.
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– Dessert –
Let’s be clear, I never pass on dessert. The night before I had eyed a soufflé and dreamed about it ever since. My conversation with Sonia, Director of Maisons & Hotels Sibuet, about the soufflé persuaded me even further. The waiter punched down the St. Tropez-style lemon soufflé with fruit and sorbet like an artist, then stepped back with a flourish to add the final touch, a scoop of sorbet dropped right in the middle of the soufflé. This is the real French way to eat soufflé. Pat and I watched as our soufflé deflated with equally deflated expressions. The sorbet started melting once it hit the warm depths of the soufflé and our eyes and insides lit up. Accompanying the lemon soufflé was a silver platter of small bite-sized desserts and chocolates. We took a bite of a pine-flavored chocolate that exploded with the taste of Christmas spirit.
Cigars and Night Cap
As if my night at François Plantation couldn’t get any better, we ended our meal with un digestif in one of the many lounge chairs seated around the dining area. Like many places in St. Barth François Plantation makes it’s own house rum. The bartender proceeded to explain to me how they grab a bottle of their finest, premium rum and fill it with different fresh fruits. Then it’s a waiting game. Let it age until it’s ready to be served. Pat and I each enjoyed a shot of the house made pineapple and passion fruit rum.
The evening continued back into the Ananas lounge, where we were offered some of Mr. Jean Louis Sibuet’s finest cigars. The waiter opens a classy wooden electronically controlled humidor cigar box and shows us the collection, which houses cigars from Cuba including Cohiba Robustos, Partagás P No.2, and Le Hoyo De San Juan. Mr. Sibuet is a big wine and cigar collector. If you pay attention, gracing the wall behind the bar are numerous photographs of celebrities smoking cigars. An ode to Mr. Sibuet’s unique passion for cigars. There’s even a picture of Mr. Sibuet himself among the stars! Can you spot which one is him above? Upon closer inspection, I realized that the Ananas lounge had plenty of cigar elements incorporated throughout its tropical pineapple design. The pictures of cigars being cut, vintage tobacco plantations and its workers, and cigar memorabilia in the lounge told a story.
I couldn’t tell you what the highlight of my dinner was. The signature Chocolate Thirst cocktail invented by Anaes, the lobster ravioli, the Domaine de Marie wine, the bouillabaisse, the lemon soufflé, or the digestif and ambiance of the bar and cigar collection. Each stands out so vividly in my mind and on my taste buds, that I would have to quote Sonia Morel when she says, “You should try everything! You should try to eat as many dishes as possible to get a well-round taste of Chef Emmanuel Motte’s cuisine.” The food and the ambiance at François Plantation truly encompasses St. Barth’s unique flavors and refined palate in a bite.
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