Bar des Prés, the Franco–East Asian restaurant by French chef Cyril Lignac, has officially opened its first Caribbean location in St Barth. The restaurant is now operating in Gustavia, marking the fifth Bar des Prés worldwide, following locations in Paris’s Saint-Germain-des-Prés and Montaigne neighborhoods, London, and Dubai.

The opening adds another high-profile dining option to St. Barth’s already dense restaurant scene, particularly in Gustavia, where competition for destination diners is intense during the high season.

Why It Matters for St. Barth

Bar des Prés arrives with an established international reputation and a clear point of view: French technique filtered through Japanese flavors, with an emphasis on polished presentation and shared plates. In a market already crowded with beach clubs and Mediterranean imports, the restaurant signals St. Barth’s continued pull for global hospitality brands looking to anchor themselves in the Caribbean.

The project was developed in collaboration with DB Group, the hospitality company behind several well-known St. Barth venues including Shellona, La Guérite, Tamarin, and MAMO. The partnership strengthens DB Group’s position as one of the island’s dominant restaurant operators while reinforcing Gustavia’s role as the center of year-round dining.

Inside the Restaurant

The Gustavia location seats eighty-eight guests, with additional seating at the bar. The interior was designed by Spanish designer Lázaro Rosa-Violan, who also worked on Bar des Prés locations in Europe and the Middle East. The St. Barth space follows the same visual framework as its predecessors, using marble, bamboo, and rattan alongside soft lighting, blue tones, and copper accents. A recurring peacock motif appears throughout the room, tying the Caribbean location to the broader Bar des Prés brand.

Tableware reflects the same restrained approach, combining ceramic, porcelain, and glass pieces sourced from both French and Japanese traditions, with colors that echo the island setting.

What’s on the Menu

The menu centers on shared plates and sushi, with a strong emphasis on premium seafood. Sushi and sashimi selections include salmon, yellowtail, akami, chutoro, and otoro, prepared with a focus on clean cuts and minimal garnish.

Beyond raw fish, the menu leans into Lignac’s Franco-Asian signatures. Dishes include salmon tataki glazed with yuzu honey and wakame furikake, crispy spicy prawn salad with sesame and cilantro, and spicy California tuna with spring onion and black sesame. Larger plates move toward proteins, including Chilean sea bass with olive oil and chimichurri, beef fillet with satay sauce and lime relish, marinated wahoo with yuzu relish and rocoto pepper, and black cod caramelized with yuzu miso.

Desserts highlight Lignac’s background in French pastry, with options such as a caramelized apple tart served with tonka bean vanilla ice cream, passion fruit and mango soufflé, and a chocolate and hazelnut praline biscuit.

The cocktail program mixes established classics with Asian-leaning profiles. One of the signatures, the Tokyo Garden, combines gin, sake, shiso, lychee, and yuzu.

Cyril Lignac’s Growing Footprint

Lignac is one of France’s most recognizable chefs, known both for his restaurants and his long-running television presence. He has built a portfolio that spans fine dining, casual concepts, and pâtisserie, with Bar des Prés positioned as his most overtly international restaurant brand.

With its St. Barth opening, Bar des Prés extends that footprint into the Caribbean for the first time, adding another globally recognizable name to the island’s dining landscape and further raising the bar for what destination restaurants in St. Barth are expected to deliver.