Above: Le Soleil in Grand Case (All photos by CJ)

By Alexander Britell

GRAND CASE — Every once in a while, you have that “wow” moment at a restaurant — when you take a bite, close your eyes and forget, for a moment, precisely where you are.

That happened to me on a recent visit to the delightful Le Soleil restaurant in one of the Caribbean’s culinary capitals, Grand Case Boulevard in St Martin.

The meal: an aperitif of Martinique’s Rhum HSE, followed by feuillete au Munster d’Alsace, bouquet de salade, a puff pastry with Munster cheese; then a sweet-crusted magret de canard with steamed vegetables and rice.

The restaurant is French-Caribbean with the spirit of Alsace, which finds its way onto many of Chef Stephane and Myriam’s plates, from the aforementioned puff pastry to a “kugelhopf” dessert.

Course after course at Le Soleil, I closed my eyes and wondered, happily, where exactly in the world I was.

That was only compounded by a serving of rum-infused coconut milk I received just before my espresso.

It didn’t hurt that Le Soleil is set on an upstairs balcony overlooking Grand Case Beach that, at sunset, reminds you exactly how the eatery received its name.

— CJ