Marigot, adjacent to the marina, is a duty-free mecca, where you can find everything from Versace to Hermes to Clarins. I started off with warm conch and mango salad, then foie gras and fig-marbled pate, then onto duck breast in plum sauce, then an apricot pie with almond sauce. For three nights, I ate like that. While many business owners and chefs are French imports, their staffers, from waiters to shop clerks, speak English with a singsong Creole lilt. No, lovely, actually, a nice blend of familiar Caribbean rhythms and French panache.
Calypso music blasts from boomboxes and car stereos.
Restaurants, from funky bistros to elegant waterside eateries, elevate cooking to an art form. There's even a bit of the famous French attitude. But that happens rarely. Most restaurants have English menus and bring you your check in American dollars instead of francs. I'd go back in a heartbeat just to try some of the restaurants I missed.