If I had to pick a favorite restaurant in all of Anguilla, it may well be Jacala. At night, it’s relaxed yet sophisticated in the spacious and airy dining room; at lunch, it feels like we’re dining right on the beach, with a blindingly beautiful view of Meads Bay spread in front of us.
We first discovered Jacala last year, and I loved it – so it jumped to the top of our list for this visit. Jacques (the host) and Alain (the chef) are charming and welcoming, and both quite tolerant of my once-upon-a-time-graduate-level French.
Starting a meal with soup or salad may seem a little humdrum, but Jacala’s beach cuisine versions are something special – a cold cucumber soup with a dollop of tomato sorbet, and a salad layered with grilled watermelon and warm goat cheese.
It took just one bite of the salad before I appropriated the rest from D; the watermelon is deliciously sweet and juicy, but the real surprise (and star) is the cheese, warmed to near-meltingness and serving as a velvety rich foil to the rest of the salad.
The cold soup is a refreshing option: cucumber made creamy with yogurt, and cooled even further by tomato sorbet. After too many afternoon drinks on the beach and too many rich dinners, this is a perfect remedy – fresh and healthy-tasting.
For entrees, the grilled crayfish are delicious, so flavorful they don’t even require the garlic butter provided alongside.
And no visit to Jacala is complete without the steak tartare, prepared tableside by Jacques – a combination of hand chopped meat, capers, shallots and herbs, mustard, egg yolk, and a host of other seasonings. We have ours “spicy”, which is piquant but not overly hot – just marvelously tasty. Add a bottle of red Sancerre, and you have the makings of a memorable meal.
For dessert, I love the petit pot au chocolat, just a few restrained spoonfuls of rich chocolate custard for the perfect last bite.
And did I mention the view?
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| From the bar |
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| From our table |
My Jacala story doesn’t end here, though. When I heard Jacques describe their special, a pain bagnat – essentially a Nicoise salad, on bread, dripping with olive oil – I decided that it sounded like an ideal sandwich to take on the trip home (notwithstanding the “dripping with olive oil” aspect). Jacques and Alain agreed that they would have one ready for me to pick up in the morning on the way to the airport.
And indeed, the next day Alain greeted me with a tidily wrapped package, containing a sandwich jam-packed with tuna, hard boiled eggs, black olives, lettuce and tomato, red pepper, thinly sliced red onion, anchovies, and of course olive oil. I managed to keep it untouched for a couple hours, but finally devoured it in the St Maarten airport. Apologies to my fellow travelers, as it was pungent – but also delicious.
Merci, Jacques et Alain, for the memorable meals… And à bientôt!
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