In the three and a half decades I have visited St. Barth, dining on the beach has been a challenge. When I first arrived, a relatively poor reporter on a budget, a few shacks served food on the island’s most accessible beach, Saint-Jean. But the top ocean-adjacent restaurant, Taiwana, on the beach called Flamands, was out of reach. It was famous for serving the world’s most expensive lentil salad, at $45 a plate. In 1990. Do the math if you dare.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Saint-Jean is now home to four dance-on-tables lunch clubs, and neighbors rail against the racket caused by their competing DJs and overserved clientele. Taiwana was taken over by LVMH’s local Cheval Blanc hotel and its lunch spot, La Cabane, boasts a €42 smash burger and a chicken Colombo for two for €140.
Shellona’s dining room. Photo by Michael Gross.
Other island hotels now offer feet-in-sand lunch, but their menus are depressingly similar. Which is why I love Shellona on Anse des Grand Galets, aka Shell Beach. Despite its location on the outskirts of the island’s capital, Gustavia, the gentle cove of Shell Beach feels isolated. And its always swimmable beach, with great snorkeling and the odd oligarch’s yacht anchored offshore, is one of the island’s best.
Once, it was just a lunchtime destination for shop girls eating sandwiches on the sand. Now, thanks to the addition of Shellona, a perfect lunch club with loungers (free for guests of the nearby Carl Gustaf Hotel, the Barriere Group’s St. Barth outlet, which owns it), it’s become a magnet for a more sophisticated set of visitors to the island — those who want a good meal, a cultured scene, and a great beach more than a scratch-off on their itch list. The table of six beside us last week said they were from Palm Beach and Jackson Hole.
Like almost everything on St. Barth, Shellona is expensive. But chef Yiannis Kioroglou offers an eclectic menu unlike any others on the island, melding Greek and Caribbean influences, a pizza oven, and a robata grill, and offering delicious surprises like tacos stuffed with caviar and tuna, or an island classic like lobster pasta. And for those who can’t help indulging, there’s the special burger made with Wagyu A5, truffle mayo, and truffle fries. At €280, it will take a bite out of your budget — but it’s a very tasty slice of humblebrag pie. And adjusted for inflation, it’s still a bargain compared to Taiwana’s lentil salad.