Lobster Night Spectacle at Le Petibonum, Martinique: Taste of the Caribbean
As we’ve noted a time or two before, everything is sexier at Le Petibonum, the rustic-chic gourmet bar/restaurant set in the silver-grey sands of Le Carbet on the northern Caribbean coast of Martinique.
By day, a sultry international playlist mixes with strong cocktails, inventive cuisine, and cooling intermittent sprays of mist. A breeze may happen along, a bird may fly by overhead. It’s hot, there are lots of toasts, maybe some dancing, and always some laughing, all of it surreal, arresting and impossible to deny.
I had long heard that the nighttime vibe here was just as good, though it wasn’t until I had occasion to venture back to Le Petibonum last October that I could put it to the test.
Luckily for me, it was a Friday night… in lobster season… and as illustrated in the photo above, getting the spiny, yummy guys to the table adds yet another sexy dimension to the Petibonum experience.
Once ashore, Chef Hot Pants personally selects the largest lobsters, plucking them from their cage and collecting them in a large tub for each patron to inspect before making their own personal selection.
Further up the beach, assistant chefs get an enormous pot of water boiling atop searing hot coals. Just as the sun sets and the first lobsters are selected, the spectacle begins…
Sparks fly from beneath the bubbling cauldron as your lobster meets the initial phase of his or her doom. I can’t stress enough just how how that fire is. Seriously, I have no idea how the chefs were able to stand so close and complete their work.
It takes but a few moments in the boiling pot before the lobsters are ready for phase two of their preparation, their bodies split down the spine and placed shell side down directly on the roaring-hot grill…
The entire prep and cooking process makes for quite a show, especially with those sparks flying all over the place, but the eating is even better…
Tremendous in every way, I inhaled this big guy in no time!
Lights twinkled atop boats moored just offshore as this most colorful work of natural art played out to the west. More toasts, big laughs, a little Bebel Gilberto…
Yeah, I’d say you’re bound to find a good time at Le Petibonum no matter if it’s day or night.
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