Au bon Vivre — Restaurant in Basse-Terre

My wife and I visited Au bon Vivre restaurant on a recent visit to Terres-de-Haut island, which is one of Les Saintes islands off the coast of Guadeloupe. The outside décor of the restaurant is inviting as is the menu and the posted list of awards it has received. We found the restaurant at around 11:30 AM and made a reservation for two at noon, which was recommended. We were greeted and seated in a nice location, away from the street traffic with a large table surface. Our waitress spoke in English, having heard me speak to my wife who is fluently bilingual in both English and French. We were offered and given menus, one in English for me and my wife’s in French. Score two points for the restaurant here. The luncheon menu consisted of two choices for the starter, two for the entrees and two for the dessert. We were both looking forward to a non-alcoholic beer, but since they didn’t have any in store, we chose an excellent local beer, Lekouz, mine in amber, my wife’s in blond. We also ordered the requisite litre of bottled water, for Guadeloupe. We both ordered the gazpacho (over the homemade fish toast) and I have the pulled pork for the main dish and my wife had the ceviche. The gazpacho was very good although we both agreed it was thin and the servings were meagre. This is more of an observation than a complaint as there are many versions of gazpacho. My wife enjoyed her serving of seviche, although again, the serving could have been more generous. My pulled pork was excellent, especially the sauce reduction it was served with. It was one of those tastes you remember, and it was excellent. We both had the tarte of the day for dessert which was an almond crust torte, which was very good. I ended with coffee, my wife didn’t. Capuchino is not available at Au bon Vivre as they don’t have “the machine”. Throughout the meal, the service was thorough and prompt, which was appreciated. As Guadeloupe is a territory of France, one would expect the cuisine to be at lest good if not better than most. Au bon Vivre is located on a small island off the coast of Guadeloupe, but even so, this was a very good meal. We did not have the opportunity to try many restaurants on this island, but I can say with confidence that Au bon Vivre is an...

We arrived at 19:10 and ordered the surprise menu with wine pairing at 19:30.

The surprise menu allows the kitchen to showcase their talents using local ingredients to encourage a more adventurous pallet than what is offered on the daily menu.

The first wine pairing arrived at 20:00 with a simple explanation that it was meant to pair well with the appetizer. Wonderful! Unfortunately, the appetizer (which was an underwhelming and bland) didn’t arrive until 20:20.

The main dish arrived at 20:55 and we had to recommend to the waitress that a wine pairing be accompanied with the main as well as some bread. The wine was not a great accompaniment with the dish and the dish itself was regrettably bland. The under seasoned micuit Marlin was served with a small cristophines puree, half a paksoy sprout and an olive sauce that was unappetizing at best.

The bread was never served.

We waited 1.5 hours for an underwhelming meal, felt ignored by the waitstaff and we didn’t have the stamina to wait another 1 hour for the dessert.

When we brought this to the attention of the staff they apologized and offered us a 20% discount on the experience which was the least that they could do (statistically speaking of course) when we’d only had 66% of the meal.

If you’re looking to spend 140€ on a mediocre meal for two, go for it! Otherwise I would suggest visiting any other restaurant in the area.

On a positive note, the lighting is appealing, the ti punch is great, and the tablespoon of Cristophine purée...

Very nice restaurant placed in the centre of the Terre-de-Haut. The location is very chic and cozy nicely decorated with a bar inside and a quiet nice upscaled patio at the rear of the location. There is also an exterior area for dining right in the middle of the location, after you are passing the entrance with the inside tables and bar on the left and heading towards the rear upscaled patio where you can dine if you are lucky not to catch a rain. The food is extremely tasty and the serving is spotless, professional serving and the chef work is a work of art extremely tasty and good looking. There is a great selection of wines you can find and the cocktails are absolutely delicious. If you are on the island on the high season is important you book a table before popping in. If you search for a quiet private space ask for the rear exterior tables, inside is for the ones searching for a little more warmer area and outside without roof for the adventurous. Highly...