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Authentic Martinique
By : Chantal Martineau
Photos Katsuyoshi Tanaka
Martinique is known for its epicurean delights, premium rum and beautiful beaches, but straying from the beaten path allows you to experience the island as the locals do.
Take l'Ilet Oscar, a secluded and largely deserted islet off the east coast of Martinique. It's home to La Maison de l'Ilet Oscar and not much else. Go for a meal or stay the night at this colonial home done up in rich dark woods and white linens. Here you can swim, sunbathe and dine on tropical combinations of fresh fish and fruit. Ask one of the fishermen at Le François marina to take you to the islet and he'll surely oblige with a detour to Josephine's Bathtub. This natural tidal pool with its milky aqua waters and surrounding greenery is a favorite swimming spot for locals. Legend has it that Napoleon's Creole bride bathed there, which is how the pool got its name.
The fishermen aren't the only islanders happy to help you access Martinique's best-kept secrets. Tak-tak, a network of local farmers, beekeepers, herbalists and artisans, offers visitors the opportunity to meet with and learn from those who carry on the island's agricultural and artistic traditions. Through Tak-tak, you can arrange a trip to a pineapple field or take part in an evening of native music and dance. Hiking enthusiasts are invited to stay at the organization's modest guesthouses to facilitate an early departure to trek up the dormant Mount Pelée volcano. Guests are treated to a homemade breakfast of locally produced honey, coffee, jam, juice and chocolate.
With so many sweet temptations, it's hard to avoid a sugar rush in Martinique, especially with the epicurean star of the island, sugarcane, found in just about every local recipe. Cane was once the island's most important crop, and while bananas are now produced in greater numbers, it's still one of the island's most popular ingredients. Preparations range from the poulet boucané—whole chicken rubbed in rum and spices, and smoked over cane branches in oversized barbecues—one finds along the highways and in the outdoor markets to the local takes on classic French dishes, such as flambés and fricassees made with rum instead of cognac or vermouth. The jewel of the island's sugarcane production is rhum agricole, a rum made straight from the cane, as opposed to what is poured into your average mojito, which is derived largely from industrial molasses. Rhum agricole is A.O.C. (Appellation d'origine contrôllée) certified, meaning it's regulated by the same French body that governs wine, cognac and cheese. Like cognac, the rum is aged in oak barrels, and, depending on how long, rated VS, VSOP or XO.
Martinicans enjoy their rum straight, mixed into cocktails or infused with spices or fruit—and even poured into meat marinades or over desserts. White rum is taken as an aperitif called Ti-punch (Creole for "little punch"), sweetened with cane syrup and a twist of lime. Dark rum is often served at the end of a meal, in a snifter so that it can be swirled and savored like fine cognac. At Petibonum, an alfresco eatery frequented by locals and expats in Le Carbet on the west side of the island, the specialty is French cognac and vermouth recipes reinvented with locally produced pure cane rum. Chef/owner Guy Ferdinand—known for his shock of dyed blond hair and the too-short shorts he wears every day, even under his white chef's coat—sets aflame giant sweet-water prawns with a lightly aged rum, and uses the spirit as the base of a simple soufflé.
"The greatest benefit to cooking with rum is the aroma. It's very perfumed," says Ferdinand. "It's equivalent to cooking with cognac but, with rum, the aroma stays."
At tables set some 65 feet back from the water's edge, the patrons of Petibonum sit with their toes in the sand. A bottle of Veuve Clicquot stands on nearly every table. While rum reigns on the island, more Champagne is imbibed in Martinique than in any part of France.
Like Guadeloupe, French Guiana and Reunion, Martinique is an overseas department of France. The locals refer to the French mainland as "la métropole," and many of them travel there to study or work, including a number of the island's chefs, who return to adapt the recipes and techniques learned to the Creole palate. The chic Plein Soleil, a hotel and restaurant done up in varying shades of white and set in the lush hills of Le François, sent 23-year-old wunderkind Nathanael Ducteil to the mainland to train under the famous Alain Ducasse. His menus include seafood cassoulet, marlin tartare and crepes stuffed with minced conch. Plein Soleil is a prime destination for chic Martinicans out for a special meal.
The most sought-after reservation on the island, however, is for a meal at Le Brédas. Nearly every local you meet will rave about the birthday or anniversary spent there. Chef Jean-Charles Brédas' twists on traditional French dishes, such as the millefeuille of foie gras and plantain, employ local ingredients, including top-grade produce grown on Martinique's rich volcanic soil.
Lastly, one of the best ways to experience the island as the locals do is to walk through the covered market in downtown Fort-de-France. Fresh fruit, dried herbs and homemade jams are peddled by women in traditional Martinican tartan. You'll find mothers shopping with their children and chefs shopping with their kitchen staff, and will get a friendly, "Bonjour!" in each isle.
How To Get There: American Eagle provides service to Martinique. Visit aa.com.
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