Sandwiches, quiche and lunch

What makes a bakery sandwich different?

The bread. A sandwich shop buys bread. A bakery bakes it, four hours earlier, in the same building. That is the whole argument, and on this island it is a bigger difference than it would be in Paris, because so much bread here arrives frozen.

What is worth ordering?

• Quiche at $4.75, in ham and cheese, mushroom, spinach or chicken. Cut thick, good cold or warm, and the best value on the counter.
• Croque monsieur at $6.50. Ham, cheese, béchamel, grilled. The French answer to the toasted sandwich and considerably better than it sounds.
• Classic baguette sandwiches at $6.50: chicken, ham and cheese, tuna, crab, club.
• The larger sandwiches at $8.50: Italian, goat cheese, American, bagnat, salmon and brie.
• Salads at $8.00 for tuna and $9.00 for chicken, when the heat has beaten the appetite for bread.
• Soup at $7.00, which sounds wrong for the Caribbean and is very right in an air conditioned room.
• A breakfast sandwich at $4.50, or a ham and cheese croissant at $4.25.

Where should you eat it?

At Simpson Bay, take it to the terrace behind the bakery, on Simpson Bay Lagoon. There are around sixty seats, the boats go past, and the resident iguanas will assess you carefully from the deck. It is the best lunch view you will get for under ten dollars on this island.

At Philipsburg the counter is set up for takeaway, which suits the walk to Front Street, the boardwalk or Great Bay beach.

Can you order lunch for a group?

Yes. Sandwich platters cut into halves, quiche cut into squares and a salad on the side is the format most offices and boats ask for. Count one and a quarter sandwiches per person. Forty eight hours of notice is comfortable.