Island Fresh Gourmet Travel Video Duration – 4.44 minutes. Oceana Restaurant and Wine Bar St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands Travel Video Gourmet Regionale So Patricia, over the years, a number of different countries and nations have settled in various Caribbean islands. What would you say were the restaurant’s biggest influences? St. Thomas is a melting pot for all of the other islands. So, you know, if you talk to any one individual here, what you’ll find is they’re from Dominica, which has a lot of French influence and some Spanish influence. The French people that live in French Town, I believe, immigrated here, sometime in the forties, and they came from St. Barts, which is an island not very far away from here. The French farmers, settled on the north side of the island and the French fishermen settled on this side of the island, of course, it is the proximity to the water and the boats, all of that. And if you walk through French Town, you’ll see all these wonderful little ginger bready little houses and people live in them. And, you’ll see the fishermen very early in the morning. They have, a full array of very small boats actually, but very colorful. So you find, that this melting pot of course, arrives in St. Thomas and the food is again, a melting pot. And it makes for a very exciting type of cuisine And a very eclectic menu, I would imagine A very eclectic menu So what do you do then, to make it have a Caribbean flavor for people visiting the island? As a chef, you should always try to use ingredients that are indigenous, which is what we do.For instance, my background is being trained at Cordon Bleu in Paris. And you take some of the cuisine here and now you are combining flavors and you are also combining the visuals.So, you know, the plate is not just…it is the ingredients and (its) simple. So Jennifer, I know you are the chef de cuisine here in Oceana and thank you for welcoming me into your kitchen. And I know you are going to prepare one of your signature dishes for us. So, what are the key ingredients? The key ingredients is definitely having poached shrimp which is poached in a … bouillant, which is shallots, pepper corns, bay leaf, white wine, salt and pepper, And you grilled the pineapple? Yeah, you give a little smokiness to the pineapple, a different flavor Do you find you get really inspired when you’re cooking here with a view like this? Yeah, that’s just one of the reasons I’m here for six years. It’s because, everyday, you come out here and you’re poaching haricot vert, making sauces and you’re like “oh wait! There goes a cruise ship”, and you have seaplanes that come by and… The whole place doesn’t get much better than that, does it? No, not at all! You finish it with a little toasted coconut, Oh how delicious! You have a nice Asian barbecue sauce here. It’s a little on the spicy side, with the sweetness from the pineapple and the whole spiciness from the sauce, it all works Well, Jennifer, it looks delicious, it really does Well you should have a, have a little snack there Oh thank you. It doesn’t get much fresher than this, does it? (tastes) Oh my goodness, that’s incredible. It’s really really tasty.