Lunch at Dashene at the Ladera Resort on St Lucia.

Supposedly one of the best restaurants on the island, We found the food acceptable, but not anything to write home about. While the dishes sounded great on the menu, we had a hard time picking out the island flavors, and everything seemed to be sparkless--sort of like my quest for perfect crab cakes, where many a time there's not enough crab and too much cake.

Someone said the head chef wasn't around, so maybe that had something to do with it. But, I would go back and just lower my expectations on the food. The view can't be beat. Or, better yet, just have drinks at the bar upstairs.