January on St. John is pure magic. The breezes are cooler, the skies are clearer, and the winter sunsets stretch long and golden across the water. It’s the perfect backdrop for couples planning a romantic escape—or for those already on island dreaming up something unforgettable for Valentine’s Day.

Whether you’re celebrating new love, a lifelong partnership, or simply carving out time together, St. John offers an atmosphere that makes slowing down feel effortless. And when paired with a private chef preparing dinner on the terrace of your villa? That’s a memory you’ll carry for years.

A Valentine’s Celebration, Island Style

If you’re visiting in February—or planning—Valentine’s Day on St. John feels like something out of a dream: warm breezes, soft candlelight, and the sound of the sea drifting up from below.

St. John Catering specializes in creating intimate, meaningful dining experiences that elevate your evening without adding work or stress to your getaway.

Imagine this…

• Your villa terrace bathed in soft sunset light
• A beautifully set table facing the horizon
• The scent of seared local seafood drifting from the kitchen
• A private chef preparing each course just steps away
• You and your partner enjoying a night that feels slow, thoughtful, and entirely your own

We take care of the cooking, serving, and cleanup. All you have to do is be present—with the person you love most.

Romantic Menu Inspirations

Our Valentine’s menus draw from the island’s bounty and the flavors that pair naturally with romance: fresh seafood, bright citrus, tropical aromatics, and rich desserts that end the night on a sweet note.

Gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan menus are always available; fully custom dinners can be created for any preference.

The Art of the Terrace Dinner

There is something uniquely intimate about dining outdoors in the Virgin Islands during winter. The air is warm but gentle, the night sky opens wide above you, and the island lights twinkle across the hillsides.

Our team enhances the atmosphere with:

• Romantic candlelight or lantern lighting
• Floral touches or table styling upon request
• Seamless service so the evening flows naturally
• Wine pairings or curated cocktails (optional)

It’s luxury without stiffness, intimacy without effort, and the kind of experience that feels deeply personal.

Perfect for More Than Valentine’s Day

Even if you’re not visiting on February 14, January and February are ideal months for:

• Anniversary celebrations
• Surprise proposals
• Honeymoons
• “Just because” romantic dinners
• Quiet escapes from winter back home

If you’re spending the season here, every evening has the potential for something special.

How to Book Your Romantic Dinner or Valentine’s Experience

We recommend booking early—February fills quickly, especially for private chefs.

To begin:

1. Share your villa location and preferred date
2. Tell us your vision—intimate dinner, special celebration, or something more elaborate
3. We’ll curate the menu, service style, and any enhancements you’d like
4. You enjoy the evening while we handle the rest

The Most Romantic Nights Start with Great Food

Whether you’re planning a Valentine’s trip or savoring a quiet couples retreat on St. John this winter, St. John Catering is here to make your time together unforgettable.

Think of it as a love letter—written in flavors.

Call Chef Mathayom at St. John Catering: +1 (340) 690-3868

Prefer email? Reach out to office@stjohncatering.com and let’s begin crafting your perfect evening.

At St. John Catering, we believe food is more than nourishment, it connects us, sparks memories, and brings people together in the most meaningful way. For Chef Mathayom, that belief has guided him from his earliest days in the kitchen to his work today as one of St. John’s most sought-after private chefs.

Chef Mathayom’s culinary journey began in a Thai-American household where the kitchen was the heart of family life. His father, raised in Thailand, cherished the flavors of home. His mother, an adventurous cook, dove into Thai recipes from cookbooks to recreate the tastes her husband loved.

Watching this blend of cultures inspired young Mathayom to get involved. At just eight years old, he began taking charge of Sunday dinners. Every other week, he would flip through his mom’s well-worn cookbooks, pick out dishes that sparked his curiosity, and carefully write out a shopping list. Friday nights were for menu planning, Saturdays for gathering fresh ingredients, and Sundays for bringing it all to life in the family kitchen.

This early ritual taught him more than recipes. It showed him how food can gather people around a table, ignite conversation, and create memories that last for years.

One of his proudest early dishes was braised spare ribs, inspired by a recipe in a classic Betty Crocker cookbook. At age nine, he learned how to sear the ribs, coat them with mustard, tomato paste, and brown sugar, then slow-bake them with fresh vegetables. The result was a dish so good it became a family favorite, requested three or four times every year.

Of course, not every experiment was gourmet. He still laughs about his very first solo meal: fish sticks and creamed spinach. Ironically, he hated spinach at the time, but cooking it himself made him curious. It taught him that food can surprise you, and even change the way you see something you thought you’d never like.

Today, that same curiosity and belief in the power of food shape every dish he creates at St. John Catering. For more than twenty years, Chef Mathayom has crafted unforgettable dining experiences across the US Virgin Islands. From intimate villa dinners to grand island weddings, he brings people together through flavors that honor both his Thai roots and the bounty of the Caribbean. Living in St. John, a place he has proudly called home now, for over 20 years.

Each menu is thoughtfully designed to highlight fresh, local ingredients; seafood caught the same day, seasonal island produce, and vibrant flavors that blend Caribbean and Asian influences. Just like his childhood dinners, every detail is carefully planned so that the final meal feels personal, memorable, and deeply connected to the moment.

When you hire St. John Catering, you’re not just booking a private chef. You’re inviting a story, one that started with a boy in his family’s kitchen, dreaming up Sunday dinners that made his loved ones smile.

Whether you’re celebrating a wedding, a milestone birthday, or just gathering friends for a special meal under the stars, Chef Mathayom and St. John Catering are here to make sure it’s an experience you’ll remember for years to come.

Ready to bring your next event to life with unforgettable island cuisine?

Call Chef Mathayom at St. John Catering: +1 (340) 690-3868

Let’s make food that connects us, and memories that last forever.

Hello once again from lovely St. John.  It’s been a while since our last blog post, and here we are in the middle of summer with nothing but the heat and the beaches, so we decided to fire up the ol’ keyboard again.

Late summer in the Virgin Islands has it’s advantages and disadvantages.

Some disadvantages: 

– Prime Hurricane Season

– Restaurant and other Business Closings for off-season AKA no cash flow

– Hot as a Habanera on an open flame

Some advantages:

– You can finally find parking at the beaches

– Some world class, fireworks-style sunsets

– Time to work on new recipes

– Local fruit season!

For example, check out this local Dragon Fruit vines that are growing in our yard here in Coral Bay.  According to one well-known plant-loving generational Virgin Islander, these native cactus have been growing wild in Upper Carolina for as long as she can remember, and we are lucky enough to have bumper crop this year, perhaps due to the unusually large amount of rain we have been getting lately, possibly a side effect from El Nino in 2023.

The Dragon Fruit Cactus (Hylocereus Undatus) is in the family of night blooming cereus, and it’s large white and yellow flowers appear from about July through October.  They only bloom for one glorious night, and because of this, I was not able to get a good shot of one for this blog post.

After they bloom, the flowers wilt and die off, eventually shriveling up and in their place grows a Dragon Fruit!  You can see here a large cluster of still-green fruits with their wilted flowers attached.

Normally, the Pearly-Eyed Thrashers, the birds known on St. John as Thrushies, ruin just about every fruit one comes across.  And they’re kind of jerks about it, too.  It’s one thing to eat it for yourself, bird.  It’s another to just poke a hole in it and leave it for the ants.

I haven’t had any luck ripening the Dragon Fruit from when it is green if it’s picked from the vine.  One really has to let it do it’s thing naturally, and therein lies the danger of having it eaten by another creature before one can get to it.

So we have taken to placing some netted produce bags over the green fruits once we see them and securing the bags with a loose rubber band.  This seems to protect it most of the time.  But a lot of the fruits are hard to reach (did I mention they are on a cactus?), and often well hidden until they ripen on the vine, as this one has done.  They outer peel turns a bright, vivid pink, which is not very tasty but much easier to spot than the unripe fruit, both for humans and thrushies alike.

The Dragon Fruit on our property have only gotten to about the size of a tennis ball.  You may have seen them in a specialty grocery store much larger, but they have about the same flavor profile: mildly sweet, with a delicate white flesh and small, edible black seeds not unlike a kiwi has.  Some Dragon Fruit have bright pink flesh that almost matches the peel, and they are reportedly sweeter than the white fleshed ones.  Here you can see some of our fruit cut open before we eat them!  (They were delicious).

I like to chill ours, both to keep them fresh longer, but to make them into a cool, refreshing treat.  To make them even cooler and more refreshing, try out a very simple dragon fruit sorbet recipe (below) if you feel like putting your chef skills to the test at home. 

Or, as an alternative, book with us and you might be one of the lucky clients to try it from one of our chefs.  An ice cold treat to get you through the record breaking heat on island this summer!

Dragon Fruit Sorbet

3 cups peeled and chopped dragon fruit flesh (with seeds)
1/2 cup sugar
2 T Fresh Lemon Juice
2 ½ T Water

In a blender, combine all ingredients and blend on high for 1 minute or until combined and smooth.  Add a little more water if necessary.

Pour ingredients into Ice Cream Maker and freeze while your paddle is going for about 30 minutes or until the mixture is nearly solid and has a good consistency.

Alternatively, you can make a granita, which is a coarser version of this, by freezing the mixture in a shallow pan and scraping it with a fork or spoon after it’s solid.

Serve immediately or keep in the freezer up to 2 weeks.

Enjoy!