Post #26561 by Trader Woody on Fri, Mar 14, 2003 4:19 AM

OK, here's a follow-up to Tiki Chris' report. Photos to come.

Kahiki

To my surprise and delight, we first saw this Tiki bar on the airport bus into the center of Barcelona. As it turned out to be a relatively short walk from our hotel in the Gothic Quarter, we headed up there the first night. It's quite a large place which stretches back a long way, and is full of little alcoves. Like Tiki Chris, we couldn't understand why much of the wall space was taken up by odd far-eastern (?) murals, but was impressed by the large pottery masks next to the stairs which perfectly summed up the relationship between Tiki culture and the decor of 70's Spain. The menu was a treat, and soon had me drooling, for the mugs rather than the drinks themselves. Each and every mug was made in Spain and the majority were of designs not found in the US. A little Anglo-Spanish haggling, and I managed to buy the mug I wanted. A few locals were propped up at the bar, and
a number of tables were filled, despite it being a Thursday night. The bar staff were very friendly and it made an ideal starting point for checking out the Tiki bars of Barcelona despite being a little lacking in the Tiki department. A good a selection of mugs as any of them, mind you.

Kahala

The Kahala was quite a way out from the center of tourist Barcelona, though there were a lot of big hotels nearby. It took me quite a while to walk there just from the nearest subway station. (It didn't help that I wandered a few blocks in the wrong direction. Note to self -take a compass on city breaks). Turns out that it's a really nice place. Once again, large, with lots
of alcoves and a damn fine selection of Tiki mugs. I'd brought along the printout from the previous Barcelona thread, and before long the bartender Sandy couldn't do enough to help me out, taking out an old copy of Tiki News (Left by Otto?) when I was trying to explain that I'd be writing about the bar.
I told the other bartender that there were women in the US who'd seen his photo and were drooling, so he immediately took my printout over to a pair of young ladies sipping rum concoctions nearby to boast about it. Turns out one of them was his girlfrend. Sorry Purple Jade!

Nice place with a Maori/Spanish vibe. Once again, there was a cool area where the 70's pottery/tile craze melded seamlessly with Tiki. Mug selection was large, with one or two different ones from the Kahiki. Very friendly and probably a lot of fun at the weekend.

Part 2 (The Aloha) next message

Trader Woody