Post #435 by Tiki Chris on Fri, Apr 5, 2002 7:24 AM

Ola y aloha! Tiki Emi and I just got back from southern Spain (Andalucia to be exact) where, in addition to all sorts of incredible adventures of a thoroughly Spanish nature, we had a few fascinating tiki moments too! Here’s the scoop, kids:

Our trip started out in Sevilla where we walked by a place called “Uka” that I think might be a tiki bar. Unfortunately Uka was closed with a garage door pulled over the storefront restricting us from peeking inside. However, the signage was made of some sort of straw matting with bamboo trim. Oh well…

From Sevilla we headed to the province of Malaga from whence we set out one evening to search for tiki in the Soulless Costa del Sol condo-hell that is Marbella.

First stop was Trader Vic’s Marbella (Urbanizacion La Alcazaba, Ctra de Cadiz). Trader Vic’s Marbella was cool – not as cool & swank as the London Trader Vic’s but certainly in that category. The coolest thing about Trader Vic’s Marbella was its setting. Trader Vic’s Marbella is set beside the pool in a massive resort complex. Looking out the window I could see real palm trees, moonlight shining and stars twinkling, a lighted pool & dimly lit paths leading to the beach. There was seating available outside around the pool, but it was a chilly night so we sat inside.

Trader Vic’s Marbella had big tikis inside along with the par usual floaters, outrigger canoe etc. hanging from the ceiling. Of particular interest was the well over eight feet tall moai standing guard over the entrance to the servicios.

The clientele were mostly wealthy British families with young kids on holiday with too much money and too few ideas about how to spend it. These folks seem to abound in Marbella and the Costa del Sol in general.

Here’s the Trader Vic’s Marbella website:

http://www.tradervics-marbella.com/

Click on “Visita Guiada” for a slide show of the restaurant.

Roughly one kilometre from Trader Vic’s Marbella is Tai Pan at the Hotel Puente Romano (Ctra de Cadiz). We stopped here on the way back from Trader Vic’s on a lead from a website suggesting that visitors to the area, “try a cocktail at their Polynesian bar before dinner and you are sure to enjoy your evening!” Swanky cool bar, but Polynesian it ain’t. However, they did have Zombies and Mai Tais and the like and served some drinks in coconut shaped mugs. The Tai Pan had a red lacquer and black look going for it, Bentleys and other snob cars parked out front, yummy smelling food (though we had opted to eat Spanish cuisine while in Spain), and what appeared to be a gay gigolo and his johns (yes that’s meant to be plural). The drink I had was good but entirely too expensive.

After an evening exploring Marbella, Tiki Emi and I headed back to a more authentic and less cookie-cutterly developed Spain, which eventually led us to the small town of Palma del Rio, roughly equidistant from Cordoba and Sevilla. It was here on our last night of the trip that we happened upon a most excellent tiki bar – Waikiki!

So what if the few masks in the establishment were mass produced Indonesian “crafts”, the lovely pink and green neon sign announcing “Waikiki” to the world along with the hand painted sign of the different mugs awaiting inside (Emi took a photo but it hasn’t been developed yet) make this place top notch in my book!

At the bar sat a few older local men having sodas and beers. A couple in their early twenties came in after Emi and I. And then of course, there was the bartender. This guy was THE best (!!!) and I presume the sole proprietor of the Waikiki.

I ordered the house drink, the Waikiki, and then the show began! The bartender didn’t touch a single element of the drink, but, for example, used tongs to cut and place a slice of fruit on the rim of the glass. And he didn’t just shake the drink in the cocktail shaker, but sort of lovingly rolled it in the air for well over a minute and then strained the liquid from the ice in the cocktail shaker and added fresh ice! But wait! Before pouring the drink into my glass he poured himself a test shot to make sure it was up to his standards! What a classy touch!

The drink was of course delicious and served with a huge swizzle stick shaped like the profile of a sexy chica running her fingers through her hair along with a big paper flower cocktail drink thing.

Upon leaving this maestro de cocktails smiled at me and said “tres euros” to which I responded “perfecto”!

[ Edited by: Tiki Chris on 2002-04-05 07:27 ]

[ Edited by: Tiki Chris on 2002-04-10 08:13 ]