Last night we went to the Pacha restaurant in Ibiza.  The restaurant is part of the club and consists of an outdoor terrace section, along with an indoor air conditioned bar section which also has dining tables.

We had booked for 12:30am (which was practically the only slot available), however when we arrived the (seemingly typical) unwelcoming Spanish reservations manager told us that we had to wait 5 or 10 minutes – that turned out to be more like 35 minutes.  Whilst we were waiting at the entrance to the restaurant, along side an increasingly large number of others who had booked for the same time (all English) a Spanish couple arrived, hugged and kissed the door staff and were immediately escorted to their table. 

Whilst it may well be to the lack of understanding on our part as to how to greet and treat Spanish bar and restaurant staff, there has been an obvious difference in attitude from the waiters and waitresses when they serve Spanish customers, as opposed to us (2 English men and 1 Czech girl).  Establishing and maintaining a network of relationships on the island is essential for getting on to guest lists and receiving the special treatment, but I get the feeling that it would be much easier for us next time if we bring a Spaniard along.

When we were eventually shown to our table, we were pleasantly surprised by the cool decor of the terrace section where we were seated.  Individually lit tables, palm tree surroundings, softly lit fabrics above our heads, rustic beach style chairs and stylishly decorated table tops with a hint of Asian influence created a very relaxing and trendy place to eat dinner.

The menu consists of mostly Spanish fish dishes or a Spanish/Japanese sushi fusion selection, however there were also some impressive meat dishes including chicken, beef and duck.  The sushi was prepared in an open kitchen, by Japanese chefs who went to the excruciating effort of creating rice rolls, wrapped in seaweed with the Pacha cherry shape in the middle using various different coloured raw fish.

I chose the duck leg with sweet potatoes, which was cooked perfectly so that it simply fell off the bone as my knife slid over it…

Ilona opted for sushi rolls (and avoided the wasabi)…

I can’t remember what Mark had, but it didn’t look that interesting on the plate, so I never took a photo of it.

Providing you spend 70 Euros per head or more, entrance to the Pacha nightclub is free after eating in the restaurant.  We didn’t know about the minimum spend, and only ordered one course (we were keen to get in the club ASAP), so we had to top up our bar bill with a few more Vodka Redbulls (which also helped keep us awake since we didn’t leave the restaurant until after 2am!).

Unfortunately, the club itself was PACKED! And apparently Swedish House Mafia who we had gone to see were ill .  We forced our way through the crowds for a while, made it up to the top chill out bar for some fresh air and ended up only staying for a few hours before calling it a night.  On this occasion, the pre-club meal was more to speak of than the club.

There is a large selection of Asian food to choose from, and an image of each menu choice is projected on to the plate in front of you as you navigate the options.

Despite appearing to be very similar to Microsoft Surface, the tables are way less sophisticated and in fact are merely a projector above each table, which displays a clever menu system to be navigated using a cursor controlled by a touch pad in the corner of the table.  It’s still VERY cool though!

As well as selecting food and drink, you can also use the menus to change the background, find out about local attractions and play games!  We started to play 2 player battle ships, however it’s a little silly because each player is shown a small display with their configuration on it – which is very easy for the person opposite to see and cheat.  Again – still very cool though

The food was amazing! There were four of us, so we ended up ordering a combination of things including fish, beef salad, cinnamon chicken (one of my favourites), duck pancakes and more.  We also all ordered dessert, and ended up coincidentally ordering exactly the same thing – Macaroon and white chocolate moose – mmmm

We also managed to get through 2 bottles of champagne, although I must admit that 2 glasses were knocked over – one by Ilona, and I forget who did it the second time The staff were very insistent on cleaning up the spill thoroughly – but were not too worried that we smashed a glass.

Our ‘lunch’ ended up lasting over 2 hours, and we were all STUFFED after the three courses of food which arrived in a random order (whenever it was ordered/cooked), but at a steady pace.

Will definitely be going back there again! Great experience and lovely food – would like to try it at night next time.

We were actually trying to find another bar which has an outdoor champagne serving area made of ice, however our navigation of the slopes was a little off and we had to ‘settle’ for the nearest hut we could find….we were very pleased to find this place

Whilst dinners in the chalet have been amazing all week (thanks to Matt and Christie), our lunchtime meals have been a little more basic, usually consisting of burgers, crepes or sandwiches.  A few of us have been craving a spaghetti bolognaise all week, so were very pleased to see it on the menu at this restaurant.  We were even more surprised when our lunch turned up in a glass jar!  The (fresh) pasta was on the bottom, the sauce next and then some parmesan cheese.  Take a look for yourself in this video…

Very tasty! Although next time I will make sure I mix the sauce and pasta up right at the start, as the pasta in the bottom of the jar was a little dry.

Here are a few shots of the interior and exterior of the bar (click for larger images)…

It is fairly typical for nice restaurants in Tokyo to have segregated sections for each table so that your party can dine in private.  This restaurant was no different, and we in fact had our own room with sliding doors for complete privacy.  In Japan it is traditional (‘protocol’ would actually be a better description) for the guest to sit furthest away from the room entrance.  The guest is also the first one to be served each course.  Since I did not know this protocol (and my colleagues were too polite to correct me), I sat near to the door when entering the room and as a result one of my colleagues who was my host actually received all of the courses first.

Shabu Shabu is Japanese fondue style meal where thinly sliced meat (beef in our case) is served with vegetables and dipping sauces.  The first stage of the process involves submerging thin slices of meat in to boiling water for between 5 and 13 (ish) seconds (depending on how well you like it cooked), then dipping it in one of two sauces (soy sauce, and another which I cannot remember the name of) before eating it.

I was a little worried that I was not cooking the meat enough, particularly since the part which I had pinched with the chop sticks often came out a little pink But I was not ill afterwards, so I guess I didn’t do too bad a job.  And I must say, that it was tasty! I experimented and decided that 7.5 seconds was my preference for the time to leave the meat in the water

I did get ‘told off’ for placing my chop sticks on the table, rather than resting them on the small ceramic stands provided, I won’t make that mistake again…

It is my first time in Bournemouth, so I completely relied on my iphone to guide me from my hotel to an area with bars and restaurants.  I managed to find a funky little place called ‘Orange’.  When I arrived  (about 2.5 hours ago) it was fairly empty, however it’s slowly got busier and there is now a steady volume of chatter and louder music.  I am sitting next to the window, watching the world go by and enjoying unexpected waiter service whilst I type away in to my netbook.

They have a good selection of food available, with a typical bar menu covering various types of cuisines.  I went for a spicey chicken burito which came covered in melted cheese and tomato.  It was not too spicy, but certain did fill up a gap (the gap being breakfast which I missed). 

The bar staff told me that there is a DJ playing here tonight, so I may ask the group if they fancy coming for a drink before we go to the club. 

In all honesty, I could happily sit here, order some wine and wait for the others to come out, however I’m going to need to get changed out of my scruffy clothes before we head to the club.  Time to shut down the netbook and head back to the hotel for a jacuzzi I think.  Nice afternoon

If you are ever in Bournemouth and you fancy giving this place a try (I recommend it), here is a map (click to view on Bing maps)…

The place is said to have the best dumplings in Shanghai, and this claim was certain supported by the HUGE queue of people outside the shop for the take-away service.

What was interesting was the way the pricing structure worked…

1. Cheapest / long wait…
   queue up outside and get your dumplins to take away and eat on the street
   (at least a 1 hour wait)
   This video shows the size of the queue (and how the dumplins were made). . .
   
2. A bit more expensive / less wait…
   queue on the stairs on the way up to the first level restaurant, where you can sit down and eat your dumplins
   (I am guessing a 30 to 45 minute wait)
   
3. Even more expensive / short wait…
   queue at the top of the stairs, where you can sit in the second level restaurant and eat your dumplins and other food from the menu
   (we went for this option and we only waited about 10 or 15 minutes)
   
4. MOST expensive / no wait
   We saw a small group get taken to the back of the second level restaurant and in to their own private room.  I guess they had to book and I guess it was very expensive

I thoroughly recommend option 3.  for westerners, it’s still pretty cheap!

We started our lunch with some Dim Sum, which Helen kindly demoed how to unwrap and eat …

The dumplings which came next contain soup and pork.  They are served in little wicker tubs, in which they are also cooked (by steam).  To eat them you first put some ginger and soy sauce in to a small dish, in to which you dip the dumpling.  You must then bite a small hole in the side, suck out the soup and then eat what is left in one mouth full.  Here is Charles demonstrating. . .

We had a mixture of dishes to start including vegetables, tofu and some other bits, although main course was apparently the restaurant speciality – chicken skewers.  The difference between these chicken skewers and those which we may see in the west was that each one contained different parts of the chicken.  The body parts I can remember included cartilage, heart and thigh.  There was also a rather easier to eat minced chicken package (of which I ate quite a few).

I am proud to say that I did try the cartilage, which was unsurprisingly VERY hard to eat, I won’t be in a rush to try again, here is a video of Ryo taking it off the skewer…

I also had the chicken heart (which was a little chewy, but not too bad).  Here is the photo to prove it, which also showcases my newly improved chop stick skills (thanks to Chieko’s tuition )…

Here is a little intro about the restaurant from Chieko…

And as we drunk Saki, Wine and Beer, here is a little round table video clip of everyone enjoying their food…

Xin Tian Di is a lovely little area of Shanghai with lots of restaurants and bars built in renovated old residential properties.  All of the buildings are composed of a mixture of traditional Chinese architecture with what appears to be European (or at least Western) influence to inject a little modernism.  I loved how traditional the building felt, even with the futuristic sky scrapers towering in the background.

Charles and Helen acted as great tour guides…

…and they took me to a place called ‘Chat Tea’ (the English name) where we had a Chinese Tea and fruit cocktail…

The staff were friendly, they had a good selection of wine and an equally good choice of food.  I actually arrived just before lunch time, and had not had breakfast, so went for an all day breakfast (just before the 12pm deadline).  I think it is enough to say that the food was great, without describing in detail the texture of the sausages or the volume of baked beans.  Whilst I was eating I saw a selection of other meals being served and they certainly made me want to go back again next time and try something else from the menu.

If you fancy a nice relaxing meal and drink before your flight, I would recommend turning right to Huxleys next time you are in terminal 5

Here is a link to their menu (PDF)…