Wednesday, November 19, 2008

15/11/08: Sushipoint Saturdays

If you thought the action in Ibiza slowed down just because we’ve slipped into the colder half of the year, you obviously haven’t been party hopping with Miss W on a Saturday night yet.

While there were plenty of options on the plate for tonight, Miss W was most looking forward to heading over to Marina Botafoch for Sushipoint Saturdays. While the name itself doesn’t give too much away about the nature of the event – Is it dinner? Drinks? Dancing? – the fact those left on the island have been buzzing about it all week meant it was definitely the number one option on my dance (or drinks or dinner!) card tonight.

Inside the cosy and stylishly lit surrounds of Sushipoint I caught up with some friends I’d hardly had a chance to see since the closing of Space more than a month ago (as they say, time really does fly…) for the chance to sample the specialty sushi prepared lovingly and expertly by chef Pablo – who scored extra points at Miss W’s table on account of him being quite the hottie!

As we settled in and made our difficult choices from the special menu – three courses for a mere 20€ and all sounded spectacular – the room seemed to fill up within a flash. Seriously. Faster than Pablo can speed-slice sashimi, it seemed every table was full with a lot of über-chic types lingering at the bar and outdoors on the comfy sofas. With a cross-cultural and cosmopolitan crowd like this, you could be forgiven for thinking you were in New York or London. Thankfully for us, this was all happening in downtown central Ibiza. Well, slightly left-of-centre but you know what I’m talking about.

The atmosphere was that of a cool lounge bar, thanks to the fabulous early-evening stylings of DJ Olli Odd – think deep house meets chilled classics with an extra sprinkling of soft and melodic techno. By midnight, it was definitely a case of drinks and dancing taking precedence over the menu, as more and more guests arrived to fill up the cosy space and as Olli gave the music an up-tempo turn, I couldn’t help but wonder if he was ever going to come out from behind the DJ booth for a quick drink break to say the least. Nope – it seems the resident DJ is quite happy manning the decks for the duration of his party, as I saw him sneaking quick bites of sushi in between mixes – it could be said this is the Ibiza way to sing for your supper!

Dinner? Check. Drinks? Check. Dancing? Check mate! Now if only someone had warned Miss W she needed to keep her sunglasses tucked in her handbag, it could have made the taxi ride home more bearable.

THE LOWDOWN
THE GOOD: It seems this side of the marina is where it’s at on the weekends in the winter, where it’s easy to nip back and forth from one venue to another – Sushipoint, Pacha and Kama Night at Bombay Lounge here we come!
THE BAD: Unfortunately for Miss W – who has a weakness for chocolate brownies – the sheer volume of people in attendance meant that the flustered-yet-incredibly-apologetic Sushipoint staff had trouble keeping up with the orders at our table, resulting in us missing dessert. While a complimentary bottle of wine was much–appreciated, I’m still craving that brownie…
THE GOSSIP: Whispers doing the island rounds at the moment are that the weekend Sushipoint soirees have been continuing well into the daylight hours – it’s lucky they serve breakfast then, we say!