It’s Spanish tapas… not as you know it!
From the moment I first heard about Sa Brisa in Ibiza (or was it when I first saw photos of it…?),
I knew I had to check this out at some point in between having what turned out to be a rather lazy day at the Giri for my birthday, I mustered the ‘strength’ to make a reservation for the following evening at Sa Brisa.
(Okay, making a reservation here is easy enough – just pick up the phone and call but my birthday laziness mode knows no bounds… 🙂 ).
The next morning, was pretty much spent fooling around by the pool…
…oh, and exploring the quaint little town of San Joan. (Like seriously, it’s all of 4 or 5 streets and is one of the quietest and most laid back parts of Ibiza).
(Notice how the pharmacy above has a sign for margaritas above? What’s that about?)
Eventually, it was time to bid The Giri Residence farewell and head off in search of beaches on the islands…
I’ve gotta say, aimless jaunts like this are one of my favourites – especially so when the sun is shining! The luxury of having no plans at all is something I greatly appreciate and always try to make the most of. If we see somewhere we like on the way, we stop and hang out there, if we don’t, we carry on – that’s what holidays are all about really, doing exactly what you want do. 🙂
It’s also worth noting, this day highlighted for us even more, the many reasons why you should visit Ibiza (in and out of season), it’s truly a beautiful island!
Our journey through windy windy roads eventually led to Santa Gertrudis de Fruitera (which is in the middle of the island) and is another charming village oft missed out by party-goers and we decided to stick around here for lunch.
Enough of that now – on to the main place I want to tell you about – Sa Brisa!
Despite my excitement, we actually ended up showing up here about 30 minutes late. As it turns out, trying to find a place to park in Ibiza’s old town, where the restaurant is located, is something of a nightmare. We drove around for almost 20 minutes solid before finding anywhere to park (this may also be partly due to the fact that I didn’t want to park too far away as I was wearing skinny jeans which look great but are a pain to walk long distances in… #ChubRub).
We went for a really late reservation (I’m not a fan of eating too early on holidays, I always find that if I do, I end up needing 2 dinners) so by the time we settled down, we had the full run of the place almost to ourselves (well that and the fact that we were in Ibiza off season).
We hunkered down into our seats where we were rather promptly welcomes with cocktails!
All made by our rather friendly Argentinian barman.
I went fruity, Lloyd went sake infused…
…both of which were amazing and very quickly set us in the best mood for the meal to come!
It was also at this point we made the executive decision to take a taxi home and leave the car here – we’d pick it up the next morning. Being responsible and all… 🙂 (Well, it was either that or skip the alcoholic cocktails and I had no plans on doing that!)
We decided to go for the tasting menu (which I always find quite exciting – perhaps because there’s so much stuff to try, which I conider the same thing as having A LOT more food 😉 ) and we started off with the fanciest peas (and edible flowers) you’ve ever tasted…
Oh, and there was wine too! (We alternated between red and white which was paired with our meals…)
..we moved on to the ‘cannelloni’ (not the official name – just what I like to refer to it as), which was slathered in a delicious creamy, herby sauce and hiding a package of refreshing vegetable. 🙂 (Trust me, it works!)
We moved on to little deep fried balls of pork and fish with little dips on a tree… (another winner!)
…followed by marinated and gently cooked fish.
The menu then took a quick detour to America via hot dogs and burgers which where tasty but not my fave, only because I’m not keen on bread (I think I may have binged on it far too much as a child) – Lloyd on the other hand was having a whale of a time with these two servings!
To be fair though, the bread was lovely and doughy and the burger was cooked to perfection (juicy, beautifully spiced and just the way burgers should be… hence why I refused to let Lloyd go doubled on it by having my share).
Then came my favourite of the evening – steak marinated in chimichurri sauce, served sizzling on a hot plate with baby potatoes. Even just looking at this right now is making my mouth water (and I just ate dinner)!
Desert came in the form of multi-layered chocolate cake…
… followed by a twist on pannacotta…
… and a couple more cocktails!
Needless to say, by the time we left Sa Brisa, we were both skipping and hopping, and glad we had decided to call for a taxi. Sa Brisa turned out to be everything I hoped it would be and I can’t recommend it enough – especially if you find yourself in Ibiza with friends.
(Seriously, even at the time of writing this, it’s number 6 out of 441 restaurants on TripAdvisor so it’s pretty safe to say that I’m not the only one who thinks this is an amazing place! 🙂 )
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