Casa Jondal, the Ibiza beach bar with the soul of a fine dining restaurant
For many, Casa Jondal, in its cove in Ibiza, is the best beach bar in Spain: more than one hundred employees and tables on the sand.
Five hundred people a day, not counting nighttime hours, pass through this establishment with tables scattered across the sand, shaded by trees. There's a display of fish and seafood, a wine list featuring the finest wines, and exceptional customer service.
The clientele has high purchasing power and doesn't hold back in spending in a relaxed atmosphere, and the prices reflect that. Undoubtedly, it looks like a beach bar, but it has the soul of a fine dining restaurant.
Rafa Zafra, a Sevillian with a long career alongside the Adrià brothers and one of Spain's most prominent chefs, especially when it comes to seafood, has found the key to success here, with all the necessary elements to achieve it. Casa Jondal is the most prestigious of a group of luxury restaurants located on the beach, whose offerings go far beyond those of a simple beach bar.
Almost all are located in areas frequented by wealthy tourists, who can afford to maintain high standards of quality in ingredients and service. Three of the four examples are in Formentera, an island where the gastronomic level has risen dramatically in recent years. Sol, in Cala Saona, is run by Joan Costa, a businessman and chef who also owns the hotel and the fine-dining restaurant Sol Post. Es Codol Foradat, on Migjorn beach, is one of the four establishments that Nandu Jubany, one of Spain's leading chefs, has on the island. Fandango, in Es Pujols, has tables directly on the sand.
All three share the exceptional quality of their fish and seafood, with local lobster and red prawns taking center stage, and their extraordinary rice dishes. The fourth example is in Marbella: La Milla, on the beach but without actually being on the sand, is another beach bar, or rather, not a beach bar at all, but rather the soul of a fine dining restaurant.