A tropical-style cafe and bar with mind-blowing tacos and legendary cocktails
The Tiki bar genre has existed in the United States for many years. It appeared in the 1930s. This genre has absorbed the aesthetics of Polynesian culture. The creator of the trend, American Ernest Raymond Bemond-Gantt, was fascinated by Polynesian carved masks, the relaxed, pleasant atmosphere of the Pacific islands, and wanted everyone who entered such a bar to be transported to the tropics for a couple of hours.
When Raymond got tired of plowing the Pacific expanses, he changed his name to Donn Beach and created the world's first Tiki bar in 1933 in Hollywood. The bar served Chinese cuisine and exotic rum punches. Three years later, the Tiki bar craze began to spread across the United States.
Tiki bars in cities were often indoor spaces with curtained windows, blocking off the outside world so that guests could enter the bar and immerse themselves in the tropical atmosphere.
When a Canadian couple, Tommy and Katherine, had the opportunity to open a restaurant, they thought long and hard about the concept. Tommy was no stranger to restaurant culture. He started working as a dishwasher at a restaurant when he was 14. He worked his way up through the ranks, as he always dreamed of becoming a chef or a restaurant owner.
The couple wanted to create something completely new for the island, a fresh concept unlike anything that had ever been done on Gili Trawangan. To serve food that everyone would love, and at the same time, to do something that no one had ever done on Trawangan. Therefore, the choice was made on the first and only Tiki bar in Trawangan, which was named after the palm grove around it - Tiki Grove.
In a palm grove, there was no need to fence off or curtain the windows. The tropics are already everywhere. It was just necessary to create an open space that would allow you to admire the palm grove around.
Tommy did not want to create a large menu in which the visitor would get lost. The main idea was to concentrate on a few, but truly masterfully prepared dishes with a balanced taste. Tiki Grove has a little bit of everything. A little Polynesian, a little Mexican, a little Chinese.
For his tacos, famous throughout Trawangan, Tommy had to import original hot sauces from Mexico, which became a certain challenge in transportation and pricing. But the owner of Tiki Grove did not want to risk the quality and authenticity of the taste.
They serve 6-7 different types of tacos. Traditional Mexican chicken tacos, fish tacos, and BBQ chicken tacos, which are Tommy's signature creation. The chicken in these tacos is slow-roasted in BBQ sauce, shredded, and then put back in the oven and sauce, absorbing its flavor and aroma.
The menu includes vegan and gluten-free options. Vegetarian dumplings and Mexican-style vegetarian tacos are very popular.
Tiki Grove is famous throughout the island for its delicious cocktails inspired by Tiki culture.
One of the most popular is the Zombie. It was invented in 1934 by the same legendary creator of the Tiki concept, Donn Beach.
The cocktail uses 3 types of rum, lime, pineapple, falernum syrup, cinnamon, and grapefruit bitterness. Tommy has remained extremely faithful to the nearly century-old recipe and has achieved a simply explosively magnificent result.
Another favorite of the cocktail menu is the Shark Bait. And this is a Tiki Grove invention. It is made from exclusive and luxurious Nusa Cana rum, a mix of mango, coconut, lime, falernum syrup and a hint of orange bitterness.
Other cocktails have a similar character and mood, but it is for the two above that people from all over the island come to Tiki Grove.
Beer is kept deep frozen here, so Tiki serves the coldest beer on the island.
Along with the fact that Tiki Grove is a good cocktail place, it is very popular with children and families with small children often come here.
What to try?
Tacos
Vegetarian dumplings
Cocktails
