Malliouhana Sunset Bar, Anguilla

The original incarnation of Malliouhana closed in 2011, just months after our first visit to the island – but every year since, we heard stories about Anguilla’s grande dame hotel and looked at the empty buildings at the end of Meads Bay, wondering what it must have been like in its heyday.

This year, with its reopening as an Auberge hotel, we finally got to visit.

We headed to Malliouhana’s Sunset Bar for a drink on our first afternoon.  You approach up a winding, palm-lined drive and then see the pretty, white-arched entrance and turquoise striped awnings.

Inside, extravagant color and design: floors of coin-sized mirrored tiles in white lattice that reflect the sky and made me feel that I was walking on air, palest turquoise walls contrasting with coral and yellow, a dramatic display of vintage divers’ helmets.

The Sunset Bar has an airy feel, with white wood shutters flung open to the sea view.  Small tables are set along built-in couches, with dark wood and leather chairs opposite.

My favorite part of the bar, besides the view, is the art that completely line the walls, with tropical scenes in gorgeous rich greens, pinks, and blues.

We settled in a corner and looked over the drinks list – a good number of wines by the glass, rum cocktails, and martinis.  D had some rosé and I had a watermelon mojito, which was lovely and not too sweet, though the watermelon kept getting stuck in the straw.

I tried the “heirloom” martini, with vodka, gin, heirloom tomato, lime, and basil.  It sounds a bit odd, but is ingeniously delicious – crisp and refreshing, with the herbaceous gin complementing the tomato and flecks of basil.

I enjoyed it so much that I ordered it again before dinner at the restaurant another night, only to discover that I liked the drink D chose even better – the melon cocktail, with cantaloupe and rum.  (He was nice enough to switch with me!)

We also had a light dinner one evening at the bar, sharing a buffalo mozzarella pizza.  Of the three pizzas I tried on this trip, this was the only one with a pillowy crust instead of a thin crust – it was a bit paler than I might have liked, but quite tasty.

All in all, I really enjoyed our time at the Malliouhana.  It’s pretty tempting to stay there on a future trip…

Update:  Malli has now become our go-to hotel on the island – more details here!