CasaSandra

Eating

The excellent Cuban-Mexican seafood restaurant, Restaurante Gourmet CasaSandra, occupies the whole ground floor of the main house. It has funky star lights, rattan furniture, vivid artwork, candles in hurricane lamps, a bar and sofas for lounging. It's the heart of the hotel, where time slips past as you gaze out to the ocean and chat to other guests.

Breakfast is served from 7am until a very civilised 11am. Included in the room rate are jugs of iced juice, fruit salad, yoghurt, granola, cakes made for drenching with honey, and several variations of coffee and tea. The à la carte menu features eggs served many different ways, including huevos a la mexicana, huevos motulenos and huevos divorciados - we liked leaping into the unknown with these, although we could have just asked the serving staff. 'Divorced eggs' turned out to be 2 fried eggs, each with a different hot sauce, one green, one red. Other options include mole, hot cakes, quesadillas and French toast.

Lunch and dinner share the same menu, which we thoroughly enjoyed eating our way through. Starters included a variety of ceviches, the local speciality, where seafood is marinated in lime and lemon juice, here inventively presented with shrimp and lobster tails resplendent above the dish. You could also try excellent guacamole, fish croquettes, several salads and stuffed avocados with shrimps.

Although main courses sounded deceptively simple - seafood with rice, fish papillote, shrimp with garlic - they were anything but. Cooked perfectly to order and beautifully arranged on the plate, they tickled the taste buds with clever flavour combinations. Service was sometimes slow but always delightful, and we weren't in a hurry to go anywhere, so it gave us the opportunity to get to know our fellow diners. Meals are accompanied by an eclectic range of music, often Cuban.

The pool bar is open until midnight (assuming demand warrants) and serves some of the most delicious cocktails we've ever tried. You can also lounge in a very louche way on the daybeds around the pool or at the front of the hotel and sip your drinks there - bliss.