Bringing Back Cocktail Hour - Coral Coast, Fiji

Line 'em Up!

We caught the attention of several vacationing Australians, the hotel's owner, and Mateo, the friendly bartender at the Talanoa Bar, when we politely asked that he "please line up shots of Fiji's local liquors along with their bottles".  The place was quiet as Mateo raised an inquisitive eyebrow and poured the colorful libations into tiny stemware.  Is this not traditionally requested in Fiji?  Who cares?!  We were on island-time and knew that our Bring Back Cocktail Hour sponsor was ready to see what we would do with her contribution to "Include an Appetizer".

Thanks to the generosity of our sponsor Yvonne, we not only sampled the local gin, vodka, rum (white and dark) and the whiskey, but also enjoyed a traditional dish of Coconut Pancake Rolls before dinner.  This appetizer consists of fresh local fish sauteed with garlic, onion and lime juice, topped with a delicate mornay sauce, then wrapped in a thin coconut pancake.  One word - Delish!

Our gratitude goes out to Yvonne for helping us Bring Back Cocktail Hour while also providing an appetizer capable of absorbing our selection of island favorites.  The entire experience will never be forgotten.

Comments

[Rich Bieling]

While you are on the island, if you can take a trip to the Orchid garden that was set up by American, actor Richard Burr,,yes " OLD IRONSIDE" for those of you TV land aficionados. In the mountains and oh so pretty, stop by a village and polite ask to do a java celebration, which is similar to an adoption into a Fijian village. Matt might become the unofficial local "American Chief" for a day.
Let me know how the snorkeling is off the main island and do not forget to say BULA!!!

Pretty gosh darn Jealous right now as Fiji was a transformative trip for the family. Friendly people, and such huge smiles!!!

Thinking positive thoughts to you guys....

Sent with Love and a huge BULA smile to you both
Rich

[Diane Pecoraro Coradlo]

So glad I finally plugged in to your feeds. The travel inspiration alone is great, but you guys have also been generous enough to share so many wonderful planning ideas on this site. I was just telling Sandi last night (she came over for dinner) that I started following you & I'm loving it. She said she misses you too much to follow. I said "BAH!"

So we'll see how convincing I was...

[DINKS Travel]

Rich - Thanks for the great recommendations. The Coral Coast really was amazing and the people were so friendly. We didn't snorkel, but we did kayak above a colorful reef...It wasn't teeming with fish, but we spotted quite a few. We enjoyed our four day stay on the main island before moving on to New Zealand where we are currently (our posts are often about a week behind our actual travels). We're exploring options to revisit Fiji on our way north towards Japan (April/May timeframe)...If we find ourselves in Fiji again, we'll look into celebrating java and exploring Richard's garden.

A great big BULA to you and yours as well!