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LOS PASAJEROS C/ Vicent Soler 6, Ibiza 07800, Spain Los Pasajeros is the best example of why I'm always recommending Iain Stewart's Rough Guide to Ibiza and Formentera (especially the second edition as I have a credit in it). Back in 1990, between my first and second holidays on the island, I bought a copy of the Rough Guide to Spain, which is where I first read about this tiny backstreet cantina. Los Pasajeros was a bugger to find, even with the directions in the Guide, as back then neither the street nor the restaurant wore a name - but it was worth the effort, and before the holiday was over I was introducing new friends to the place with the air of a regular of many years standing! Los Pasajeros is cheap. Very cheap. But that doesn't mean the food is anything other than top quality, filling, and served while you're still hungry! In 1990, owner Maria was very blond, and I wish I had photographs of her back then, but otherwise she hasn't changed at all... Okay, she smiles a lot more these days, but don't we all? 16 years on, and I still eat at Los Pasajeros most nights while in Ibiza, and have found it to be the perfect place to eat when on my own as I'm never rushed to finish my dinner, the way other restaurants treat the single occupiers of whole tables. On top of that, I've been lucky enough to meet and share my table with many of the island's workers and party-goers, and made many, many friends in the process. During my first holiday alone in Ibiza, in 1998, my discrete attempts to swallow the vast number of anti-retrovirals that I needed to take with my dinner earned me the reputation as the biggest pill-popper on the island, a reputation which has sadly stuck to this day... If you're ever unable to get a table at Los Pasajeros, just take a five-minute walk to El Patio de Los Pasajeros, where Maria's sister Isobel provides the tapas equivalent to Maria's school dinner menu. My messiest moment at Los Pasajeros was probably with Robert after Manumission's closing party in 2001, arriving a bit 'tired' after staying the course through the entire party at Privilege, the Carry-On at Space, and the odd drink at Bora-Bora... Proudest moment? My birthday dinner in 2002, when first the staff, and then the customers sang me Happy Birthday! I was so overcome with emotion (okay vodka) that I kissed every customer to say thank you (that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it...)! Eat at Los Pasajeros every night, and you won't be missing anything, and try the creamed spinach! Highly recommended, as is the beefsteak, the leg of lamb, the chicken in roquefort, the mixed salads, the chicken kebab, the pastel argentine, the... Okay, you get the picture, it's all good! And the banana and chocolate pie is to die for! And unlike Sam's downstairs, Los Pasajeros employs gay staff.
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If only I hadn't been wearing the stripey trousers, and been in the company of the sexiest man on the island, we may have slipped in and out unnoticed!
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