Areia Colonial Chillout

(Editor’s note: This review covers the nocturnal aspects of Areia, but it is also a wonderful café/restaurant by day. Stay tuned for the restaurant review.)

Calle Hortaleza is wonderful in that it’s armed to the teeth with huge variety of bars suited to many different tastes and times of the evening. A good place to start the night, and spend a good part of it, is Café Areia.

Several worlds away from the typical, brightly lit caféterias of Madrid, Areia is dark and moody; its décor reminiscent of an exotic boudoir, inviting its punters into an environment of intimacy and seduction.

Indeed Areia is all about sensuality. From the red velvet-draped ceiling to the huge sofas piled high with pillows, everything screams, “lie languorously on me, and bring a partner with you!” The down-beat, gritty techno adds to the underlying sense that we should all be suavely flirting with everyone else in the room. Either that or demand that someone fan you with a palm leaf as someone else peels you grapes.

Some will discover the music gives you a desire to dance, and, though you might find an area near the back where a bunch of self-conscious souls are groovin’ in the dark, Areia isn’t really a dancing bar. Once you’ve had enough conversation and rolling around in pillows, you’ll have to go to one of the neighbouring dance-bars (such as Sanchez, for example) though you’ll find these places a lot more frenetic in comparison.

It’s a good idea to turn up early if you wish to engage in said pillow-rolling, or you’ll be left standing. Drinks get more expensive after eleven, and there’s a large variety of cocktails, beers and wines to choose from. Hidden amongst the crowd are waiters and waitresses who look exactly like us. A trained eye will noticed that they have notebooks; order from them to avoid the queue at the bar.

A good place to go with someone you want to seduce or for lazy people who like pillows.

Areia Colonial Chillout
Hortaleza, 92
Open all week: 21:00 – 03:00
T: 913 100 307
http://www.areiachillout.com/

Michael Beeson