1742 Ibiza: Where Snow White doesn't meet Village People

I’m a bit old to be an Ibiza virgin. MDMA could be a song by Village People for all I care. As for sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll, those three ships sailed long ago for me.

Except, of course, that Ibiza isn't just the party island of hedonistic disrepute. It’s an isle of character and beauty, where the noisy nightlife is localized and the charm isn’t.

I finally made it after being invited to visit a new restaurant with an old name: 1742 Ibiza. “Restaurant” doesn’t quite capture the experience. 1742 is housed in an 18th century villa where guests buy tickets to a dinner that includes inventive cocktails, ambient dining and live music, not to mention eye-popping visuals. It's a multisensory waterbath.

The chef is no slouch either.

Edwin Vinke holds two Michelin stars at De Kromme Watergang, in the Netherlands. He’s known for his focus on local ingredients and creative gastronomy where the importance of the visuals is second only to the primacy of flavour.

Or to put that elevated thought into everyday English, his food tastes great and looks good, too. That helps when your senses are being bashed about with sounds and sights as demanding of your attention as a toddler having a tantrum.

You travel to the hilltop villa in a microbus. (I don’t have an exact definition of a microbus, but it’s a minibus so small that Snow White might struggle to fit in with her whole crew.)

You – well, not you personally, but the bus – climb a steep hill to the Dalt Vita, Ibiza’s UNESCO-listed Old Town. You are greeted by a butler in the palatial villa, where a violinist plays from a balcony above you, and a glamorous waitress at eye level offers you a gin & tonic in white chocolate wrapped in gold, served in a sea shell.

That pretty much sets the tone: 1742 might not be the best choice for old folks who prefer their G&Ts sans chocolate and ductile metal, and in a glass rather than a seashell.

But hey-ho. Next up is a Moet rose, served (reassuringly) in a glass, and a visit to the wine cellar, featuring fabulously elevated options.

Here, you may pick your bottles for the night. I never saw any prices, and didn’t have the option of choosing a La Tache 2014 or a Petrus 2008. But I did spot that a basic pairing of three glasses costs 55 euros, or 120 for better stuff.

The villa is beautifully lit and furnished. It’s atmospheric as you climb a steep staircase to the sounds of a violin bouncing off the walls and enter an open kitchen where Chef Vinke greets you with a mystery snack on a spoon and invites you to guess what it is.

I was too chicken to do anything more than smile. Which is fortunate, because I thought it was fish but it turned out to be watermelon that kitchen alchemy had turned into a delicious, fresh tartar.

It’s upstairs again then, to a terrace with avant-garde furniture that looked a bit like Philippe Starck. I don’t think it actually was, but it was amusing and eye-catching. It needed to be to begin to compete with the amazing view over the Old Town and out to sea. This is a gorgeous setting on a warm evening.

Some pretty good cocktails were on offer at 24 euros a pop. I went for Purple Fizz, with gin, lime juice, violet liqueur and egg white.

Then the food begins rolling out, kicking off with Local Vegetables, a small plate with gazpacho, kimchi, smoky carrot and padron pepper. Zeeland Fruits de Mer follows, with oyster and razor clam. And then it’s Pomme Muscovite, with potatoes, sturgeon, seaweed and verbena.

The plates are visually striking and the flavours bold yet balanced. The luxury ingredients are quite reassuring as the menu costs 275 euros for eight courses, plus 100 euros or more for transportation.

Those aren’t unreasonable prices for a gourmet meal in such a glamorous setting. 1742 is owned by the Nassau Group, a hospitality company that has clearly spent millions on this project.

(Nassau also owns Casa Munich, a hotel where my brother and I spent two nights as their guest, as well as being invited along for the meal. So you see, I have an incentive to like 1742, but I try to season deserved praise with a soupcon of scepticism.)

Now, it’s down to a dining room like a high-ceilinged designer dungeon, with video installations and a soundtrack that mixes chillout music with other stuff, interrupted only by the appearance of two opera singers.

I’m not going to rattle right through the menu but Ibizan Shrimps (with cuttlefish, zucchini, cacao & olives) stands out, as does Goat (with aubergine, tomato, basil and huacatay). Dessert (a mountain of orange, Hierbas, espresso and almonds) is taken on the terrace.

The modern European cooking doesn’t disappoint. Vinke is both a technician and a creative force. The style of the restaurant is reminiscent of Albert Adria, David Munoz and other Spanish chefs.

I have quibbles: I don’t think a restaurant committed to local ingredients should be serving Dutch cheeses and seafood, and I’d prefer a focus on Spanish wines over French. For me, the evening was a little too long at four hours.

While accomplished, 1742 is still a work in progress, albeit a beautiful one, and the expensively dressed guests (I think there were about 30) added catwalk-level glamour.

Oh, and I enjoyed Casa Munich, though it’s also fun to stay at the YMCA.