Malindi’s

St Raphael Hotel beach area, LEMESOS (LIMASSOL)
Mon-Sun 8:00-23:00
Food: [rating:3] 3/5
Service: [rating:3] 3/5
Ambiance: [rating:2.5] 2.5/5
White plastic chairs might have been replaced with cool net chairs, frappe and Cyprus coffee with cappuccino freddo and smoothies while “halloumi” and tomato in pita with a Ceasar’s salad but the bottom line is the same: the beach is a way of life for us Cypriots and any kind of entertainment, food and drinks on the beach are awfully necessary.
Despite its only recent arrival Malindi’s seems to be already established, not only as a beach club and a beach restaurant during the day but also as a café/restaurant in the evening. The beach is like any Limassol beach, that is average compared to the east side of Cyprus, but the sun-beds are quite different in a good day. I liked the fact that there are two options (even though I still haven’t figured out why except that they get to charge two prices): the wooden sun-bed with a towel at 5.00€, and the larger sun-bed made of net at 2.50€. The friendly staff show each customer to their sun-bed while taking orders for drinks and snacks on the beach (at a price of course).
The café/restaurant, even though quite large is full through out the day. The fact that they serve food all day is a big advantage and so is that they have a large snack and finger food selection. Actually, looking at their 15-plus page menu they have a lot of everything, including pasta, pizzas, salads, sandwiches, dips, soups and a long list of meat and fish on the grill…and let’s not forget the Kid’s menu!
I can’t say that I liked how the menu was impressively long as it is usually physically impossible to make high quality and tasty dishes when you have 30 plus different options. I also generally think that a menu that includes spring rolls, a Greek salad and 8 kinds of pasta has somewhat lost its identity. I was, however, pleasantly surprised by my grilled salmon with a tasty avocado mash, good vegetable rice and grilled vegetables (for my post-holiday diet), while my proud Cypriot’s Greek salad with Greek pita on the side was quite good, especially for a beach bar. From a previous experience I do remember the spare ribs with barbecue sauce being quite tasty as well. It was only after I had finished my lunch that I remembered how Malindi’s actually belongs to Uptown Square, the restaurant group that owns Zen, Chester’s and Chi down the road and it was only then that it all made sense. If Uptown Square knows how to do something well is manage a restaurant business!
The overall experience of my day at Malindi’s was a positive one (if we ignore the two accidents by the boys playing beach rackets who didn’t even have the courtesy to apologise for their tennis ball hitting my proud Cypriot friend twice). I am sure the fact that it was a Wednesday added to the positive outcome as it gets significantly more packed during the weekends. I left thinking that, for a lively beach day on a comfortable sun-bed, good service and reasonably good food Malindi’s is appropriate. I spent a total of 30€ for my sun-bed, two bottles of water, a cold coffee and my grilled salmon which is not an insignificant amount but thinking that I could have easily spent 20€ makes it the same as any other beach club of this kind around Limassol.