Float on: the changing face of Talamanca Bay

 Talamanca’s mythical Bar Flotante has been an island icon for 23 years, open almost year-round and a bona-fide meeting point for locals and Ibiza regulars alike. The bar has resolutely defied the march of progress, offering simple dishes at keen prices in a staggeringly pretty waterside setting. As the news breaks that the emblematic locale will close its doors for the last time on Sunday, we speak to four Ibiza insiders about the places that embody Talamanca’s enduring, lo-fi appeal for them.

Bar Flotante by Emma Thomson, founder of The Maven Collection

‘I’ve been going to Bar Flotante for 15 years, rain or shine, summer or winter. It’s been my constant on an island that’s continually changing. I lived in Talamanca for many years and when I was younger, I’d go to Flotante after wild nights out for a café con leche and a tostada as the sun came up over the sea. In more recent years it’s been our family go-to, morning and night. We take visiting friends at lunchtime for sardinas and anchovy sandwiches, the best in Ibiza. Our children mess around on the beach as we sit with our toes in the sand, sipping ice cold beer. Come evening the vibe is upbeat and we order tortillitas de camarones – a sort of Andalucían prawn fritter.  Flotante is the only place on the island we've found that makes them and we dip them in aioli and sip white wine from the excellent – and inexpensive – wine list as the sky turns a thousand shades of pink and fishing boats bob in the water. The staff have become dear friends of ours and I simply cannot imagine our life in Ibiza without Bar Flotante as our home-from-home.’

The Fish Shack by Taryn Ross, founder of Urban Junkies

‘The beauty of the shack is in its simplicity. Essentially a container surrounded by tables and umbrellas, it seems somehow fragile, ephemeral. It doesn’t even last the winter, being packed away before the first of the November storms, leaving nothing but prawn shells and footprints in its wake. This pared-back manifesto is echoed in the menu – namely because there isn’t a menu at all. The choice is simply whatever is freshest that day – sea bass, calamari, octopus, prawns - which still feels like just about the chicest way to eat. Each dish comes with the same side order of cool, boiled potatoes, little slices of green pepper and a simple salad of lettuce and onions. It’s about as undone as could be. I’ll take a small table on the rocks and order an ice-cold Estrella and the reddest of gambas, slipping them from their crackly jackets as greedy sparrows peck around my feet. The waiter, Samir, always welcomes me like family. By day I add a side of wild swimming, clambering over the rocks and down the little ladder into the sea. By night Ibiza's coolest music crowd linger beneath the stars, sipping herb-and brandy-slaked cups of Café Caleta and watching Ibiza’s Old Town lights flicker across the harbour before hitting Amnesia or DC-10.’

Cafeteria Andalucía by Carmen Costa Tur, videographer

1. 'With its bougainvillea shaded corner entrance, whitewashed walls and and vine-covered terrace, Cafeteria Andalucía is the kind of restaurant that you’d once have found in every village across coastal Spain. The menu is defiantly simple, with garlic squid, grilled whole fish and a stack of lamb chops that arrive with a heap of bacon-infused runner beans. I’ve been coming here since I was a child, first with my parents and grandparents  and later – in my teenage years – on semi-sophisticated candlelit dates with local boyfriends. I’ve eaten here alone countless times – the staff are so relaxed and quick with a joke – and the lunchtime menu del día is my perfect weekday pitstop. Now I bring my own children, who get treated like royalty on Sundays when the paella is one of the best-kept secrets on the island.'