A thought crossed my mind today… in the past few years, most of the countries of western Europe have seen a tiki bar or two open: Italy, the Netherlands, Greece, Portugal, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland each have at least one, Germany has a half-dozen of them, the UK has a bunch, and Spain of course has more than their fair share. But as far as I can tell, France comes up with a great big goose egg. I once found a family pizza place that had tiki masks in relief in the cement outside the building, but that’s been it so far. Of course, France has its stamp all over Polynesia — Tahiti and the other islands of French Polynesia in particular, where French is the official language.

Why is this so? Is there Polynesian Pop in France and I’m just missing it? Do rum-based drinks hold little interest in wine-lovin’ France? Are the French just so over the whole Polynesian Pop thing, preferring their tiki a bit more legit?

On a related but different note: on Tiki Central, tikipedia recently posted a picture of a lovely insignia (slightly different from the one pictured here) for the 5ème Regiment Mixte du Pacifique, a division of the French Foreign Legion that was deployed to French Polynesia from 1963 until the unit was disbanded in 2000.

• French Foreign Legion Tiki [Tiki Central]
• 5ème Regt Mixte du Pacifique [The IVA's Regimental Pages]

A post on Gridskipper this morning by Abha Malpani has alerted me to a Spanish tiki bar I had not heard of before: Hawaika. For some reason, tiki kept going strong during the ’80s and ’90s, when tiki places were closing left and right here in the states. There are enough tiki bars in Spain that there is a local tiki mug manufacturer; Spanish tiki mugs are often complex and finely painted affairs, and are highly coveted by collectors. Today, Spain sports no fewer than 10 tiki bars, and an entire Polynesian-themed land in the Port Aventura amusement park. This is particularly impressive when you consider that Spain is about the same size as the state of Texas, which has pretty much bupkis in the tiki department (though that will thankfully change soon when Trader Vic’s opens again in Dallas in the coming months).

I’ve added Hawaika to Critiki, but I couldn’t find much information out there about it, which surprises me… does anyone out there know anything about this place?

• Hawaika, Valencia [Critiki]
• Hola Aloha! Valencia’s Tiki Bar [Gridskipper]

I learned on the Tiki Talk blog about Trader Vic’s intention of starting a new line of their restaurants, called Trader Vic’s Mai Tai Bars. They’re scaled-back versions of Trader Vic’s restaurants, featuring a large drink menu, but a very small food menu centered on appetizers, with a few sandwichy-type items. Most notably absent is the hallmark Chinese ovens; these suckers are large and not easy to install, work with, or design around, so while it feels sad to see a Chinese oven-less Trader Vic’s, it does make sense.

In theory, the scaled-back concept could also be installed in smaller locations, which would hopefully be a lower risk to the company and any franchise investors, and could weather the stormy restaurant business a bit better. Most intriguing to me: a smaller size means the decorating budget goes a lot further; sadly, the concept sketches on the Trader Vic’s website look disappointingly bland (although they indicate an intention to have some nice, big tikis at these Mai Tai Bars). A March 2006 article in Nation’s Restaurant News stated that the new Mai Tai Bars are aiming for a 50-50 ratio between food and beverage sales, vs. 60% food to 40% drinks at a typical Trader Vic’s.

As earlier reported on Humu Kon Tiki, Trader Vic’s Palo Alto relaunched its bar area as a “Mai Tai Bar,” which made no sense at the time — the changes to the space were laughably minimal, the only real change was the addition of a few boring items to the food menu (woodfired pizza?). While I’m still a bit puzzled by the Palo Alto remodel effort, it does make a bit more sense now if they were using it as a sort of test ground for the Mai Tai Bar concept, as an attempt to appeal to an after-work crowd.

Another interesting angle to all this: Palo Alto Trader Vic’s has had some pretty decent live music in the bar area, and it looks like this is another part of the new Mai Tai Bar concept.

The first official Mai Tai Bar has opened just outside of Estepona, Spain; no word yet on what it’s like. Any tiki-lovin’ Spaniards care to report?

• Trader Vic’s new Mai Tai Bar restaurant concept [Tiki Talk]
• Trader Vic’s Mai Tai Bar [Trader Vic's]
• A new article about Trader Vic’s from Nation’s Restaurant News [Tiki Central]
• Trader Vic’s News: Bar Remodel at Palo Alto, Dallas Rumor [Humu Kon Tiki]
• Trader Vic’s Mai Tai Bar, Estepona [Critiki]

Opening Sunday, April 16 and continuing through Sunday, April 21, Cafe Cantine in Amsterdam is showing a Tiki Art Exhibition. Featured artists include Southern California’s Tiki Tony, Spain’s Mappe, Britain’s Tiki Racer, and Netherland’s own Jasper Fijnvandraat, Claudia Hek and Michiel Hoving. The opening event on the 16th will include a performance from rockabilly band Mischief. Cafe Cantine is at Rietlandpark 373, and the event is free.

• Tiki Art Exhibition [Hankabilly.com]

• Barcelona Puts the Tiki in Tacky (registration req’d) [Washington Post]
• Aloha Polinesian Bar, Barcelona [Critiki]
• Kahala, Barcelona [Critiki]
• Kahiki, Barcelona [Critiki]
• Spain [Tiki Central]

From November 20 through December 18, 2005, the cafe/restaurant Patronaat in Haarlem, the Netherlands is hosting a tiki art exhibition. Featured artists are Angelique Houtkamp, Claudia Hek (who did the piece pictured to the left), Michiel Hoving and Mappe. The opening event is happening on Sunday, November 20 from 5-11 p.m, with rockabilly performances from Miss Mary Ann & the Ragtime Wranglers, Mischief and Milwaukee Wildmen. Cost for the event is 9 Euros.

• Patronaat
• Angelique Houtkamp
• Claudia Hek
• Michiel Hoving