Café Tarifa Lounge Bar – giving it large in Pio XII

Anyone heard of Pio XII? No? I live here and even I hadn’t heard of it. I always thought I lived in the Macarena. But apparently not, I was very much mistaken.

It sounds miles away. But it’s not, honest. Not that I have to convince anyone to come or anything. You all have your own free will. But maybe I should drop some interesting snippets to tempt you on your way.

Firstly, it’s not remotely cool. Which I love. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not averse to some hipster action but sometimes I just want barrio life: grannies calling me hija and a disproportionate amount of fruit and veg shops.

That’s not to say that Pio XII is boring. Hit calle Previsión on a weekend night and you’ll meet row after row of tapas bar throwing out cervezas and pescaito frito with wild abandon to well dressed locals. Just cos you’re in the barrio, there’s no need to slum it.

And then there’s Café Tarifa. It took me a while to warm to Café Tarifa. I thought it was a copas place and nowt else. But now I’ve come to rank it as one of my favourite venues for live music. It’s got a kooky interior; that’s shorthand for Buddha statues, adorned walls and atmospheric lighting. And every Thursday – Saturday there’s usually a concert going on.

Mostly it’s the usual musical suspects that you’ll see around town. But at Café Tarifa there’s a wee bit of space to shuffle around and bust some grooves. Last Friday night I caught flamenco fusion Kmaleonicos, and I don’t think my feet stopped moving during the entire gig.