Magnetic Terrace – an attractive new watering hole
In the main bar at Magnetic Terrace.
We wrote recently of the revival of Gitano – the same name in a different place. Last Friday another old watering hole reopened, this time with a different name in the same place.
Old hands will remember, from 10 years ago, the Whispering Cock, a Brit-style local pub in Cherng Talay, on the way into the Laguna complex. It had timber and brick walls, a a grass roof and retired horse doctor John Woodger as its landlord.
It had the usual brews on tap – Singha and Heineken – a couple of TVs for the big matches (and the Fashion Channel when there weren’t any) and a goodly crowd of regulars.
Nothing like a glass of red to warm the evening up.
Woodger and his landlord, the Italian Baron Bepy Graziani di Ceneda, carried on a desultory feud which amused the regulars so much that they teasingly formed the GOMs Club – for Grumpy Old Men.
For a long time the Whispering Cock had no real competition in the area, but it was only a matter of time before others decided that they could pick up some of Woodger’s business. Peppers was the first. Bepy then reinvented his own Thai restaurant, right next door, as BB’s, a sports bar. Finally, control of the Cock reverted to Bepy, who converted it radically into a cocktail bar, renaming it Jacquie O’s.
John, when last we heard of him, was living quietly in the north of the island and a couple of years ago Bepy went to his reward after a lengthy battle with cancer, leaving control of his empire in the hands of his wife Noi.
The main entrance to Magnetic Terrace.
She was there on Friday to see the rebirth of Jacquie O’s, this time as a restaurant, bar and cocktail lounge called Magnetic Terrace. Is it a terrace? Well, not really- it’s more of a chalet from the outside. Magnetic? It certainly pulled them in on opening night. We understand the new owners of the business used to have a successful bar in Africa with the same name, and are hoping it’ll work here too.
The menu has Thai and French items – the samples on opening night certainly tingled our taste buds, and the wine was excellent.
Although the outside, with its open-air seating area, will ring faint bells with the old Whispering Cock regulars, they will have a hard time recognising the inside. Very chic, sophisticated, urban – urbane, in fact.
A friendly crowd in the outside seating area.
The front door leads into the main bar, the place for serious drinkers, with tables for diners off to the left. To the right is a large lounge with comfortable seating for people who wouldn’t think of drinking alone, and another bar. Behind that is a pool table for those who wouldn’t dream of drinking alone or while sitting down.
A couple of the old regulars were there to toast the new place, and they seemed happy with it, and the new crew, Biliana, Gwen and Julien, were grinning from ear to ear at the turnout.
It’s hard to come up with something new that won’t compete head-on with the other bars and restaurants in the area, especially with BB’s next door, Pepper’s across the road, the very suave Supper Club, the oh-so-slightly eccentric Kargo, the classic Italian Toto’s (another Bepy creation), Tawai, or Tatonka, to name but a few. But the Magnetic Terrace crew have managed it. Worth a visit or ten.
