I heard rumors from multiple people that Biras plans to open their restaurant in April?
-They are allegedly throwing an opening party which a colleague of a friend has been invited too -They have allegedly hired an Italian chef -They reached out to the local dive shop for a quote to reinstall all their mooring balls -The main dock (not the new one by where Fat Virgin used to be) has been renovated -The plan is to have the restaurant in the previous main building location
Obviously, this is all a lot of hearsay through the coconut telegram! But fun and exciting nonetheless.
I'd love that. My first visit to VG was in 2006 and my friend and stayed at Biras. The bill for a week was $10K, which was a lot of money back then, but you know what? We left there thinking that we got great value all the way around, especially the food. Would be great to see the place reopen.
During one of our first bareboat trips in the 90's we went to dinner at Biras Creek. It was a fabulous evening of food and wine. I was introduced to port that night which was served with cheese after dinner. To return to Biras Creek for dinner would be a dream come true. My husband dropped his credit card that night on the ferry back to Leverick Bay where we were on a ball. The ferry driver Bigshot returned it to us the next day. I often wonder about him. He was such an upbeat great guy!
In one of the dinghy poker runs I won a gift certificate to Biras and my wife and I invited Nick and Monica to join us...what an amazing evening..even with the certificate it was not cheap but very memorable.I'm not sure how much dinner with Nick and Monzie may have influenced that!!!!
I am all signed up as well. I was checking relatively frequently and this is the first time have seen even a landing page. So i am allowing myself to get a little excited.
"I just called the number on the web site and spoke to the owner Patrick Hauwer. He confirmed this is the plan. The restaurant should open in April and real estate will be launching 2025. "
Whoa.
Here is the link to the sushi restaurant - Ikigai.
A lot of the website is placeholder text at this time.
I took the initiative to call the number on the website last night, and actually made a dinner reservation for the sushi restaurant on April 21st at 8:00pm.
They said they plan to be open then, but did say the caveat that while they are shooting for this they will let us know if they are not able to be open in time
In one of the dinghy poker runs I won a gift certificate to Biras and my wife and I invited Nick and Monica to join us...what an amazing evening..even with the certificate it was not cheap but very memorable.I'm not sure how much dinner with Nick and Monzie may have influenced that!!!!
How special that must have been . We did something similar with them at oil nut bay with Chuck and Lynn. Will treasure those memories forever. Live every day and spend it even if it seems like too much. Tomorrow isn’t a guarantee.
Sadly my reservation did not happen. My wife had 3 friends visiting us and decided to go with the tried and trusted CocoMaya route rather spring a brand new (and untried) restaurant on them.
But yes, Biras new restaurant "Ikigai" is officially open! (at least partially).
Their 'terrace' menu is officially open, and the $200/head, 14 course, Omakase restaurant is supposed to open in the next 2 weeks.
I attached some photos and the daily terrace menu here from some friends who went 2 days ago
Finally made it over to Ikigai at Biras last night for the first time.
The experience was.... all right. We went for the terrace menu rather than the Omakase and while everything we got food wise was very good, it was incrediblyyyyyy expensive (even for the BVI)
$38 for a Spicy Tuna Roll (8 pieces, 7.3/10 rating) and $38 for a Panko Prawn Role (8 pieces, 8.1/10 rating).
The setting is small, but is nicely appointed and has a beautiful sunset view looking back over the Biras dock and the North Sound. With that being said, while you are in a nicely appointed area, immediately when you walk outside of this space, the rest of Biras is still an abandoned and hurricane damaged resort which gave it a bit of an odd feel.
Service from the wait staff left a lot to be desired, and the mosquitos were brutal.
And as a note, a friend did say the 12 course, $200/head Omakase experience was incredible. So I am sure I will go try that some point for a special occassion. With drinks and tip, they spent $650 as a couple for this experience.
For the Omakase the full group sits at the bar and the food is prepared in front of you. The terrace menu consists of couches (no tables) just outside the Omakase bar.
When I do go back for the Omakase experience, I will definitely go with a small group (4 max). Due to the layout of the bar a group any larger than that will result in you just not being able to talk to the rest of the group during dinner.
Overall, not rushing to go back for the terrace menu. On a windy night when the mossies calm down I would definitely go back for sunset cocktails. And for my next big celebration (birthday or similar) I will consider giving the Omakase a shot.
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