As reported earlier, Bondi’s Bucket List is setting up camp in Bali. The much revered hospitality experts tomorrow welcome Tropicola to Seminyak’s shores, on the district’s ‘golden mile’. While we’ve long known of the impending addition to the Bali beach club scene, it’s only now that we are catching a glimpse of it in its finished form ahead of its debut.

Inspired by Slim Arrons and Acapulco in equal parts, Tropicola is an Instagram-friendly venue laden in vibrant colours and quirky shapes. The venue itself has proclaimed it is an 80’s leaning pool club, complete with the clean lines and bright colours of the decade, accessorised with cascading plants and an amphitheater shaped towards the beach. Tropicola Beach Club comes equipped with three separate bars sprawled across multiple levels, and surrounding two pools. Being open daily from 11am till midnight means that there is plenty of drinking, dancing, and eating to be had.

The team enlisted James Brown to take care of the venue’s design. With experience designing Bondi’s Bucket List, as well as Adelaide’s Africola and Bali’s Motel Mexicola, Brown had a clear vision for Tropicola from the start. As creative director, his ‘a paradise by the sea’ is a multi-level space overrun with vibrant colours and bougainvillea both, where drinking poolside on one of Tropicola’s many daybeds is encouraged.

Denny Deluca Del Paso has taken care of the elaborate drinks list at Tropicola, inspired by his travels and experience. “The challenge to create a cocktail list for Tropicola was to have something in each drink that would make people curious. The drinks at Tropicola are fruity, refreshing and colourful. I’ve got to play with ingredients that are only available in Indonesia. All these spices, herbs and fruits provided a huge opportunity to get creative and come up with local twists on the modern classic,” says the award-winning bartender. The stand-out drink is the Tropicolada, which uses jackfruit instead of pineapple, and the Arak N Roll, a take on the espresso martini that utilises Bali Arak (infused with coffee beans and mandarin peels) instead of traditional vodka. “If you ever watched Cocktail, the movie with Tom Cruise…that’s how I feel. Mixing drinks at Tropicola on the beach in Bali…A bartender couldn’t dream of anything better.”

Tropicola’s open kitchen is focused around wood-fired cooking. British-born chef Steve Skelly, responsible for the award-winning food at Mexicola, Da Maria and Luigi’s Hot Pizza is again in charge of the edible offerings. Skelly has utilised his experience of the island and its produce to cover everything desired by the Bali visitor. “The menu is full of fresh seafood, grilled meats and simply handled vegetables. Nothing too heavy or overdone, just great produce handled simply in an environment purpose built for lounging and grazing day and night,” he says. Fresh and tropically-focused is the resulting menu, where raw salmon salad, and tuna tartare mingle with a new take on the prawn cocktail. Of course there are also heartier offerings available, from a 3 Cut Burger to an Al Pastor Pork Taco, and a gourmet take on the hot dog. It’s poolside dining made indulgent. Of course there’s also a wood-fired grill. Guests can share fresh grilled prawns with chilli and herb dressing, or a selection of wood-grilled whole market fish or lobster with parsley and lemon. Finish off your feast with a banana split paired with milk chocolate ice cream, toasted peanut praline, whipped cream and toffee sauce.

As a beach club, Tropicola is obviously also passionate about creating a party. Juan Ego from the Yutacan peninsula in Mexico has been flown in to take care of the music. “I first met Juan at the Hotel Deseo and Hotel Basico in Playa Del Carmen playing private parties for the New York jet set in the early 90’s,” says Tropicola partner Nicolaza Que Pasa. “We are close friends and I’ve seen him play NYC clubs, tour on the Big Day Out as the after-party DJ for all the big acts and play sunset after sunset in Tulum for many years. I’m so excited he accepted my invitation to move to Bali and make this island his new home. I can only describe his music as the sound of paradise. No house, left of field tropicalia and 100% fun!”

The beach club, restaurant, rooftop bar and hotel has been years in the making. Stage one will see the beach club open this month, with stages two and three to roll out in years to come. You can expect a 60-seat restaurant from chef Steve Skely, accompanied by a rooftop bar and event space. Completing the development will be a 60-room hotel focused on affordable luxury, with room rates sitting around $100 per night.

Tropicola, Jalan Pantai, Batu Belig, Bali; tropicola.info.