As many places shutter for the winter, San Lorenzo’s Casa Lhasa is firmly in its flow, with a cool-season schedule that offers a low-key, upbeat alternative that’s jam-packed with winter fun. Maven loves the rotating chef edit, with Jamaican, Thai and Senegalese (who knew?) cuisine all on the upcoming cards. Sundays remain the go-to for Ibiza’s fun-loving international set, who descend en masse for sun-soaked Sunday roasts, low-intervention wines and al fresco DJ sets from music maestro (and yoga guru) Carl Faure. But it’s been a leap of faith for founders Cassady Sniatowsky and Ben Shpunt, who had to deal with a global pandemic and a shut-down Ibiza during the inception of the business. So just how did a Canadian sommelier and an Israeli bartender end up with a natural wine bar in the Balearics? ‘Ben and I actually met in Bar Brutal in Barcelona’, explains Cassady. ‘It's a famous natural wine bar and Ben happened to be working there when my friend from Canada was the manager.’ The two hit it off and when the pandemic struck, Ben reached out. ‘Ben basically got in touch and said, I see you're working on a wine bar in Ibiza. Do you need some help? He came to Ibiza for a few months in the summer of 2020 while he wasn’t working. He really helped me with the concept, helped me set the bar up, did the first service. We clicked right away, and the next summer he came back to join the project.’