I THINK that I should be hired out at a vast fee to drought-ridden countries to do rain dancing for them. No sooner had I written last week's begging for an end to our dearth of precipitation, done some wild waving of the arms and a bit of chanting to the skies when the heavens literally opened and down it poured. I was pretty impressed with myself and at long last have managed to do some laundry with whatever rain we have managed to catch. A relief I am sure for those who have to socialise with me!

I have been watching the re-construction of the new Grape Bay Hotel (formerly White Sands) with great interest over the last few months as this particular property is encompassed in my daily walking routine. I was most interested to note that the concession of the restaurant has been given to the owners of Primavera and goes under the name of Sapori (which means flavours of the world).

These worldly flavours the brochure states include pasta, pizza, Thai, Sushi and great Bermudian dishes. (I didn't know that there were any apart from you know what!) Wonderful, I thought this sounds most encouraging; maybe this can become my new neighbourhood hang-out because there really isn't anything much in Paget apart from the countless eateries at Elbow Beach which - let's face it - most of us can't afford to hang out at on a regular basis.

I am always jealous of those of you who live in Hamilton Parish or its environs and have Rustico on your doorstep (as it turns out quite a few of the waiting staff and chefs at Sapori do in fact come from Rustico, as it is all part of the same ownership which was rather a good omen I thought).

I called up to book a table and spoke to Jon Pedro the manager. He slightly put me off by calling me 'Hun'. I have to admit to having a little bit of an aversion to being called "Hun". He said that it was "OK Hun", "not a problem Hun" etc. Never mind, I thought, don't get the hackles up just yet; he's just trying to be nice (he turned out to be extremely nice in person!)

Upon arrival we were greeted by Adelio (one of the owners) and my title "Hun" was replaced by "se?ora". "Please come this way se?ora, would you like something to drink se?ora and these are our specials of the day se?ora". It's OK to be a se?ora if you happen to be in Madrid or Tuscany, perhaps, but when you are a Bermudian female and loitering in the depths of Paget, it is maybe just a wee bit out of place.

Adelio then let our delightful waiter take over, who subsequently insisted upon calling me what I thought sounded like "Mum". I didn't recognize him as one of my offspring and, as far as I can remember, have never wittingly had a liaison with anyone from Asia (although who knows what really happened in those heady days of the '60s and early '70s?)

After "Mum" had taken several wedges of absolutely delicious, crispy Italian bread and accepted the proffered glass of water, she realised that maybe "Mum" was in fact "m'am" but with a slightly different pronunciation - I don't know, maybe it's just because I have a nice, homely face. Whatever, it doesn't matter they were all pleasant, extremely polite people and I am now prepared to answer to just about anything.

OK, on to the matter at hand which has nothing to do with what people like calling me but the serious business of the intrinsic worthiness of Sapori.

First, they have done a brilliant job of renovating the poolside area of the old White Sands, which is where the restaurant is located and just a stone's throw from the lapping waters of Grape Bay. My only complaint about this whole scenario was the lighting, which I am sure will be sorted out before too long. I couldn't see a thing on the menu and had to be given a torch, which made me feel more like Grannie than Mum.

I also feel that a bit more "up lighting" on the surrounding trees would be most beneficial. Apart from that the setting is really lovely and atmospheric. I'm not so sure about the indoor restaurant bit, though. I liked the fact that you could see the sushi chefs doing their thing and all the other cooks going about the preparation of your dinner. That was all good. The d?cor, however, didn't get me going in the slightest. In fact it reminded me slightly of the coffee shop at the hospital (or any hospital, for that matter).

I know that they have only just opened so maybe they'll put some potted palms or something in there to jazz it up a bit. I just couldn't imagine sitting in there in the winter months on a cold blustery evening and feeling particularly cosy, if you know what I mean. The menu is good and did have a lot of Thai dishes (although they were outnumbered by Italian). It also has a very superior sushi menu that was most impressive and by the looks of our next-door table diners (who were knocking them back at a vast rate of knots) were obviously extremely good.

They have four thin crust pizzas on the menu that looked to be similar to the ones served at Rustico and, if they are, then no doubt they will also be superb. They are a bit designery, you know ,with arugula and roasted artichokes, basil etc. the ones that we love and the kids hate (but you can create your own toppings to avoid your little ones chucking them over the side!)

Guess what the Bermudian dishes were? Yes, you got it in one the ever-popular Fish Chowder. There was also fresh Bermuda fish, which was de-Bermudianised by being served with a Wasabi sauce, but I'm sure very good nonetheless.

I started with Chinese style sweet and sour shrimp and scallops, which were very tasty. Although I thought the sauce delicious I did think that it was a tad too heavy for seafood and could more appropriately have been served with meat. Having said that, there wasn't a morsel left on my plate and so perhaps I'm just being overly critical.

I followed this with some very succulent, plump garlicky mussels that were heavenly although would have benefited from more sauce, as there wasn't enough for dunking purposes. The girlies all had Pad Thai (traditional Thai rice noodles cooked with tiger shrimp, peanuts, bean sprouts and tamarind sauce) and they proclaimed this dish to be absolutely divine.

Now, thecame after dinner. It appeared in the unlikely form of Bernard. the sushi chef (see photograph above). Having finished preparing sushi for the evening Bernard's next job was to massage the necks and backs of the remaining guests who were by now sipping at their after dinner drinks. This is a definite first for me and an even better experience than many after dinner drinks!

Oh my God! He was absolutely phenomenal, those strong, little sushi fingers of his got right into every nook and cranny of my aching upper torso. I was in pure and utter heaven.

Bernard did the rounds and everyone was moaning and groaning with pleasure and begging him not to stop as he moved onto the next person. I would have paid anything to have had him continue for just a few minutes more but that was not to be. I was putty in his hands and could easily have had my first Asian liaison and given birth to a waiter but luckily for Bernard he had the savvy to move on! I don't know whether this massage after dinner was a one-off or whether it is done on a regular basis. If it is the former I think that they should definitely make it part of the service as it is in my mind a brilliant concept don't you think?

All in all we had a very enjoyable evening at Sapori. Unfortunately there were only three of us having dinner so I didn't manage to get a full tasting of the menu. What we had was good although I don't think that there is going to be anything that is going to blow your socks off apart from probably the sushi and its creator Bernard.

I suggest that you go and check it out especially while the evenings are so balmy and the sky iridescent with the gorgeous August moon and Mars in all its glory. You will have a very pleasant dinner being served by amiable, attentive waiting staff in most conducive surroundings.

I had dinner at Shelly's the other evening and she served this potato salad which was really, really good and makes a great change from the norm - give it a try.

2 bunches of watercress or arugula or baby spinach leaves, 4 medium sized potatoes, olive oil for brushing, salt and fresh black pepper, 1/2 cup of Gorgonzola or any good pungent melting cheese, grated, chopped garlic chives for garnish Dressing - 1/2 red onion very finely diced, 1 tablespoon grainy mustard, 3/4 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1 garlic clove minced, salt and black pepper and a pinch of sugar

Firstly boil the potatoes whole until just done. When cool enough to handle slice into 1/4 inch slices, brush with olive oil, salt and pepper. Grill on a barbecue or ridged pan until grill lines appear and they are nice and golden on both sides. Put whatever green leaves that you are using in the bottom of a salad bowl, lay the hot potatoes on top and sprinkle over the cheese. Mix all the dressing ingredients together and pour over the potatoes and sprinkle over the chives. You may not want to use all the dressing.