When first-time visitors leave the Island they take with them a host of impressions, of which at least one stands out above all the others.

For former British journalist Sophie Murray it was the Dark 'n' Stormies, which became synonymous in her mind with the sea and sand. In fact, she loved the concoction so much that when she and her mother, Jane Wood, decided to open a restaurant in Littlehampton, on England's south coast, she was determined to have Bermuda's unofficial 'national drink' on the menu.

Speaking from her sun-splashed East Beach Café last week, Miss Murray said the drink has been going down a treat with staff and customers alike, and she remains an enthusiastic partaker herself.

"It is a very tasty drink, and people like it very much," she says. "It takes a bit of explaining because it is not something anyone here has seen on a menu, but it is a very exciting drink and looks lovely with this little cloud of black rum on the top. We serve it with a squeeze of lime juice and a slice of lime, and people really appreciate it."

Thanks to a specialist spirit supplier in the area, Miss Murray uses the all-important Gosling's black rum, which she knows is key, but in the absence of Bermuda ginger beer she is using a product called 'Old Jamaican' ginger beer, about which she has some reservations.

"It seems to me to have a slightly spicy flavour, so I am wondering about ginger ale. What is the difference between that and ginger beer? Perhaps your readers could give me some feedback."

Miss Murray's desire to get Bermuda's popular tipple just right is not simply that of a visitor trying to recapture fond memories, but because the revolutionary design of her new restaurant has created a sensation in the British Press. As a result, it has been enjoying great success, with people undertaking long journeys specifically to see it and enjoy the hospitality — something which might also generate more visitors to the Island, given the combination of Miss Murray's enthusiasm for the place she calls "paradisiacal", and a couple of Dark 'n' Stormies.

In fact, the former journalist, who worked on The Sunday Telegraph's Lifestyle section, covering food, drink, design and interiors, became a huge fan of Bermuda's beachside restaurants during her visit, and was particularly inspired by Mickey's when planning the ambiance of her own establishment.

"It was a fantastic location with a great, easy menu," she says. "The idea was a very relaxed place to eat."

As passionate about good design as they are about good food, when the mother-daughter team learned that owners of the former fast-food hut which previously stood on the site had planning permission to turn it into a 100-seat burger bar they were horrified and moved swiftly to buy the property.

Yards from the sandy beach, with no other buildings near it, the location offered the perfect opportunity to combine their twin passions.

"Our family background is very much in architecture, and we all believe in the importance of high quality architecture in every environment, as well as the power of architecture to regenerate and improve the quality of people's lives. Something that is of a high aesthetic quality brings immeasurable pleasure and enjoyment," Miss Murray says.

Inspired by a piece of driftwood, 35-year-old Thomas Heatherwick, who is not an architect but a very successful sculptor and designer, came up with a building — his first — that is dramatically different, and in sharp contrast to the whitewashed, seaside aesthetic buildings across the road.

The café's rusted and weatherworn exterior resembles something washed up in the flotsam and jetsam on the shore. The strongly organic, undulating outline is completely glass-fronted to give diners and the busy staff in the state-of-the-art kitchen uninterrupted views of the beach and sea, while the curved interior walls echo the waves of the sea.

The restaurant is open year-round — every day for lunch, and six nights a week for dinner. The menu offers traditional British seaside fare, as well as what Miss Murray describes as "the best of what you remember from your holidays".

*Miss Murray's e-mail address is sophie@eastbeachcafe.co.uk