I was without my camera, so these were phone shots and difficult to get. The venue was dark to appeal to the evening trade.
We sat at the 'tapas bar' in the middle of the restaurant, seated near to the kitchen. It's one of those great places where you can see the chefs at work and everything looks clean and fresh.
As you enter The Cuban, this bar is on your right - the bartenders there do the mixing of the cocktails and they were super busy all evening. As we arrived, desperately hungry after we weren't fed at Showcase, we were treated to some fantastic service. The waitress quickly located us a space, despite the amount of people that were there and she did really well to keep us cocktailed up. I was impressed.
What I particularly liked about the Cuban is that they'll take some ideas from you and go and give it a go. So, I was told to share what my favourite flavour was for a mojito and this appeared: -
This almond mojito was so amazing that I ordered a second. As I did so, the manager took the opportunity to speak to us - he was clearly speaking to a few different people and talking about the concept. He shared some wild truffle honey with us which was incredibly tasty - and I'm not a honey fan at all. It was clear that he was proud of the decor and his work and this was well deserved. I think he should also be pleased with his staff - they all worked incredibly hard. It's also worth noting that this was only the fourth night open. Given this, it's stunning just how well they were doing.
...and so to the food. We had already had a large meal at lunch so we were only looking for something small. Here's what we shared - flatbread and dips, a portion of shoestring fries and some garlic mushrooms (well... I might have had the mushrooms all to myself...)
My only criticism would be that they were all out of houmous for the flatbreads and that wasn't something we were aware of until we asked for it - £4 for some flatbread with a small pot of an unexplained white dip (I think sour cream?) wasn't quite right. When we queried it, we got the little pots of salsa and guacamole you see. A bit better but not quite what's on the menu (olive oil? balsamic?).
A small complaint in a mostly positive experience however.
Otherwise, the food was all as you'd expect for what was provided. The garlic mushrooms were my highlight, the right level of garlicky and not too oily.
We'll go back, maybe with D in tow, at some point. I'd like to have a go at a little more of their menu and see what else they can offer.
The Cuban, can be found in Unit 2, Building 11 of Harbourside. I think they might be where Hooters used to be but I can't swear to it. Check it out. If enough people order an almond mojito, I'm SURE they'll name it after me.
(Not a sponsored post.)
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