Sharing Food with Friends at Asia de Cuba in London

One of London’s most popular restaurants is Asia de Cuba.  So I’m very thrilled to give you my personal review of this hot spot. The restaurant is located in the fabulous five star hotel St Martin’s Lane. I wrote a blog post about the hotel a few weeks ago. After exploring the hotel, my friends and I had dinner at this international renowned top restaurant, famous for its cuisine but also for its design. The interior is an interesting blend of sophistication with a living room atmosphere.  Thick pillars are covered in black and white portraits of Asians and Cubans.  Others are boasting with books. Pops of green and a great amount of plants give the space a fresh and airy feel. When entering the restaurant you’ll notice the rum bar with the “mushroom” field as they call it: small heated standing tables, large enough to put your rum on to keep it on temperature.  It is said to hold the largest selection of “sipping” rum in London.

Dinner at Asia de Cuba guarantees a dazzling experience. The food is just sublime! Asian and Cuban flavours are combined into tasty meals, which are served in a sharing style manner. The service is impeccable, with high energy employees who go the extra mile to make you feel comfortable. They guide you through the extensive menu, give recommendations, and alter the menu to your preferences if needed. Since we were with a large group, we got to taste a lot of different dishes.

We started with ceviches which are seasoned cold raw fish platters with additional herbs and vegetables :

• Grouper, seville orange and aji amarillo – yuzu and horseradish, Thai basil and toasted sesame
• Prawn, snapper and confit watermelon with red chili, garlic, jalepeno and shaved coconut
• Scottish salmon and salted avocado helado with spicy coconut milk and bird’s eye pepper
• tuna pica – a tuna tartare picadillio style on crispy wontons with black currants, almonds and coconut with soy-lime vinaigrette

…as a side dish we had plantain threads. The ceviches were fresh yet spicy, and personally I found the flavours more Asian than Cuban.

Next came the starters:

• pan seared jumbo sea scallops with sweet-sour plantains and corn crema
• Thai beef salad made of spicy seared carpaccio of beef tenderloin, avocado, shredded coconut, orange segments and Asian greens.
• An Asian noodle box consisting of 3 things: Cuban vegetables and mushrooms, chili hoisin broth, and rice noodle wrapper

Scallops are my favourite so you can’t go wrong there, and I love plantain. The Thai beef salad was also very tasty, combining different textures and flavours that complement each other perfectly.

Asia de Cuba also has a fabulous range of cocktails to get into that Cuban vibe. I tried the Triple berry mojito while my other friends indulged in a classic mojito.

As a main we shared:

• Scottish salmon en papel baked in paper with hearts of palm, maitake mushrooms, ginger and scallions
• Cuban BBQ chicken with an avocado cilantro fruit salsa and tamarind sauce, with Thai coconut sticky rice in a banana leaf
• marinated crispy tofu with peanut soy sauce and sour mango sauce

Say BBQ chicken and I’m sold. I’m also a big fan of tofu so I had seconds of that. After all of the above delicacies I didn’t have room for dessert but not to worry, I’ll go back! Asia de Cuba is a must-go on anyone’s trip to London. It is an experience to all your senses and you don’t want to miss that, believe me!

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