With locations in the City and Clapham, this popular haunt makes its way onto the Camden scene with some force.

The Venue
The Cuban is located in Camden’s Stables Market. The interior is earthy and quite rustic with lots of Cuban touches combined with what can only be described as a modern urban and industrial look with exposed brickwork and open spaces. The bar stretches out onto the back with an attractive outside section with the usual comfortable wooden fittings.

The Atmosphere
If you brave the crowds go early as this place does tend to fill up post 10pm where the glamourous and not so glam come out to play. Once inside the young crowd bops to the beat with a wide range of eclectic music from Latin America one minute to funky house the next. One word of warning though is to come in as little clothes as possible as this bar lacks air conditioning. So if you want to come off looking half respectable then t shirts and thin cotton are the way to go.

The Food
Cuban cooking is the order of the day with influences that are taken from Spain, France and Portugual. The cuisine is a blend of classic and modern Cuban food, with a variety of herbs and spices from many other cuisines. There’s a wide variety of tapas, grills, seafood and vegetarian dishes on offer. Try the tapas range with three dishes for around £12. The manuka honey and lime prawns are fresh and fleshy, covered in a sticky honey and zesty lime sauce and finished with a tangy sour cream. The stuffed sweet chilli is a powerful dish, stuffed with a salty mix of feta cheese, herbs and rock salt, although it’s a bit saltier than necessary.

The black bean wrap is a mouthwatering offering of black beans, red onion, roasted peppers and a sweet tomato chutney finished with cheese and wrapped in a flour tortilla. The vegetables are an ideal accompaniment for the beans and the chutney enhances the rest of the flavours. For dessert choose the Pudin De Pan at around £5, a classic homemade bread pudding which comes with a spicy cinnamon cream. The apple and cinnamon crumble is a good combination of rich flavours and smooth pastry.

The Drink
There is an impressive list of Champagne cocktails, rum cocktails and other classics. Some notable favourites include the Cuba Libre, a mix of coke, rum and lime, and El Presidente, a blend of Havana Club Anejo Especial, sweet and dry vermouth, triple sec and maraschino liqueur.

The classics feature everything on the board from Moscow Mules to Margaritas while some of their signature drinks feature a full bodied and fragrant Wild Orchid cocktail, with Absolut Citron Vodka, pear puree, elderflower syrup, ginger and lemongrass syrup, fresh lemon juice and fresh lemongrass to round off a particularly fragrant mixture. Also worth mentioning is the Sake Toomi with fresh white seedless grapes muddled together with Wyborowa Apple Vodka, sake, elderflower syrup, fresh lemon juice, a puree of peaches and Limoncello. The fruit combines well with the grapes to dilute the vodka to give a much lighter finish on the palette.

The Last Word
The Cuban is a decent place to come and soak up the Latin American spirit, but beware because it can get quite crowded.

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