Revolucion de Cuba,
25-39 Arthur Street,
Belfast,
BT1 4CQ
028 95909249
www.revoluciondecuba.com
AS YOU ascend the four flights of stairs to the toilets in Revolucion de Cuba in Belfast city centre, it feels like someone is watching you. And not just anyone, it’s the poster boy of that revolucion – Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara himself, looking down in that familiar image beloved of student house walls and T-shirts and, most recently, stamps down south.
And why wouldn’t he be everywhere in the cavernous bar/‘Latin inspired cantina’ Nothing says worldwide Marxist revolution like cheeseburger taco Tuesdays and £8.25 for a rum and Coke in a chain restaurant? But this is a place where people can call their son Che and tell you it's pronounced 'Shea', so we're in no position to judge.
The 19th century listed building, which housed Café Vaudeville in its most recent incarnation, is beautiful, reaching up two stories to the ornate ceiling, passing by suitably on-theme fans and other decoration to ram home the (decidedly pre-revolution) Cuban vibe. Helpfully, a guitarist’s vaguely Hispanic strumming includes the theme from Titanic – just in case you forget you're in Belfast.
It feels like a big, shiny, hip bar that happens to serve a bit of food – and the fact the cocktail selection is the heftiest menu they have only emphasises this.
Those cocktails – served in jars and plastic pineapples and possibly shoes and traffic cones – are clearly the main attraction in the busy bar on a Sunday afternoon. It's no wonder when it's two for one on them all day, which makes the nearly nine quid gin and tonic much easier to swallow.
Two of the more restrained offering – in glasses! – the classic mojito and the caipirinha, are excellent, with the spirits in each – rum and cachaca – not lost among the other bits and bobs.
“Cuban food is a melting pot of flavours from Spain, Mexico and South America,” says the website, and as partially true as that may be, the menu at Revolucion de Cuba is about as Cuban as I am – burritos and burgers, a Caribbean curry, pulled pork, but mainly tapas.
Authenticity be damned, because, smack my backside and call me Chemus – it's good.
The Cuban Hot Burger (there’s you-can-only-make-it-in Spain manchego on it), cooked just pink and drippingly juicy, holds up against the smack of jalapeño.
Thankfully the Cuban Fries are again ‘Cuban’ because there's a manchego sauce on them but a cheesy chip is a cheesy chip in anyone's language and this is a good one.
The hake that comes in a banana leaf is perfectly cooked, opaque in the middle and tinged with spice and smoke and lime, although the rice it’s sitting on could do with a lot less salt.
Three tapas shared between two – as recommended on the menu – made for a generous starter, and at three for £14 a good value one too.
Halloumi – no dressing that up as authentic – came charred with chunks of butternut squash and courgette in a chilli jam and was fine but the calamari and the pork belly were textbook examples of both.
The squid was shimmering as it hit the table and wasn't allowed to even think about getting cold. Welcomingly heavy on the tentacles, the whole plate was gone in a fog of crunch and a complete absence of chew, the garlic mayonnaise it came with not needed but good all the same.
The textural combination of crisp and give in the pork belly was just as good, the sweet flavour helped along by a sticky rum sauce.
So often these sorts of things fall apart the way they're supposed to but don't provide the contrasting crack around the edges you need. Not here.
The only problem with the coconut ice cream and grilled pineapple is that it came in a coffee cup far too small for it. Please note: bowls are not a capitalist plot.
It wasn't too sweet, which is just as well as the churros were sweet enough for everything.
Like the squid, they came out sizzling and demanding to be disposed of immediately. Some swift dips into the chocolate and caramel rum sauces and that's what happened. Then some of the sauce ended up over that ice cream. Don’t judge. It’s what’s Che would have wanted.
THE BILL
Tapas x3 £14
Cuban hot burger with Cuban Fries £12.50
Baked fish £12.50
Coconut ice cream £4
Churros £4.50
Cocktails x2 £7.75
Total £55.25
