LA HABANERA IS CUBAN-INSPIRED
At Union Avenue eatery, decor and ambience are what work best
By definition, Cuban cuisine is a mix of Native American Taino food with Spanish, African, and Caribbean influences. Cooking techniques and spices from the Spanish, African and Caribbean canon can be found in Cuban food, and in Havana, you may even stumble upon some Chinese-style dishes.
So instead of serving what could be considered authentic Cuban cuisine, restaurants like this week’s La Habanera have concocted a sort of fantasy, Cuban-inspired cuisine. Its menu features dishes with creole sauces and tamarind marinades, along with salads and ceviches.
There are rum-soaked shrimp, tacos and a Cuban sandwich made with pork, ham, smoked mustard and Swiss cheese. There’s also a large selection of cocktails including classics like the mojito and Cuba libre as well as newfangled concoctions like a Bloody Mary with lychee and a guava-flavoured piña colada. Everything on this menu reads fun, fruity and festive.
With just 25 seats, La Habanera is a small restaurant, but the buzz around its opening in late June was considerable as it’s the newest restaurant from the group behind Biiru izakaya and one of my favourites of 2016, the fabulous Mexican resto Escondite.
Located just a few doors from Escondite, La Habanera is equally ambience-driven, and the decor alone is worth a trip. With its patterned tile floor, photo-laden dusty pink walls, teal-coloured banquettes and neon signs (one that reads, “All you need is love & mojitos”), this room is like a movie set. I spent half my time admiring the colour and lighting schemes. All that’s missing is Papa Hemingway sucking back a daiquiri at the jewel box of a bar.
I myself enjoyed a mojito while perusing the menu on a recent Tuesday night. La Habanera has been hopping since it opened, so I waited a while before heading over, and when I arrived the room was half full. Yeah!
The mojito was fine, not the best I’ve ever had (which was in Cuba) but hardly the worst (which was also in Cuba). The classic Cuba libre is given a makeover here. Instead of rum and coke, the “Cuba libre 2.0” is made with spiced rum, coke, coffee and blackcurrant syrup, resulting in a sort of birthday-cake-like flavour.
And then there was the “Hemingway daiquiri.” Made with white rum, pink grapefruit juice, lime and Luxardo Maraschino liqueur, the drink sounded promising but turned out to be a little dull. Not sure old Hemingway would be happy to be named after such a lacklustre libation.
Turning to the food, the menu has definitely been built to please. The style is small plates, and portions are indeed small so you’ll want to order several per person. As with Escondite next door, everything reads so tempting. Yet unlike the fab dishes at Escondite, the food at La Habanera falls short.
The first dish to hit the table was “aguacate” (a.k.a. avocado), which was topped with bits of nougat, papaya, sorel leaves, cucumber and mojito vinaigrette. As interesting as it may sound, the majority of flavours were subtle, resulting in big mix of blah.
The pizza empanada didn’t fare much better. Served with a dipping sauce on the side, this close-to-empty empanada was about as exciting as a McCain’s pizza pocket. My spirits soared a little when the ceviche hit the table. Made with snapper (according to our waitress) the dish included orange segments, jalapeño peppers and melon balls (cantaloupe and honey). I liked the mix of ingredients and, boy, the presentation was pretty. But the whole thing lacked pizzazz — especially those off-season melons.
With the next round of dishes, we ordered another round of cocktails, this time from the “house” selection. There was that guava piña colada, which turned out to be candy sweet, and a mojito made with buckthorn berries that didn’t taste much of anything.
Then there was a third cocktail called the “Tout Inclu” (all included). Served in a glass rimmed with sesame seeds and coconut flakes, the “Tout Inclu” was made with coconut vodka, aloe vera, cucumber juice and lime. Crafting a killer cocktail is an art, but this drink tasted like something teenagers mix up with all the ends of the booze bottles ripped off from their parents’ liquor cabinet. I managed a whole two sips. Ugh.
As for the food, the misses continued with tamarind-marinated beef brochettes salty enough to make my eyes water. Then there were the “piña’ribs,” pork ribs flavoured with adobo and coated with a maple/basil/pineapple glaze whose cloying sweetness trounced any pork flavour.
By now you might be wondering, was anything good? Yes! Just when I was giving up on the place along came two seriously delicious plates, the first featuring those rum-soaked shrimp. Placed in small cups made out of plantains, the succulent shrimp were flavoured with coconut milk and a garlic-flavoured caramel. Garlic-flavoured caramel? OK. Wonderful!
And then there were the chicken tacos, filled with juicy shredded chicken, coleslaw, salsa verde and queso fresco cheese. Though I kept thinking this was a dish that belonged at Escondite next door, who cares? This was the last savoury dish of our meal, and, boy, did it end on a high note.
Unfortunately, I’d suggest you stop there because the two desserts on offer were a bust. First came an overcooked Nutella flan topped with a sheet of caramel as thick as a windshield, followed by a Tres Leches that tasted like stale cake soaked in a glass of milk.
By the end of the meal, it was pretty obvious that even though the restaurant has been open for five months, it still lacks confidence, not only from the kitchen, but the bar and service staff as well. However, considering how well things are going at the neighbouring Escondite, the owners will hopefully turn things around.
But I left La Habanera with much the same sentiment as when I departed Cuba on my last trip: What a terrific place! Too bad about the food.