The Adventure of the Cooked Flan
Pay
€€
Per Person
1/3 shared starter, main course, 2/3 shared dessert. €20-25
The staff are not keen on customers smoking on the terrace. Hurrah!
Basics
Location On FB
In Short
Hopes? A taste of the Malecon.
Reality? Delicious selection of cuban favourites.
First Impressions? A colourful corner bar with tables on the street.
A USP? Authentic cuban cuisine.
The food in three words? Try the flan.
Can they get the staff? Plenty of people on deck, more than happy to chat and help out.
Service with a smile? Possibly the friendliest service in town. Just get them talking!
Would you take your friends? Ablosutely. It's now on our visitor suggestions list.
Rating for a dating? For a lively experience, certainly an option.
Tip? Yep.
Change one thing? A touch of the chan-chans. Piped music? It's Cuban music. It's allowed.
Going back? Yes. No question.
In Pictures
On Google Images
In Depth
Go to Habana Blues. The food is authentic. The staff are delightful. Even the location, despite being next to a wide street, is pretty good.
There. Done. The end.
We like Cuban food. It's not rumbustious like the grilled meats from Jamaica. Not spicy or fiery like mexican sauces. It's a totally different alternative North American cuisine. Do anything you can to find a genuine Cuban restaurant. No chorizo in cider or spanish omelettes allowed. Accept no substitutes. Finding a decent Cuban restaurant in Madrid is like Christmas come early. Bottom line; HB ticks every box for us.
We kicked off with potatoes with red mojo. More canarian than cuban, yes, we'll accept that. But, read the next line, if you would.
Potatoes. With mojo.
That's right. Is anyone going to complain, ever? Well, we're not, not one jot. We go mojo. This is the oil rather than creamier style. An excellent way to kick off.
We went for three main courses, but excellently HB brought them out for us to share one at a time. A smart decision that helped us through all of them at a suitably cuban rhythm rather than potentially rushing. It also meant we managed two desserts when the time came. More on that later.
Main course time.
We'e not going to claim it's the prettiest presentation ever, but it does the job. Ropa vieja, white rice, fried plantain for a bit of sweetness. And a little flag! This is delicious. If you're not in the know, it's beef, cooked twice, the second time with a load of sauce peppers and fair swig of rum thrown in, normally. Worried about heat? Well, don't think scary spice. Stop right now, thank you very much. It's hearty, not hot. But a must try.
Next up. Little lamb, who made thee? The recently-joined chef, evidently. With some plantain crisps and dirty rice a accompaniments. Another first class dish, almost a curry-that's-not. Those chips add a nice crunch to something without a great deal of variety in textures. Another must try!
Third on our list was a roast pork dish with a great sweet onion and (we're assuming) rum gravy to sweeten it up. In Cuba this would come straight off the bone. Here it's more like a cold cut but with that sauce added - plus more of the dirty rice - it's another very good dish, shaded slightly by the lamb and Ropa. A bigger dose of the sauce would have been even better.
And so, how sweet is this? Will it be loved by you?
There's an ancient saying that circulates around the Worshipful Company of Restaurant Reviewers, which is also our Fourth Rule:
But we're going to single out the flan, here. It looks like yer typical creme caramelly thing, does it not? Pleasant enough but, in the end at least a smidge bland?
This is nothing like that. This isn't a pumpkin to give you nightmares. It's impressively creamy, almost like an ice-cream, but with the wobble of panna cotta. The taste is much more distinctive and moreish than any flan has a right to be. We're going for this on the h:m recommended list, not least because it's such a surprise. It's the kind of surprise that Michelin* places aim for, but it feels like granny might have made it in the shade of a mogote. We stuck to beers this evening, but cocktails are on offer too, naturally. We'll comment on them on a return visit.
Service here is second-to-none. There'll be handshakes and shoulder squeezes. You maight end up discussing the ins and outs of pumpkin growing or the entirely laudable preferences of the owners - no politics; no football; no smoking on the terrace. Service was leisurely, but things have sped up a little, with the numerous staff keeping a decent eye out for customers' needs too.
So HB. We think you should pencil in a visit. Sharpish. To be blunt, that's the point of this review.
Pay
€€
Per Person
1/3 shared starter, main course, 2/3 shared dessert. €20-25
The staff are not keen on customers smoking on the terrace. Hurrah!
Basics
Location On FB
In Short
Hopes? A taste of the Malecon.
Reality? Delicious selection of cuban favourites.
First Impressions? A colourful corner bar with tables on the street.
A USP? Authentic cuban cuisine.
The food in three words? Try the flan.
Can they get the staff? Plenty of people on deck, more than happy to chat and help out.
Service with a smile? Possibly the friendliest service in town. Just get them talking!
Would you take your friends? Ablosutely. It's now on our visitor suggestions list.
Rating for a dating? For a lively experience, certainly an option.
Tip? Yep.
Change one thing? A touch of the chan-chans. Piped music? It's Cuban music. It's allowed.
Going back? Yes. No question.
In Pictures
On Google Images
In Depth
Go to Habana Blues. The food is authentic. The staff are delightful. Even the location, despite being next to a wide street, is pretty good.
There. Done. The end.
We like Cuban food. It's not rumbustious like the grilled meats from Jamaica. Not spicy or fiery like mexican sauces. It's a totally different alternative North American cuisine. Do anything you can to find a genuine Cuban restaurant. No chorizo in cider or spanish omelettes allowed. Accept no substitutes. Finding a decent Cuban restaurant in Madrid is like Christmas come early. Bottom line; HB ticks every box for us.
We kicked off with potatoes with red mojo. More canarian than cuban, yes, we'll accept that. But, read the next line, if you would.
Potatoes. With mojo.
That's right. Is anyone going to complain, ever? Well, we're not, not one jot. We go mojo. This is the oil rather than creamier style. An excellent way to kick off.
We went for three main courses, but excellently HB brought them out for us to share one at a time. A smart decision that helped us through all of them at a suitably cuban rhythm rather than potentially rushing. It also meant we managed two desserts when the time came. More on that later.
Main course time.
Third on our list was a roast pork dish with a great sweet onion and (we're assuming) rum gravy to sweeten it up. In Cuba this would come straight off the bone. Here it's more like a cold cut but with that sauce added - plus more of the dirty rice - it's another very good dish, shaded slightly by the lamb and Ropa. A bigger dose of the sauce would have been even better.
And so, how sweet is this? Will it be loved by you?
Never truly judge a restaurant, till you've tried its dessertsAnd HB is scores well. A pumpkin flan and a tropically fruited pudding! were both very, very good. The pudding's homemade and has a nice acidy fruti layer at the top, but could do without that cream
But we're going to single out the flan, here. It looks like yer typical creme caramelly thing, does it not? Pleasant enough but, in the end at least a smidge bland?
This is nothing like that. This isn't a pumpkin to give you nightmares. It's impressively creamy, almost like an ice-cream, but with the wobble of panna cotta. The taste is much more distinctive and moreish than any flan has a right to be. We're going for this on the h:m recommended list, not least because it's such a surprise. It's the kind of surprise that Michelin* places aim for, but it feels like granny might have made it in the shade of a mogote. We stuck to beers this evening, but cocktails are on offer too, naturally. We'll comment on them on a return visit.
Service here is second-to-none. There'll be handshakes and shoulder squeezes. You maight end up discussing the ins and outs of pumpkin growing or the entirely laudable preferences of the owners - no politics; no football; no smoking on the terrace. Service was leisurely, but things have sped up a little, with the numerous staff keeping a decent eye out for customers' needs too.
So HB. We think you should pencil in a visit. Sharpish. To be blunt, that's the point of this review.