• Home
  • Cocktails
  • Culture
    • Dance
    • Opera
    • Theatre
    • Outdoor
    • London Sights
  • Featured
    • Books
    • Home Delivery
    • Recipe Kits
    • Giveaways
    • Homes and Gardens
  • Recipes
    • Meat
    • Soups
    • Lunch
    • Starters
    • Mains
    • Sides
    • Desserts
    • Cakes and Sweets
    • 5:2 Diet Recipes
    • Fish and Shellfish
    • Meat
    • Poultry
    • Vegetarian
  • Restaurants
    • Bloomsbury and Fitzrovia
    • Bermondsey, Borough and London Bridge
    • Chelsea
    • Camden
    • City of London
    • Clerkenwell
    • Covent Garden
    • Docklands
    • East London
    • Kings Cross
    • Knightsbridge
    • Kings Cross
    • Kensington
    • Marylebone
    • Mayfair
    • Oxford Circus
    • Oxford Circus
    • Paddington
    • St James
    • Soho
    • South Bank
    • South London
    • The Strand and Embankment
    • North London
    • Victoria and Pimlico
    • West London
    • Out of London
    • Miscellaneous
  • Travel UK
  • Travel Europe
    • Belgium
    • Croatia
    • Czech Republic
    • First Visit
      • Bulgaria
      • Netherlands
      • Poland
      • Romania
      • Slovenia
    • France
    • Germany
    • Greece
    • Italy
      • Sicily
    • Ireland
    • Portugal
    • Spain
    • UK
  • Travel Other
    • Caribbean Travel
      • Antigua
      • Barbados
      • Grenada
      • St Lucia
    • Ecuador
    • Egypt
    • India
    • Qatar
    • Mexico
    • Oman
    • Rodrigues and Mauritius
    • Sri Lanka
    • USA

London Unattached - Luxury London Lifestyle

Luxury London Lifestyle for Metropolitan Singles and Couples - food, travel, restaurant reviews - London Unattached

You are here: Home / Restaurant / Covent Garden / Relaunch Dinner at Asia de Cuba

Relaunch Dinner at Asia de Cuba

June 28, 2015 by Fiona Maclean 3 Comments

Tweet
Pin
Share
Flip
Share

Last Updated on December 12, 2016

Asia de Cuba at St Martins Lane:

No sooner had I been to the Allan Pickett residency at Sanderson Hotel than I was invited to another of the Morgans Hotel Group venues.  The restaurant at St Martins Lane, Asia de Cuba, gained popularity at the turn of the century when it was somewhere to see and be seen, in addition to offering a menu of fusion cuisine, at a time when many of London’s foodie community were still in nappies.  It was hip and trendy, though I only remember eating there once before, at a time when I was far too busy with whoever was the man of the moment to concentrate on the food. As the London food scene gained momentum, Asia de Cuba seemed to come to a standstill and by 2010 it had lost its cachet.  So, a relaunch with a new executive chef seems no bad thing.  The whole place has been refurbished, though if I’m honest, I can’t remember what it looked like last time either…just that the lobby is still much the same.

Asia de Cuba

The original concept hasn’t changed.  A fusion of Chinese and Cuban food, new executive chef Luis Pous seems particularly well placed to make the most of that concept.  Having grown up and trained in Cuba,  he has developed a menu that combines his own heritage with Jeffrey Chodorow’s vision for the original Asia de Cuba.  Home to one of Latin America’s oldest and largest Chinatowns, the political situation in Cuba resulted in a situation where the Chinese community became increasingly reliant on local ingredients.  Now,  of course, that is changing and Chef Pous has created dishes that leapfrog the last 50 years and make use of the full range of global ingredients.

Asia de Cuba - Grouper Ceviche

Ceviche is a fine way to start a meal and our two dishes, of red snapper ceviche with Thai chilli, red onion, coriander and plantain and of grouper ceviche with mojo Amarillo, sofrito crudo and radish both had that wonderful palate cleansing effect.  My favourite, the grouper ceviche which was just a little fresher and more citrusy.

Asia de Cuba - Red snapper Ceviche

Next a trio of dishes.  I’m not convinced I tried all three and I certainly didn’t take a photo of the crispy calamari with banana, chayote, cashews and orange sesame vinaigrette.   Since we’d arrived for dinner after an afternoon of food sampling at Taste of London, that may actually be just as well.  I do, however, remember the Tunapica Tartare, which looked like tacos filled with tuna tartare but were actually crispy wontons.  A great fusion dish, with Spanish olives, currents, toasted coconut, almond and avocado ceviche sounding like unlikely partners to the ultra-fresh tuna.

Asia de Cuba - Tunapica

Fire and ice shrimp was a deliciously messy bowl with watermelon, cucumber, cabbage, sesame and crispy wonton.  Asia de Cuba - Fire and ice shrimp

There’s a menu of small plates and sharing dishes, followed by ‘wok, plancha and salad’ options.  Everything is designed to share, everything has that ‘dive in now’ look.

Asia de Cuba- Seven Spice Half chicken

Main courses were all visually stunning.  I particularly liked the comforting dish of seven spice chicken and it would certainly be on my re-order list if I get the opportunity to return.

Asia de Cuba - Rocoto Glazed Black Cod 2

Rocoto glazed black cod with orange mojo and avocado poblano puree was an almost classic dish with the sourness of the orange mojo nicely offset by the spicy avocado chilli puree.

Asia de Cuba - Mini Mexican Doughnuts

By now I was quite full and didn’t actually try the veal vaca frita.  Probably a wise move since dessert was a dish of mini Mexican doughnuts with cinnamon sugar and butterscotch sauce.  Who could resist?

While on paper, the menu is not cheap, portion sizes are generous enough to make dining at Asia de Cuba a reasonable option.  The half chicken, at £25, would easily have served 3 people and, while the ceviches, priced between £12 and £16 are not cheap, they are genuinely large enough to share.  And, the location makes Asia de Cuba a perfect place to enjoy a bite to eat pre or post theatre without the mayhem and queues of Soho.

Asia de Cuba

St Martins Lane London
45 St. Martin’s Lane
London, WC2N 4HX
44 0 20 7300 5588

Filed Under: Covent Garden, Restaurant Tagged With: covent garden

About Fiona Maclean

London based freelance writer and marketing consultant. I edit London-Unattached.com and write for a number of other publications. With a music degree and a background in marketing across many sectors, my passions include all types of music, food, restaurants, wine and travel

Comments

  1. Stevie Wilson says

    June 29, 2015 at 12:20 am

    I think Asian Cuban fusion food sounds amazing and it looks even more fabulous!
    Dessert looks wonderful!

    Reply
  2. marie says

    June 28, 2015 at 8:55 pm

    wow ! what an incredible place 🙂

    Reply
  3. Sarah James says

    June 28, 2015 at 2:32 pm

    We ate there a few years back on a pre-theatre set menu, and found it a bit odd. Not the food, which was excellent, but the portion sizes. My starter was tiny, and Alex’s huge. The position then reversed for the main course. It meant that no matter how slowly you tried to eat, one of you was always finished long before the other!
    The food shown in your article looks gorgeous, so I re-visit from us may be in order!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Follow Us

  • Bloglovin
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • StumbleUpon
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter

About London-Unattached

  • Enquiries/PR
  • London Unattached Contributors
  • London Unattached Privacy Policy
  • Media Pack

London Unattached Newsletter

Sign up for our newsletter here. We promise not to spam - and you can unsubscribe at any time

Recently Published

  • Lotus Beauty – Hampstead Downstairs
  • Ivy Asia Magic of the Blossom Dragon Menu and Beyond
  • Bedford Lodge Hotel and Spa – Royal Afternoon Tea and More

The Frugal Flexitarian

Looking for more recipes? Check out our new site, The Frugal Flexitarian, for easy, cost effective recipes to enjoy at home.
Find My 5:2 Diet Recipes quickly and easily

Find Us

blogl
VuelioTop10Badge2020

Copyright © 2022 · Magazine Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in