Cuba Norte

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• What are these?

• Average price 2 courses:
   £9.50 (lunch)
   £16.50 (evening meal)
• House wine: £11.75 per bottle

• High point: Lively atmosphere; something different
• Low point: Vegetarians lose out
• Food served: Mon-Sat noon-10pm; Sun 12.30-10pm
• Bar open: Mon-Sat noon-10pm; Sun 12.30-10pm
• Private dining: Up to 60 covers
• Open since: 1998
• Also offers: Wheelchair access

The List's Eating & Drinking Guide 2008 is now in the shops.

This review is from the 2007 edition.

Despite its inauspicious surroundings and out-of-the-way location on Morrison Street, Cuba Norte offers a lively alternative to the West End's typical dining and after-work drinks venues. A sleek, open bar stretches into a more relaxed bistro-style area and then upstairs into the cushy Latino-style restaurant overlooking the dance floor, where salsa lessons are held most nights. Food from the tapas and à la carte menus can be eaten in either dining area, but to properly soak up the atmosphere, it's best to reserve a restaurant table and peek through the iron balustrade as the salsa teacher exorts his class to 'feeeeel the rhythm'. A revamped evening menu lavishes fish and meat-eaters with attention, but vegetarians will struggle, as will those without a cast-iron stomach - main meals in particular are rich and generously-portioned. Starters include delicately-smoked fish-cakes and plump coconut and chilli-battered prawns, and, to follow, choose from traditional Cuban and Spanish mains with a twist, such as BBQ duck and chorizo enchilada, or slow-cooked lamb shanks in a roast pepper, aubergine and chorizo sauce. If you plan on braving the dancefloor, forego dessert (although the chocolate and pistachio terrine with orange sorbet is hard to resist) and instead sup on a glass of the velvety, reasonably-priced house red.