Pauline insists that a birthday should be celebrated so here I was. I didn’t want anything too elaborate and was quite happy to have a simply quiet meal. In fact we were going to just go for simple Tapas for a Tenner at La Tasca but Pauline spotted a deal from top table of £25 for any Bento Box plus a Mojito at Asia de Cuba, which is on my list, so it didn’t take much to change our plans.

Asia de Cuba is located in the very chic St Martins Lane Hotel. Walking into the lobby of the hotel you’re met with a row of golden seats shaped like teeth, a giant flower vase, giant chess pieces, candles, garden gnomes dressing chairs … all very funky though almost seeming to try a little too hard.

We headed towards what we thought was the restaurant only to find it was actually The Light Bar. A little research has revealed that The Light Bar is apparently open only to Members and Residents or by Guest List reservation. It was admittedly a nice space but I really can’t get too excited about bars which are exclusive just for the sake of exclusivity.

So, the restaurant was just next door anyway. The restaurant was also quite funkily decorated. It was all mainly white space with giant fat poles scattered throughout the room which themselves were decorated with pot plants, books, pictures, and decorated as a couch/padded wall. Not sure if it had to do with the time of day but it was also very brightly lit which is welcoming after dining at many “mood” lit dimly lit restaurants.

To start with our waiter was very good – he was friendly and seemed efficient. But after he brought us our mojitos (which he quickly went to retrieve not long after we sat down) we didn’t really see him much after that. Maybe it was meant to be subtle servicing – available when you want them but not intrusive.

The dishes at Asia de Cuba are a mixture of Asia and Latin cultures … hence the name. Looking at the menu it seems to be Asian ingredients with a Cuban spin. I’ve not come to Asia de Cuba yet due to the prices – starters seeming to average around £20 and mains £30+. However, apparently the main dishes are intended for sharing and are very generous in size so that goes some way to explaining the hefty prices. Still I was glad we had our Bento Boxes which, when we decided to get three different boxes, allowed us to sample at least twelve dishes from the main menu (not to mention getting a free mojito with it – these were very strong!) In fact the Bento Boxes are available as a pre-theatre option should you feel up to it.

We all started off with a miso soup which was surprisingly tasty and filled with quite a few ingredients including enoki mushroom. Normally I wait until the soy has settled in my miso soup before drinking just the clear stuff but this one I drank completely. Our Bento Boxes arrived even before we’d finished our soups. They all looked really good:

Asia de Cuba Signature Bento Box	Seafood Bento Box	Carib Bento Box

So what exactly do you get in the boxes?

It was all very delicious and great attention to detail had been paid to the little things. I can’t even say what was my favourite dish – probably the Calamari Salad, or Oxtail Spring Rolls, or Seared Spice Tuna. We were all very full after eating but that didn’t stop us sharing a dessert – we had to go the Mexican donuts with butterscotch sauce. In a word – divine. Would have licked the plate if we hadn’t been sharing! 🙂

For all the feeling of chic the restaurant is actually pretty chilled and relaxed so you will definitely have a good time here at the restaurant. The food is great but the prices a little prohibitive this makes Asia de Cuba the perfect place to treat yourself now and again. My main objection to Asia de Cuba is the 15% service charge. Swanky restaurant or not I don’t believe any restaurant has a right to charge this much … unless of course they offer to spoon feed me!