I’m not quite sure how Floridita ended up on my to do list but it has been on there for a while now. I think it had something to do with the promise of Little Havana in London. Taking advantage of London Restaurant Week Rehana booked us in for dinner tonight.

The front of Floridita in no way prepared me for what we actually found inside – mostly the size of the space inside. There is a bar upstairs (tonight taken over by some sort of function) and a bar and the restaurant downstairs. The area downstairs itself was split into a few areas including a couple of private function areas which, again, were occupied tonight and stage and dance floor. Its a very attractive area and quite glamorous feeling. Later this translated to some really attractive and glamorous patrons too!

I was hoping for some really good South American food unfortunately, as we were on a set menu, the dishes on offer were less South American than Modern European and at a stretch had elements of Latin fusion such as, maybe, the beans in the Sweet potato and Pumpkin soup or, the most obviously Latin dish, the Mozzarella, aubergine & basil quesadilla, salsa cruda & sour cream.

We did try to choose some side dishes which had some Latin flare such as the Roast Pepper, Onion & Courgette Sofrito, Pao de Queijo (Traditional Warm Cheese Breads) and Tostones Fritters with Garlic Sauce (Deep Fried Plantain.) Note that the Cheese Breads were more like cheese dough balls in size.

We arrived a bit early for our booking at just about 6.15 and there were only a few other diners around. We both ordered a couple of drinks from the bar before making our way to our table at about 6.30. The waitress wasted no time in telling us that, unfortunately, they had to reclaim the table from us at 9.00pm. By the time we got around to ordering our dinner (we were too busy gas-bagging to be honest!) the place was really starting to fill up. We had a table just off the dance floor and therefore very close to the speakers and the band on stage. Later, when they started to blast the music and also when the band started playing (at just before 9), I would find that this was quite awkward for conversation. It felt kind of weird that all the tables were set around the dance floor so it felt almost kind of voyeuristic!

For my dinner I went with Warm spinach, red onion & feta tart, dressed leaves as a starter followed by Roast fillet of Scotch salmon, mussels & white wine. Although neither dish felt particularly Latin to me I must admit both were extremely tasty. Combined with the sides I was suitably stuffed by the time we got around to having to order our dessert. However, never one to pass up on dessert when on offer, I still proceeded with dessert choosing the Coconut crème caramel, crème fraiche & brandy snaps over the Baked lime & vanilla cheesecake, passion fruit sauce, which is what Rehana ended up choosing. Normally I’m a sucker for cheesecake but I figured that the crème caramel would be a little lighter and I could always take a sneaky taste of Rehana’s dish (which I did do!) I was quite satisfied with the meal though I do wonder if I’d be willing to pay the more premium prices to dine from their a la carte menu. The dishes that other tables were getting, not off the set menu, certainly looked pretty good.

Service-wise I couldn’t really complain. It was fairly responsive and wasn’t at all snooty. The only distressing aspect of the evening, though not unexpected, was getting shunted off our table at 9pm. Not to worry though – we soon managed to find a couple of seats by the bar which gave us prime viewing of the dance floor. By then the entire place was getting fairly near packed though only a couple of couples out on the dance floor demonstrating their salsa skills. Entertainingly there were two girls who were dancing as a couple who appeared were there, presumably employed by Floridita, to generate interest in the dance floor. And it worked. Soon enough quite a few people ventured out on the dance floor. It also soon became obvious that more than half of them were Floridita regulars. Seeing the dancing made me realise how much I’ve missed going to regular salsa classes!

Oh yea – pretty nice, if expensive, cocktail list too.