A quick primer on Cuba’s biggest exports:
1) Cigars
2) Sugar
3) Mineral ores, and
4) Spirits.
In short: everything you need for a good party. With geologists.
Which goes some way to explaining why this lively Cuban bar and restaurant is such a shining beacon for anyone who finds themselves at the cross purposes of a) pursuing fun, and b) being in Waterloo.
Cubana’s distinctive mural has heralded the entrance to Lower Marsh for over two decades now, making it an old hand in London bar years. Inside, the place is cloaked in vibrant colours, with vintage posters and Cuban ephemera adorning the walls.
The food offering has gone from strength to strength over the years, serving ‘pre-revolutionary’ recipes fusing influences from Spain, Africa, France and the Caribbean. Dishes range from tapas bites of chorizo croquettes and shrimp ceviche to fresh creole prawns served with chilli rice and plantain, and charcoal-grilled steak with yucca chips – much of which they also hawk from their street stall at lunchtimes.
First and foremost, though, Cubana is a place to have fun. Between 4 and 7pm their legendary happy hour offers 2-for-1 cocktails, which you can order from their street bar and slurp on the terrace outside overlooking The Old Vic. Pumped after a three-hour Ibsen play, you can head back to Cubana for jugs of mojitos, daiquiris and margaritas as they push back the tables, and the live salsa bands strike up for dancing until the early hours.
And all a stone’s throw from your last train home.
NOTE: Cubana is open daily (until 3am on Fridays & Saturdays). You can find out more, and book a table, HERE.
Cubana | 48 Lower Marsh, London SE1 7RG
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