StyleNest visits the iconic Phillipe Starck designed Asia de Cuba to sip our way through their Bottomless Brunch.
Drawn out, boozy brunches have long been a staple of Manhattan weekend socialising, with the glamorous in-crowd descending on glitzy hotels and eateries to satisfy an unquenchable thirst for mid-day mimosas. The trend for having brunch itself has become quite ubiquitous in London, but it is only recently that these very NYC inspired unlimited alcohol variations have taken hold. Where better to indulge in one than at Asia de Cuba, iconic millennial restaurant of the aggressively minimalist-chic St Martin’s Lane Hotel.
You can choose between a champagne or cocktail based brunch, we plumped for the latter which includes a bottomless supply of Mojitos, Mimosas, and Belllinis. There’s even the option to go behind the bar and try your hand at whisking up a Bloody Mary, the undisputed king of brunch drinks.
Comfortably sipping on a couple of sublime Bellinis, we waited for the food to start rolling in. The brunch appetizers consisted of plantain chips with black bean hummus, a plate of exquisite shrimp ceviche jazzed up with lime and chilli, churros made from spiced prawns, spring rolls, slices of sticky pork belly and miniature Cuban pastries. The flavours were all spot on, nothing annoying or aggravating to the palate that is sometimes the case with Latin fusion.
Main courses are from a long list, including brunch classics such as Eggs Benedict, Waffles, French toast, all of course given an Asia de Cuba twist. For those who hanker for something a bit meatier, you can also take the option of upgrading the brunch-orientated dishes to a classic Cuban Roast. We opted for the Cuban toast and the smoked salmon and potato waffle with avocado. The dishes were again all spot on in the flavour stakes, however we found that combined with the rather dense starters, these particular mains came off a little heavy.
By this point we’d shamelessly glugged down several of each of the cocktails on offer, and were ready to round things off. The Asia de Cuba bottomless brunch finishes the menu off with an unlimited supply of their signature Mexican doughnuts. Again, while they are utterly delicious and we couldn’t resist despite being full, the option to conclude on a lighter note would have been appreciated.
Asia de Cuba is a perfect spot for weekend brunch, super chic and very cool (several famous faces sipping away while we were there), it still maintains a relaxed, comfortable energy that’s quite unlike the stuffiness of many rival five-star hotel brunches. Impeccable service in immaculate surroundings with tongue tantalisingly flavoursome food – Asia de Cuba gets StyleNest’s vote!
The Bottomless Brunch at Asia de Cuba is available on Saturdays and Sundays, and is priced at £48 for the bottomless cocktail brunch, and £70 for the bottomless champagne brunch.