La Bodeguita del Medio - A Cuban restaurant behind QVB

La Bodeguita del Medio was a place that I was excited to try out since it opened its doors last year. Somehow, it never quite eventuated until now. We were there early on a week night so the restaurant was bare, although the troops at the bar got tables a lot later in the night.

$10 Cuban cocktails were the go for the night and we all started with a round of Mojitos for the table. Limey Rum, the drink was refreshing. And with eagerness we poured over the menu.

For Shared Entrees, we had:

Ceviche del Dia

Fish of the day with fresh lime, chilli & coriander $16

 A very sour dish, but actually a great way to open up your appetite, if you weren't already ravenously hungry. But the fish was firm to the bite and a good dish I'd revisit anytime.

Panceta de Cerdo

Roasted pork belly, compressed watermelon & white balsamic foam $17

 Watermelon was an interesting accompaniment. But the pork belly was done well with very good crackling.

Terrina de Chorizo

Chorizo terrine with pea puree & sautéed baby carrots $18

 I think this entree got devoured really quickly, and it was good earthy flavours of terrine mellowed by the sweetness of the peas and carrots. The Entrees certainly were good, which meant the shared Mains had to work harder to hit the spot.

Pastel de Cangrejo

Crab pie served with homemade crusty bread $31

 I picked this dish and so was rather disappointed that the bread was larger than the pie. The flavours were decent, with every bite of the pie filling full of crab, but it didn' have the wow factor after all. On the other hand, what I did not expect was for the crusty bread to have the texture of toasted brioche, and that was something different.

Ropa Vieja de Cordero

Yogurt braised lamb, black bean vinaigrette & steamed yellow rice $30

 I remembered only the saltiness of this dish. The lamb was overcooked, so it was chewy and I liked the rice, but the overpowering black bean saltiness did me in really. Especially when all I had was a mojito to wash this down with. My saltiness and sournes palate gave way at this dish I am pretty sure.

Cazuela de Cuba

Cuban casserole with pork belly, chorizo, fresh scallops, black beans & long grain rice $32

If the previous dish lost me, this one was the star of the night. We all enjoyed this casserole hands down. It reminds one of a paella with its flavours, but it was a generous dish with flavour and portion and even though we already had pork belly earlier on in the night and the pork belly in this dish was really really chewy, we still could not fault this dish and would have eaten this on its own.

I think we each had another round of $10 cocktails including the cocktail of the week/month? (I can't quite remember which) which was a daiquiri, basically a different presentation of the mojito it tasted like. I suppose I had enough of the sourness that night.

We would have gone for desserts if we didn't feel so overwhelmed with the flavours that night. The Service fell down between entree, our second drink order and mains, so we gave up and kissed each other a goodnight before it turned sour like our dinner.

I was glad we tried it, but based on the food, I am not in a hurry to visit Cuba anytime soon. Am not sure the food quite agrees with me, although of course that is not the sole reason to visit a country. Or is it?