Havana - Bank Square, Belfast: Review

Photo by M.M Hall Photography

On Thursday I was lucky to be treated to a lovely dinner at Havana - Bank Square in Belfast.  Havana is undergoing a bit of a make over right now and its nice to see what its shaping up to- a great restaurant with a friendly atmosphere and amazing food!  On top of that the quirky designs and Cuban theme gives Havana a unique twist from other places in Belfast.  

First things first - the atmosphere: I loved the upbeat Spanish music on in the background and got even more excited when a very talented man played with his guitar for an hour.  I would definitely recommend coming along and sitting down with a cocktail and some free tapas- keep an eye on their Facebook page for details on the days and time.  I think it's usually 5-7 on Thursdays but check it out! 

My first cocktail was the Electric Watermelon on the wise advice of our host Robert.  I'm normally a bit wary of things which are watermelon flavoured but it wasn't too strong, instead it was nice and sweet- more like juice than a cocktail!  

As I sipped away on this, and Matty on his beer we tucked into the tapas.  The tapas is a great sharing size, either as a snack while you drink or as a starter.  Our plate had four different sauces to dip the pickings in- potato skins, onion fritters, tortilla chips and some battered fish goujans.  It was really nice and definitely better than bog standard bar nibbles.  

After this, a little surprise from the kitchen appeared!  Something to get us in the mood for something more - and it did.  This little taster was a slither of pork belly with some apple sauce, which disappeared almost as quickly as it came out!  

This seemed an appropriate time for another cocktail, so I went with the Bon Voyage.  A strawberry and tequila mix which reminded me of flavoured margaritas- definitely my favourite cocktail of the night!  

In no time at all our mains arrived, I went for the pork belly which was delicious!  Although I was a bad little blogger and forgot to take a picture of it before I tucked in.  But here is a picture Matty has done for them in the past - and yes I know this does put my photography to shame...  Anyway, it was really nice, the pork belly was so soft and rich in flavours!

Matty went for the slow roasted beef, which I did manage to get a picture off!  It was topped with mushrooms and onions in a gorgeous sauce and accompanied with thick cut chips cooked in duck fat.  This was amazing!  I had serious food envy, order's regret - them all.  It was so good!  Definitely my pick of the two we had, although the pork was delicious this had a sort of comfort edge to it which won me over.  Although this makes me sound like Nigella... just so you know I have been watching a lot of The Taste lately (UK and USA).  

We thought about desert, but we were just too full.  So we were about to go when Stephanie popped around the corner with another cocktail - she's been experimenting with pink cocktails for the upcoming Girdo d'Italia so I got to sample her latest concoction.  This one was a mix of strawberry and watermelon and was ridiculously good- perfect if you like sweet and fruity cocktails! 

Overall we had a great night at Havana, the food and drinks were amazing and the atmosphere made it a nice place to enjoy the evening.  If you're in Belfast I would recommend it, they even do lunches!  Big thank you for Havana for havana-ing us (sorry about that Dad joke...), we were made very welcome and I look forward to coming back!