From Cuba, with love

Published October 30, 2017

The city’s restaurant scene has witnessed a gradual move towards diverse cuisines. Where Chinese was the only international food available here at one point, now one can get their share of spicy pan-Asian, Turkish, Persian, Italian, Japanese, Korean or Lebanese delicacies to name a few. Even though in most cases these cuisines would be tinkered to fit to the local palate.

Now that we know there’s room, and appetite, for foreign cuisine, is it safe to assume Lahore would welcome food from other parts of the world too? Let’s say, from maybe Brazil, Czech Republic, Sri Lanka or Malaysia?

In an attempt to ascertain just that, and to introduce Lahore to a new culture, the Pearl Continental Hotel recently organised a two-day Cuban festival offering a taste of Havana amid a band flown in from Cuba playing their local tunes to create the perfect ambiance and a cigar roller rolling the world famous Cuban cigars live for visitors. And while the band performed, some Cuban visitors couldn’t resist showing their salsa moves that even got some Lahorites to join in.

Guest chef Gioelkis Sosa Hernandez from Cuba joined the hotel’s executive chef to create mouth-watering authentic Cuban food tweaked a bit to suit Pakistani taste buds. The colourful buffet area was adorned with Panama hats, flags, cigar replicas serving as stands for dishes with wallpapers of Cuban streets in the background. The elaborate menu boasted of assorted breads, a couple of soups, several varieties of fresh salads, a handful of mains and selected desserts.

I had the Shrimp Bisque soup first, with some crackers and slices of a couple of breads to go with it. I could get the delicious seafood aroma in the broth with generous chunks of shrimp in it. The large, exotic salad table was a riot of colour with fresh fruit and vegetables served in different shapes and sizes in cups, shot glasses, palm-sized bowls with chunks of chicken, pasta, beef and shrimp as well as cold cuts. From combining corn, beans and pineapple to shrimp, rocket and pasta; as well as red and yellow capsicum stuffed with rice, I was told this is what Cuban cuisine is primarily about: fresh fruit and veggies.

Among the main dishes were Enchilada Lobster, Lamb Chops with Honey, Old Clothes, Garlic Shrimp, which I was told were some of the popular Cuban delicacies.

The most popular, Old Clothes, is a stew of shredded beef and vegetable resembling rags of cloth, hence the name. The chunks of lobster, medium-well lamb chops with honey and the shrimps were all fantastic and could be easily offered by local restaurants here.

The meat in most of the Cuban dishes on the menu had been substituted with seafood, beef or mutton instead of their favourite pork. Also, what was most discernible was a liberal use of vegetables and black pepper.

I then moved towards the desserts table that I was most excited about. Ever imagined French fries in a dessert? Well, they had it here. What I tried were fries served with a dollop of fruity cream and tempered chocolate; raspberry mousse; pomegranate trifle; cookies and strawberry cream; coffee cake with cream, pomegranate and chocolate shards; churros with chocolate sauce; and shu pastry filled with strawberry cream. Pure heaven this was!

Chef Hernandez, through a translator, told me Cuban cuisine, influenced by Spanish food, was a lot about pork and rice. “We combine rice with almost everything -- salad, meat, fried bananas. Black beans and rice is also a very popular Cuban dish wherein the rice takes the colour of the beans, so it turns out to be an entirely black dish. These beans aren’t available here in Pakistan.”

Cubans, he said, are also very particular about their sauces that they cook chicken and beef in. In Cuba, the focus is on healthy food, which is why they don’t cook in oil unlike here in Pakistan. “Meat and rice are always boiled, we use a lot of vegetables such as cucumbers and avocados as well as fruit in its natural form, and everything is cooked without any spices at all. Pakistanis may not like Cuban food.”

The chef said he received great response from the Lahori visitors to the food festival, but they did mention lack of spices, so to accommodate such customers he prepared a spicy sauce on the side. Popular Cuban desserts, he told me, used a lot of fresh fruit. Rice with milk is also a traditional dessert there as is flan and a sweet potato-based dish.

So, how long till we see a Cuban restaurant here in Lahore? Or will it be too bland for us?

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2017

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