Revolucion de Cuba

Deansgate, Manchester

Revolucion de Cuba is one of the most bustling spots for nightlife on Deansgate. By day, it’s all about Cuban cuisine. By night, it’s a bustling cocktail house and cantina, the go-to place for live music and late-night partying. Revolucion brings the fiery Spanish fiesta to the rain-sodden streets of Manchester. Set across two floors it boasts live entertainment until the early hours of the morning. There’s also the Havana Club Bar, which serves some of the world’s finest rums.

The art deco walls, floors and tables create a wonderfully authentic interior. It was fairly quiet when we arrived, around one o’clock, but it quickly began to fill up, presumably with folks wanting a power lunch to get them through what was set to be a dreary afternoon. Revolucion’s menu does, after all, promise ‘free sunshine vibes with every meal’. What more could you ask for on a Monday?

For me, however, it’s all about the food. If you’re after a quick lunch, there’s the Fast and Fresh menu, offering you a choice of four lunchtime bites for £6. There’s a sandwich, a wrap, a burger and a burrito, all the usual Mexican/Cuban infused favourites. That’s served until 3.00pm, after which it’s replaced by a two-course set menu, priced at £10.95 – both sensationally good value.

On the main menu, there’s a fine selection of tapas dishes, as well as main courses, so whether you like sharing or not, there’s plenty to choose from. You can choose three tapas dishes for £14 – three is the recommended number per person if you opt for tapas your main course. We ordered three each and shared the six between us.

Our tapas selection

There are all the classics alongside some more curious choices. Patatas Bravas and Chorizo are absolute necessities on any tapas table. The Patatas Bravas was delicious and it was an extremely generous portion, although they were ever so slightly too spicy for my delicate palate. Don’t let that put you off, though, as my tongue is laughably feeble. A little bit more garlic aioli on the top would have gone a long way to diffuse the spice, whilst complimenting the flavour. The chorizo was chunky and smoky, one of the best I’ve ever tasted, and the red wine and honey sauce was sticky and rich, so good I polished it off on its own after we’d eaten all the meat. The third obligatory classic was Arroz con Padron – the good old-fashioned paella; aromatic rice, mixed with Padron peppers, Spinach and crunchy hazelnuts, it’s the perfect accompaniment to the other dishes. I’ve never had nuts in paella before, but the crunch added an extra dimension of texture.

Now, next up, wait for this: cheeseburger tacos. Oh yes. Something I’ve never seen on a tapas menu before, but they leapt straight off the page and I knew I had to sample them. Served on tortilla wraps, they were more like an open fajita topped with succulent, homemade burger meat and melted Manchego cheese. Alongside the spicy potato and chorizo dishes, they were mild but very tasty. I would have loved to have eaten a supersize one of these as a main course.

Our final two choices were Cajun creamed mushrooms and Mojito prawns. The mushrooms were exactly as the title suggested – slices of mushrooms sautéed in a creamy Cajun sauce. I adore mushrooms in all forms, and these were something else. There was plenty of excess sauce, which we were warned about when we ordered – our waitress enquired if we’d like to order any bread to mop it up, although, obviously, not in so many words. Whilst I appreciate that this would have been a good idea, it served just as well to be poured over the paella on my plate. I’m full of these little tricks.

Finally, the Mojito prawns were juicy king prawns fried in Mojito flavoured batter. The Mojito is a vintage Cuban cocktail made from white rum, sugar, soda, lime juice and mint. The citrus flavour of the lime certainly came through and complimented the juicy prawns beautifully. It was another generous portion, with five reasonably sized king prawns between the two of us. Lovely. 

Cajun Creamed Mushrooms and Patatas Bravas

Cheeseburger Tacos and Chorizo

Arroz con Padron and Mojito Prawns

I never fill up on tapas to the same extent that I do on a main course. It’s the tried and tested buffet scenario, where you find yourself seemingly able to continue nibbling for hours and hours, wondering where on earth all of these empty calories are disappearing to. I could have managed dessert, but I resisted. First of all because my dining companion wasn’t interested - eating dessert alone never stops being awkward - and, second, because we’ve been working our way through a gargantuan birthday cake for the last seven days. It was a shame really, because there are two or three that I had my eye on – passion fruit cheesecake, the chocolate brownie and the churros. Skimming the menu once again as I write this, I notice that customers are advised to ‘save room for our famous churros’. How did I miss that? What a wasted opportunity. Still, there’s always next time.