Roberto (5 August 2007)

While we were in Brighton to watch the Pride Parade, we stopped for lunch at Havana in Duke Street. We knew nothing about it, but it had a free table to sit outside and the food looked quite good on the other customers’ tables. The prices might have been a little high, but you forget about it as you are getting your first bite. We started with a warm chicken kidney salad presented on a thin slice of toasted bread and a bed of mixed leaves that was just spectacular; and another starter of Roma tomato with mozzarella sorbet (yes, mozzarella sorbet) that had plenty of novelty points and was greatly refreshing, sitting as we were outside in the sun in the middle of the day.

We continued with a fruit de mer linguini, which while very good, were the weakest execution due to a slightly overpowering creamy sauce, and an excellent steamed cod on black pudding, juicy, tasty and managing to pull off the odd combination brilliantly.

We were very happy to have landed in Havana by mere chance, and so happy with the food that we decided to order a dessert - something I most definitely never do. Katia got the prettiest concoction made of coconut, cactus and mango - the mango treated to appear as a fried egg’s yolk on top of the rest using one of Ferrán Adriá’s more spectacular tricks. I opted for strawberries with a yoghourt foam and sangria sorbet (again, yes, sangria sorbet). The presentation was exquisite, the taste of the main piece - superb and the sangria sorbet added a note of adventure that rounded the whole thing beautifully. We savoured the desserts in awe, made another comment about the lucky encounter with a great meal and parted with the place before we succumbed to temptation and started all over again.

Alison (7 January 2007)

New Years Eve 2006 - what a fantastic place, a great atmosphere, fabulous food, staff could not have been more attentive, a credit to themselves and made for a perfect evening.