REVIEW | Finca

Neil Sowerby 26 April 2016

IT’s the dilemma of the moment. Have we all left it too late to holiday in Cuba now it’s about to be mobbed by Middle America’s comb-overed Trumpites and their surgically enhanced trophy wives? Best seek out a parallel universe Cuba down in the Baltic Triangle.

OK, Finca must be the littlest Havana of them all – a mere hole in the wall dispensing cubanos in the the Botanical Garden pop-up where gin, not rum, is the big deal.

Cubano comes stuffed with well-marinated Mojo pork shoulder and some gorgeous glazed gammon. Emmenthal, sharp mustard and pickled cucumbers complete my favourite ham and cheese toastie of the year

Turn onto New Bird Street at hipster-thronged Unit 51 and it’s easy to spot. There’s a 4m long white ‘Super Rat’ perched on the roof overlooking the skate park. Local artist Faith Bebbington created the rodent from 200 recycled plastic milk bottles.

Below it Finca is quirkily nested in for its seven month residency, the latest creative plot hatched by the team behind the Secret Diners Club.

It being surrogate Cuba I half-expected antique Cadillacs and sultry temptresses rolling cigars on their thighs. No luck with the latter but the Fincabar is made from the bottom half of a VW camper van and the furniture in this covered area is scuffed and reclaimed in a socialist republic king of way. Bart Simpson rather than Fidel rules the graffiti outside.

Heaters and hot water bottles are at hand for when the temperature turns un-Caribbean. I was lucky to land on a day that suddenly felt like summer. A passing ice cream van with the decibels ramped up added to the lunchtime vibe. So did the Negroni in my hand, the sacred triumvirate of gin, Campari and vermouth working its magic. The standard cost £7. I paid the extra quid premium for Professor Cornelius Ampleforth’s Bathtub Gin instead of Beefeater. It was worth it.

Cocktail?

Unlike the £4 for a can of an insipid Greek lager called Fix (the alternative was Heineken) to accompany my Cuban street food, result of exhaustive research visits to Cuba by chef Daniel Heffy and and co-founder Michael Harrison.

Centre stage is the Cubano, whose profile was raised by its more than cameo role in the Jon Favreau movie, Chef. You know the one – chef has a spat with critic (it happens) and crawls out of his creative rut by launching a Cuban sandwich food truck. We look forward to the sequel, Reuben Sandwich the Road Trip.

Cubano

Meanwhile, Finca is making a mighty fine stab at authenticity with its version of the Cubano. The bread is sourced from the new Italian Club Bakery off Bold Street. Buttered and toasted, hovering between panini and baguette, it comes stuffed with well-marinated Mojo pork shoulder and some gorgeous glazed gammon. Emmenthal, sharp mustard and pickled cucumbers complete my favourite ham and cheese toastie of the year, great value at £6.

There’s also a veggie version at the same price with the meats replaced by asparagus and wild garlic.

It’s messy eating out of a cardboard carton, mind. A sudden gust of wind nearly blew my £4 side of sweet potato fries into Liverpool One. These fries were equally satisfying, cannily seasoned with soured cream calming the chilli kick.

Messy sweet potato fries

With my Negroni aperitif I had also nibbled on a sizeable stack of mariquitas (£2.50), which are ribbons of deep-fried plantain chips. They came with a green, garlicky mojo, to which I added to 30p pots of chipotle ketchup and, mucho sabrosa, banana ketchup.

You can understand after all this why I didn’t succumb, as a sign-off, to the buñuelos – fried cassava doughnuts with anise syrup and lime.

Maybe donuts of the Dunkin ilk are already eyeing up franchise slots in downtown Havana. That’s capitalism for you. Homespun Finca doesn’t feel like that.