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Asia de Cuba: Cuisine that's not that Asian, not that Cuban
By Mariel Solares
Opinion Editor
Recently, I decided to take advantage of January's Dine About Town promotion
where you can enjoy a three-course lunch for around $20. An indecisive group
of friends with somewhat different tastes, we decided on this Asian-Cuban fusion
place. Located inside downtown's chic Clift hotel, we entered through
heavy doors to find a gigantic hand-painted chair that I would need a ladder
to climb onto. The ambiance was dark cabaret, with funky oversized Victorian
furniture and interesting MOMA-style decor. Those first two minutes marked
the most exiting part of the afternoon as we stepped past the hotel reception
and entered boredom.
A perky and genuinely friendly hostess seated us, despite being 15 minutes late
to our reservation. In the middle of the dining room is a cross-shaped illuminated
mirror table that can seat one large party, or four smaller groups at each end.
The main room was conjoined to a smaller and even dimmer bar (The Redwood Room)
with bottles lining the wall. I made a mental note of the sexy mystical bar
ambience, a perfect place to get a cocktail on a night on the town. The ritzy
restaurant caters to its ritzy clientele, mostly older women in pearls, or yuppies
in business attire. With Adidas and funky colors, my friends and I felt a tad
underdressed.
It took three menus to cover the restaurant's extensive drink list. The
place is famous for its rum, which you can pick out by country. The cocktails
reflected on the creativity of the menu, with options such as "warm pumpkin
pie martini ($13)" and "sugar cane mojito ($12)." Although
I wasn't designated driver, I thought it was too early for alcohol and
opted for the jasmine iced tea ($3.95), which came with a delicious aroma and
a stick of sugar cane.
For lunch, I decided on the Dine About Town menu "Bento Box," three
courses for $22. The appetizer was a "Mojito Marinated Sirloin,"
(regular price $14) pan seared with watercress salad and orange oil. I thought
the sirloin was a bit dry and hard to chew. The sauce was too overwhelming,
reminding me of a cheap store-bought teriyaki.
For the second course, we had a choice of wok veggies, somen noodles or fried
rice. I chose the wok-sauteed Asian veggies, which turned out to be the
most delicious plate on the entire table. The vegetables were crisp and varied,
with a little bit of sesame oil to taste. One of my friends chose the "Somen
noodles," served chilled and tossed with watercress, peanut sauce and
a slight bit of Asian vegetables. She was not impressed with the dish and didn't
have more than one bite, complaining, "The noodles are too drenched in
sauce and too salty to enjoy." Another friend chose the fried rice, which
came with plantains. She described her food as "edible, but not impressive."
The third course was "Barbeque Salmon," regularly $30 a plate. The
fish was smooth and cooked to perfection, but again the barbeque sauce tasted
a little plastic and was reminiscent of cheap Chinese food. Next to the salmon
was a little deep-fried ball of rice, with bits of salmon inside. This tasted
like a deep-fried ball of white rice, giving the diner no specific reason to
finish eating the tasteless sphere.
After a completely unimpressive meal, we were all looking forward to dessert.
Especially because it had been staring at us in the face the entire time in
one of the four compartments of the bento box. The "Cuban Opera Cake,"
a rich layered chocolate cake, came accompanied by coffee mousse and milk chocolate
butter cream along with a decorative raspberry (regularly $8). The cake looked
much better than it tasted. While it wasn't bad, the dessert left something
to be desired. There was nothing memorable about it, and without the butter
cream sauce, the taste was not worth the calories.
To add to the boredom that our taste buds were experiencing, we were frustrated
at the disappearance of our waiter. In fact, the table of pearled-up women next
to us could take it no longer, and left after savoring the menus for what seemed
to be an eternity. When we needed dessert forks, we had to steal them from the
next table, and without refills on water, one of my friends claimed dehydration
psychosis. Our table was cleared and we were having such interesting conversation
that we had not realized it had been 20 minutes and our waiter was still not
around. One of us finally had to get up and find someone. A frustrating end
to a boring meal.
Come to Asia de Cuba for the elegant and dramatic ambience. Come to dress-up
and enjoy some good rum drinks at the sexy Redwood Room bar. Come to impress
a date with your class and style. I would even suggest you come for a chance
to sit on the giant chair in the hotel lobby. Do not come, however, to be impressed
by the food or service.
Asia de Cuba at the Clift Hotel
495 Geary Street (cross street Taylor)
San Francisco
929-2300
www.chinagrillmanagement.com
Wheelchair accessible
Credit cards accepted
Reservations recommended:
Breakfast: Sun – Sat
7 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Lunch: Sun – Sat
11:30 a.m - 2:30 p.m.
Dinner: Sun – Wed
5:30 p.m. - 10:30 p.m.
Thurs – Sat 5:30 p.m. – 12 a.m.
Mariel Solares is a second-year medical student.
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