We recently took a trip to one of Liverpool’s most loved bar and restaurants, Alma De Cuba, to try their latest menu. Shamefully, I’ve never been to Alma before so I was really looking forward to visiting for the first time.
In my opinion, from the outside, it’s one of the cooler buildings around the Concert Square area as it’s one of few that still have period features. I didn’t expect the inside to be even better.
Alma De Cuba is a converted church and still has some of the original windows, beams and even the alter. It’s all open plan, with the restaurant floating above the bar area giving a real feel of openness and space. This is a rarity these days as restaurants love to sit you on a strangers lap just to fill another table!
Before we get to the scran, it’s important to highlight just how brill the staff were on the night. They didn’t know who we were, so they weren’t trying to go the extra mile for the sake of a little review. They were genuinely fun, attentive and on the ball. I’m a firm believer that customer service makes or breaks a restaurant experience and these guys nailed it. Credit where credit is due!
As all heroes do, we tackled three courses. And to make sure we got the real experience, we were treated to a lovely bottle of white wine. We know red wine goes better with steak, but it was hot outside and we needed to cool down. Soz.
Starters
To get the bellies warmed up, we went for the scallops (£9.25) and the goats cheese bruschetta (£5.75). The scallops came were served with Cuban spiced beans and chili jam. They were cooked perfectly, toasted on the outside but soft on the inside.
The bruschetta was a decent size, but I could have had 2 more. I saw someone on the table next to me get the fish taco’s and if I’m completely truthful, I did get food envy. Regardless, it was a good starter and it tasted great.
Main Course
We’d heard good things about the steaks from Alma De Cuba so we knew we had to see if they lived up to the word on the street…
I had the sirloin (£21.95) which you can see from the pictures was a really good choice. It was a nice size, cooked perfectly (medium) and was served with a huge portion of fries (just as steak should be!)
Test subject 2 went for the rump (£20.55) probably because it weighed the most so provided the most protein *eye roll*. Either way, it was good. Cooked medium again, it was much thicker than the sirloin and had a meatier taste. It didn’t need to be covered in any sauce to add flavour, it was packed full served as it was.
We mistakenly ordered some sweet potato to go with the main thinking our steaks wouldn’t come with anything. As far as sweet potatoes go, it was nice. I won’t try and oversell the experience of eating a spud. It was a spud.
Desert
When it came to the choices of desert, we genuinely couldn’t decide which to tackle because they all sounded decent. I’m a BIG fan of a cheese board for a desert but I know that’s a bit of a poor choice. To compromise, we settled on the sharer (£10.95) which is a mini selection of all the deserts. On it, we had; mixed fruit, chili chocolate brownie, pineapple & mango cheesecake, spiced orange polenta cake and macaroons. Honestly, throw a lump of cheddar on the plate and I’m satisfied.
It’s fair to say Alma De Cuba well and truly surpassed my expectations. It’s made me realise that I need to open my eyes more to some of Liverpool’s older restaurants, and not just the new ones.
We really enjoyed our meal and can’t thank the team at Alma & Signature enough for arranging.
