If it sounds strange to go out for a dinner of ham sandwiches, you haven’t been to Cubano yet. This bar and restaurant, located at the former Citizen Cain on Dongfeng Street (東豐街), serves a staple snack popular in both Havana and Miami.
The sandwich Cubano is made from simple ingredients — ham, roasted pork, cheese, dill pickles and bread. But as with any good sandwich, the whole is greater than sum of its parts.
Cubano’s version costs NT$260 — not exactly a proletarian price, but the labor that goes into these sandwiches deserves some appreciation. The pork is marinated in “mojo,” a concoction of orange juice, garlic and olive oil. The dill pickles are sliced thinly, adding a delectable sweet-and-sour note.
Photo: David Chen, Taipei Times
The sandwich is flattened and heated on a grill with a foil-covered brick, a makeshift variation of the traditional plancha press, which is similar to a panini grill.
The white flour bread, which is baked fresh daily, is delicious. Cubano co-owner Francis Beauvais, who also runs the Italian restaurant Le Rouge in Banciao, told the Taipei Times that he uses a recipe from his father, who works as a chef in Miami.
Six versions are on offer: The jamon y queso (NT$240) is the same as the Cubano but without the roasted pork, and the Cuban rib (NT$280) gets a little fancier with mango-glazed baby back ribs. The pollo Cubano (NT$240) and pollo Castro (NT$280) come with mojo-marinated chicken, with the latter including blue cheese.
Vegetarians have a single choice: the sandwich de Fidel (NT$260), which has grilled portobello mushrooms. This was one of my favorites after sampling both the roast pork and chicken versions. My only problem with these sandwiches is that they aren’t sold at lunchtime — Cubano is only open in the evenings.
All orders come with a side of tortilla chips and a thick homemade salsa, but the rather skimpy portions are just a tease. Get a larger serving of chips for either NT$150 or NT$200, or try the nachos grande (NT$290), which comes loaded with red onion, black olives, jalapenos, melted cheese, sour cream and guacamole.
Other appetizers include chicken quesadillas (NT$220 for the 8 inch — around 20cm — or NT$280 for the 10 inch), fajita salad (NT$320) and garlic potato wedges (NT$160, enough for two persons, or NT$300 for a larger portion).
Cubano, which opened in June, will appear familiar to former Citizen Cain patrons, with its large booths that seat six to 10 people each. But Beauvais says he and his partners are aiming for a more low-key atmosphere. The dim lighting and dark wood tones are tasteful and soothing, and there are acoustic music performances on the weekends. The energy gets turned up a few notches on Wednesdays, when the restaurant hosts a salsa dance night.
A few touristy posters and stock photographs play up the Cuban theme, as do the rum cocktails. Mojitos, Cuba libres and daiquiris (each NT$280) are among the selections. Draft beers include Carlsberg for NT$170 and Tsingtao for NT$140. The bar also offers cigars from Honduras and Nicaragua and according to Beauvais, there should be a fresh batch from Cuba by the time this article is published.
Feb. 17 to Feb. 23 “Japanese city is bombed,” screamed the banner in bold capital letters spanning the front page of the US daily New Castle News on Feb. 24, 1938. This was big news across the globe, as Japan had not been bombarded since Western forces attacked Shimonoseki in 1864. “Numerous Japanese citizens were killed and injured today when eight Chinese planes bombed Taihoku, capital of Formosa, and other nearby cities in the first Chinese air raid anywhere in the Japanese empire,” the subhead clarified. The target was the Matsuyama Airfield (today’s Songshan Airport in Taipei), which
China has begun recruiting for a planetary defense force after risk assessments determined that an asteroid could conceivably hit Earth in 2032. Job ads posted online by China’s State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence (SASTIND) this week, sought young loyal graduates focused on aerospace engineering, international cooperation and asteroid detection. The recruitment drive comes amid increasing focus on an asteroid with a low — but growing — likelihood of hitting earth in seven years. The 2024 YR4 asteroid is at the top of the European and US space agencies’ risk lists, and last week analysts increased their probability
For decades, Taiwan Railway trains were built and serviced at the Taipei Railway Workshop, originally built on a flat piece of land far from the city center. As the city grew up around it, however, space became limited, flooding became more commonplace and the noise and air pollution from the workshop started to affect more and more people. Between 2011 and 2013, the workshop was moved to Taoyuan and the Taipei location was retired. Work on preserving this cultural asset began immediately and we now have a unique opportunity to see the birth of a museum. The Preparatory Office of National
On Jan. 17, Beijing announced that it would allow residents of Shanghai and Fujian Province to visit Taiwan. The two sides are still working out the details. President William Lai (賴清德) has been promoting cross-strait tourism, perhaps to soften the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) attitudes, perhaps as a sop to international and local opinion leaders. Likely the latter, since many observers understand that the twin drivers of cross-strait tourism — the belief that Chinese tourists will bring money into Taiwan, and the belief that tourism will create better relations — are both false. CHINESE TOURISM PIPE DREAM Back in July