Cuban restaurant Bar La Rampa to open on former Sweet Chick site
MJMK will launch Bar La Rampa with a menu developed by Tātā Eatery, and a cocktail-led drinks offer put together by London-based bartender Marcis Dzelzainis.
Named after Calle 23, one of the best-known streets of Havana’s Vedado region, La Rampa is described as being a celebration of Cuba’s long-standing traditions, including its cuisine. The menu will feature a number of small plates and sharing dishes that take influence from Cuba and the wider Central American region, with dishes such as the cubano sandwich, made with pork belly, ham, and raclette cheese; chorizo empanadas, foot-long pork chicharrones; and Picadillo Empanadas.
The cocktail-driven drink offer will see Dzelzainis, formerly of London bars Sager + Wilde, 69 Colebrooke Row, and Dandelyan, create a menu that honours drinks that originated in Cuba during the 1920s through to the 1950s. It will feature mojitos, daiquiris and cocktails such as Papa Doble, a homage to Ernest Hemingway’s drink of choice, and the Jennings Cox, named after the creator of the daquiri.
The restaurant will be located on Market Place, near Oxford Circus, on the site that was formerly home to the short-lived Sweet Chick and will have a large al fresco terrace at the front of the restaurant
Jake Kasumov and Marco Mendes, the duo behind MJMK, say they decided to launch Bar La Rampa because of Jake’s upbringing in Cuba and a desire to pay homage to the country in an authentic and respectful way.
“I lived in Cuba until I was six years old, and my father spent the majority of his life in Havana, which meant I travelled there often throughout my adult life as well,” says Kasumov.
“I’ve always been enamoured with Cuba’s cultural heritage, and found it’s often misrepresented through thoughtless cultural appropriation abroad. Marco and I felt passionate about bringing to life and paying homage to Havana’s beautiful history in a respectful way through gorgeous and authentic food, drinks and design.”
The interior of the new venue will reference old Havana and feature pale colours and greenery with mid-century furniture, a dark wood and rattan bar, panels of stained glass and wooden louvers and modernist light fixtures.
