Casa Havana Mojito Bars – Popping Up in a market near you (If you’re in Spitalfields, Greenwich or Brixton)

Last night we checked out Casa Havana Mojito’s in Spitalfields Market, but I’m not going to tell you were it is, just get to the market and follow the Cuban beats. Once I found it I was greeted by James and Laura (of 500 drinks of Summers fame) who were already 1 drink ahead of me, the pressure was on, I used to be a bar man and I made the mistake of telling my ‘Cantineros’  (the word for ‘barmen’ in Cuban Spanish). This was like telling Lewis Hamilton that I can drive and then doing a lap Monaco with him sat in the passenger seat. Okay it was nothing like that, as it was unlikely anyone would die from my cocktail making skills.

Thankfully this wasn’t some wanky green tea blending or passion fruit fusion, this was an honest to god original mojito. Easy right? Nope as under the pressure of my own making I messed it up and accidentally on purpose slipped when added the Havana Club Rum, but it still is tasted good to me and that was the main thing.

On the night there were a few stalls to keep us entertained along with the Cuban beats where we got  amazing sandwiches filled with cheese and slow cooked Cuban pork (James went back for seconds), a kooky vintage stuff stall and a vintage map stall, but our favourite had to be the music / vinyl stall. After several mojito’s I thumbed through the vinyl and I bought a Pink Floyd picture vinyl with the Death Star on it, because it was cool!

So why are Havana Club doing this? Well they have past form when it comes to Pop Ups and this summer Havana Club is encouraging Londoners to make and enjoy their own authentic Cuban mojitos. To do this they are popping up across London’s markets, in a series of pop-up Casa Havana Mojito bars which will offer you a chance to make their own mojitos for FREE, expertly guided by their trained ‘Cantineros’ 

All guests will be gifted a rustic Havana tin cup to take away too, which sadly we completely forgot to take with us! 🙁

If you love going to markets, you’d be daft not to visit the Casa Havana Mojito’s Pop-Up Bars as Spitalfields, Greenwich and Brixton Village Market are great markets in their own right. Add in the freebies and it could be a great way to end a day out or to start a night out

Casa Havana Mojito Dates

• Spitalfields Market: 1st – 3rd, 8th – 10th, 15th – 17th May
• Greenwich Market: 24^th, 31^st May, 7^th June
• Taste London: 17^th June – 21^st June (You Need Taste Tickets for this one)
• Brixton Village: 25^th – 28^th June, 2^nd – 5th, 9^th – 12^th   July

Or you can view them via this handy map

But if you can’t get to one of these markets to bag your free mojito, Havana Club now has a Certification Programme – an apparently rigorous process that identifies the bars nationwide making mojitos and serving truly authentic mojitos, the Cuban way. Which begs the question: Do they  have a team of Master Mojito Testers? because that sounds like one of the best jobs ever. Anyway you check out the list of bars here knowing that some Mojito Jedi has given it the thumbs up.