I love Colada, in Cardozo—it’s a Cuban-inspired coffee shop that serves Cuban pastries and Cuban-style coffee during the day, and turns into a cocktail bar come evening. It’s really fun: a place where you can go to have breakfast, then lunch, and then drinks. It’s a very welcoming and friendly space, really relaxed; I love the bright colors. During the day, it’s a place for neighbors and office workers. At night it changes and becomes more of a hang out spot with some of the best cocktails in the city. The music and aromas transport you to Cuba (especially after the third cocktail!).
Their offerings are straightforward, but they use really high-quality ingredients, products, and techniques. “Colada” is the name of a Cuban coffee drink with super-strong brewed coffee—like, really strong—with sweet crema, and they of course serve that here. It’s bittersweet and creamy; it goes great with pastelitos (pastries with sweet or savory fillings) or empanadas.
The cocktails are in the style of Miami’s Calle Ocho—the famous street where there are hundreds of Cuban restaurants and clubs with live music. I like all of the cocktails at Colada, the majority of which are based on rum. So you have classic drinks like mojitos, piña coladas, and the Hotel Nacional—a mixture of white rum and dark rum, along with pineapple and lime—there’s always lime in these cocktails.
