Revolución de Cuba Leeds: Cuban Tapas, Cocktails, and the Best Guacamole I’ve Had in Years

There are restaurants you visit once and find yourself recommending for years afterwards. Revolución de Cuba Leeds is one of those places for me.

I went back in 2016, not long after they’d opened — invited to try their new menu. I’ve been talking about that cauliflower ever since. More on that in a moment.

The restaurant is right in the centre of Leeds, on the corner of Lower Briggate and the famous Call Lane. Hard to miss. Even harder to walk past without at least peering in.

Updated Septmeber 2026

What to Expect When You Walk In

The first thing that hits you is the atmosphere. Revolución de Cuba is properly vibrant — colour, noise, energy. The decor does that tricky thing of feeling both vintage and contemporary at the same time: think Cuban street art, exposed brick, splashes of colour everywhere. It’s not subtle. It’s not trying to be.

There are two floors. Downstairs is more restaurant and dining, upstairs leans into the late-night bar and dancing side of things. We were there for food, so we settled downstairs, got comfortable, and started working through the menu.

The Food (and That Cauliflower)

Right. Let’s talk about the food. Because this is where Revolución de Cuba genuinely surprised me.

I expected decent tapas and solid cocktails. I did not expect to spend the following month describing cauliflower to anyone who’d listen.

Their cauliflower wings were one of the most unexpectedly brilliant things I ate that year. Prepared and served exactly like chicken wings — crispy on the outside, soft inside, with proper flavour all the way through. If someone had put them in front of me without saying what they were, I would not have known. That is not a small thing.

They also did a cauliflower steak. Same story. It absorbed the flavour so well, cooked so perfectly, that I had to keep reminding myself what I was actually eating. Whoever was in the kitchen had clearly figured something out about cauliflower that the rest of us hadn’t.

(I am aware this is quite a lot of words about a vegetable. But we’re talking about a restaurant that made me genuinely excited about cauliflower, which feels worth documenting.)

The guacamole was also excellent. Properly made, properly seasoned — not that thin, watery stuff you get in supermarket tubs. The kind of guac that you keep going back to even when you’ve technically finished.

Beyond those highlights, the menu is broad — tapas, burritos, burgers, dishes that pull from Cuban and wider Latin American cooking. Everything we tried was good. Nothing felt like filler.

The Drinks

This is Revolución de Cuba. The cocktails are the point, and they know it. Mojitos and daiquiris made properly, a serious rum selection, and staff who clearly know what they’re doing behind the bar. The cocktails felt genuinely Cuban — not just a menu with Cuban names attached.

The atmosphere while we were eating was lively without being overwhelming. By the time we were finishing, the evening crowd was building upstairs and you could hear the music starting. In a different mood, we’d have stayed for that too.

Good for a Date in Leeds?

Yes. Genuinely. The atmosphere does a lot of the work — it’s fun and buzzy without being so loud you can’t have a conversation over dinner. The food is interesting enough to talk about. The cocktails give you something to do with your hands.

It also works for groups: birthday dinners, leaving dos, pre-drinks before hitting the rest of Call Lane. Revolución de Cuba fits all of those without feeling like it’s trying too hard at any of them.

Practical Info

Address: Corner of Lower Briggate and Call Lane, Leeds city centre

Good for: Dinner, drinks, date nights, group celebrations, cocktail masterclasses, salsa nights

Worth knowing: They run events throughout the year — cocktail masterclasses, salsa evenings, Christmas packages and more. Check their events page before you go if you want more than just dinner.

Booking: Via their website at revoluciondecuba.com

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This review is based on a visit in 2016. The Leeds venue is still open on Call Lane — have you been recently? I’d love to know how the menu has evolved. Drop me a comment below.

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