Sometimes you need to sniff out good places to go for a drink. And sniff you should be able to do with El Cabana. Situated on the Fridtjof Nansen Boulevard side of the park in front of the National Palace of Culture, this patio bar is hidden among trees and hard to find unless you're actually looking for it. With its large patio, comfortable seating and relaxing scenery, at first glance, El Cabana seems to be quite the find.

A friend and I chose to sit outside (there is also a small indoor seating area) beside the pond and its green-lit fountain. A pleasant place to sit one would think.

Looking into the water, we wondered why there were no fish, or life whatsoever in it. Then we smelt the answer. An odour best described as a combination of garbage and dead fish was wafting through the air.

Apparently modern health code regulations have yet to make their impact on El Cabana. To one side of the bar, not too far away from seated patrons, was a couple bags of garbage.

And if this wasn't enough to sour my opinion of the place on my first and most likely only visit, the drink menu's main attraction was unavailable. Glancing at what was on offer I noticed that there were several different types of "Beer Shakes" available. My curiosity peaked, and given that you could attach a lot of things to beer and I'd try them, I ordered one. They didn't have any.

Fifty per cent of the menu of El Cabana is composed of different types of milkshakes. The only food it offers is four or five desserts, and the rest is just normal alcoholic beverages.

What could be an drawing point to this otherwise well-done establishment, and something that could have possibly made me ignore the smell wafting from the pond, was for some (Bulgarian?) reason not available. I'd still like to know what a "Beer Shake" is.