3 Best Restaurants in Havana, Cuba
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Shortages of raw materials and a bureaucratized approach to food preparation in state-owned restaurants have produced many a mediocre meal, but with the privateer restaurants leading the way, Cuban cuisine is coming back. For the best cooking in Havana, seek out the paladares (privately owned establishments; the name, which literally means "palates," was cribbed from a popular Brazilian soap opera in which the heroine makes her fortune with a roadside restaurant named "El Paladar de Raquel"). Call ahead to reserve a table if you go to a paladar, and never believe a taxi driver who swears to you that the place is closed; he gets a commission for taking you to the place he is flacking for.
Cafe de los Artistas
El Figaro
Another popular addition to Callejón de Peluquerros (Barbers' Alley), El Figaro's tagline is comida sin pelos (food without hairs). The menu, which was set up by the grandson of Cuba's celebrity chef Gilberto Smith Duquesne, is full of gourmet, stylized Cuban dishes, as well as international favorites such as ceviche or gazpacho. Try the signature dish of lobster cooked in coffee, cream, white wine, and cognac.
Come later in the evening to watch old movies projected onto the outside wall (like a drive-in movie theater), while sampling one of their 15 varieties of mojitos.