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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 lite
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 pal
Shortages of raw materials and a bureaucratized approach to food preparation in state-owned restaurants have produced ma
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.
Still Havana's most famous paladar, La Guardia has reached almost legendary status. Enrique Nuñez and his wife, Odeysis, have transformed their early 20th-century town house into a fine paladar. It's so photogenic that scenes in Fresa y Chocolate (Strawberry and Chocolate) were filmed here. The three-floor climb up the squalid but picturesque stairway generates an appetite-enhancing adrenaline. The daily special is never what Enrique and Odeysis need to get rid of but rather what they hope will make you happiest. Look for cherna compuesta a lo caimanero (with coconut and spices) or conejoal aceite de oliva con caponata (cooked in olive oil with a sauce of eggplant, peppers, and onion). On Sunday the restaurant is open only for brunch from noon to 4.
Calle Concordia 418, Havana, La Habana, 10200, Cuba
For decades, the elegant dining room in the Hotel Nacional has been one of the city's premier establishments. Despite the table-side shrimp-and-rum flambé performances, which are always entertaining, the atmosphere is generally subdued—even when the place is full. The wine list is excellent, though pricey.
Hotel Nacional, Calle O y Calle 21, Havana, 10400, Cuba
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