Food in Cuba is not as typical as you would find in other places in the world, but for sure it is very tasteful.
Breakfast
âIf you eat breakfast at a casa particular then the price would be around 5 CUC per person. The breakfast will include: Fresh Juice, Coffee + Milk. Fresh fruits, guava marmalade and eggs which you can get either as an omelette or scrambled eggs, The food is usually more than enough so no worries about the portions. |
Lunch/Dinner what we tried around
âWe had Langosta a la plancha at one of the restaurants on the street Callejon del Chorro in Havana, it was the first one on the left hand side as you enter the street. We paid 10 CUC for the dish and one Mojito. Service was nice, food was good. On top of the plate we also got salad and a plate of Moros y Cristianos â |
We ate at a resturant next to Nardos (instead of going up on the stairs to Nardos just go to the right) as for Nardos there was an endless queue. The food was very good. We had lamb with Cuban souce (criolla sauce) and pork steak Cuban way. Both were very good.
Make sure you try the Lechon Cubano, it is extreme tasteful and a very typical dish in the country. We had it iberostar mojito at cayo coco.
Ropa Vieja is one of the very typical dishes in Cuba and if you eat beef, then you should definitely try it.
As sea food is almost everywhere around so are the shrimps. check in the menu for Camarones Enchilados, they taste super good. This ones are from Ibis Restaurante, Calle Aguacate en Havana, but the best we had were at La Bodeguita del Medio
The security guy from Cuartel de Moncada (santiago de Cuba) recommended us to eat at El Barracon so we asked for the specialty of the house which was a lamb dish with a secret sauce. Excellent ;)
Just to have an idea so there is this side dish that is called Morosy Cristianos which you can also order separate (Moros one dish, Cristianos another dish). The dish is actually rice cooked in black beans and orderd together it is far less heavy than getting the beans sauce separately.
If you reach Baracoa you will notice that the food here is different than on the rest of the Island, namely the food is cooked in lechita which is coconut milk with some spices. Most of the seafood is served with this sauce. You should definitely try it out.
Also in Baracoa you can find some extra specialties. For example the Cucurucho which is a coconut candy wrapped in Palm leaf (left picture) You can buy them for 1 peso national on the road to Baracoa or 1 CUC in Baracoa. The option on the right is similar but without being wrapped in the palm leafs
If you want to get chocolate back home, best to buy it here, we could not find it in Havana (they do have it at the shops for tourists but not always.
Drinks
National Beers are Bucanero and Cristal. They are quite light beers but perfect hor the hot days to refresh.
There is of course the Mojito, most famous place to drink it is at La Bodeguita del Medio where Ernest Hemingway was a customer, but it costs 5 CUC and it is not that good, so definitely try it somewhere else at 2 CUC and tasting far better.
and here we go with the other bar that Hemingway made famous La Floridita, this time special honor gets the Daiquiri (again too expensive and not as good as you could find it in other bars)
A new cocktail that I discovered and did not know about was the Canchanchara (Rum, Lime, Honey and Ice) we had the coconut edition.
Don't forget to try also the Pina Colada which is excellent (I missed to take the picture but for sure a must try in Cuba)