We were pleasantly surprised by our experiences in restaurants in Havana and Varadero. Doing a lot of research before our trip to Cuba we were warned that food in Cuba could be bland and that service was not the best, bearing on rude in sometimes.

We were lucky with our servers and only came across very pleasant and courteous attitude. The food most of the time was good even sometimes great like ropa vieja / shredded beef in Astuarinito restaurant in Old Havana. 

Ropa Vieja / Shredded Beef in La Casona del Arte restaurant in Varadero was very flavorful as well.

The restaurant La Casona del Arte was our favorite in Varadero. Not only did it have plenty of delicious choices on their menu but it was also very reasonable. Here is our dinner with ribs, ropa vieja, moros y christianos / rice with beans, chicharritas and maduros de platanos

Very tasty chicharritas de platano / plantain chips and maduros / fried sweet plantain slices, the best we ever had. We had a great idea to get these appetizers and ropa vieja with rice and beans as a take away for lunch at Havana Jose Marti airport before our departure.

We were surprised how popular Italian food is in Cuba. You can get pasta and pizza dishes in most restaurants. Pasta dishes are often very good like this Alfredo with shrimp.

Pizzas, especially classic Margherita ones were not so good. The sauce sometimes tasted more like ketchup. We learned that it was better to stick to pizzas with sausage or ham.

like this one in Havana restaurant 5 Esquinas

There are always hungry cats around mewing and looking at you with pleading eyes. So there goes shrimp, sausage, chicken, etc... And I never saw cats eating hardened pizza crust before!

Lobster tails / langosta are also a popular item on the menus in many restaurants. These delicious lobster tails were cooked by our hosts at Hostal el Villareño in Varadero.

We had our breakfast in our Casas Particulares / B&Bs both in Havana and Varadero. For around $5 per person you get to eat buffet style breakfast like this one in Havana

Breakfast in our Casa Particular / B&B in Varadero was served al fresco on a terrace.

I enjoyed this fruit plate with guava, mango, papaya and pineapple. I also fell in love with fresh guava juice and ordered it wherever I could.

Speaking of guava, this is amazing gelato with mojito and guava flavors from our absolute favorite food spot in Havana - Helad'oro. If this gelato was in Hoboken or NYC, Brian and I would go there a lot for these two hard to find flavors.

Just having coffee with Hugo Chavez :) Brian, an expert in coffee, was pleased with the local coffee.

Mojitos were plentiful and reasonable ranging from $2 to $5.

We couldn't evade mojitos and even though we are not big drinkers sometimes we obliged when they were free with live music show.

My still life painting of "Cuban Coffee" was inspired by delicious coffee we had in many places in Cuba.

This painting "Tropical Drink" was inspired by the refreshing San Francisco drink made from a mix of fresh tropical juices that I had in Havana.

Please check out my paintings on my website. Thank you!

My Cuba Blog Posts