Cuba - Lonely Planet [212]
Paladar El Criollito (Map; Calle 33 btwn Avs 56 & 58) You’ll feel like you’re eating in someone’s front room – probably because you are. El Criollito is a salt-of-the-earth, old-school paladar: a decent no-frills family-run restaurant business that makes do with limited ingredients and not a lot of encouragement (or help) from the government. Standard fish and meat meals are plentiful, if not memorable.
1869 Restaurant (Map; cnr Av 54 & Calle 31; mains CUC$10; breakfast, lunch & dinner) Cienfuegos’ best city-center dining experience can be found in this elegant restaurant in the La Unión hotel Click here. Although the food doesn’t quite match the lush furnishings, a varied international menu makes a welcome change from rice/beans/pork staples offered elsewhere.
Mercado Municipal (Map; Calle 31 No 5805 btwn Avs 58 & 60) If you feel like cooking or having a picnic, head to the market for fruits and vegetables in pesos.
For a quick stand-up breakfast, try the Casa del Batido (Map; Calle 37 No 5211 btwn Avs 52 & 54; 6am-11pm) on the Prado, where you can sip banana and papaya fruitshakes with work-bound locals for one peso. The ubiquitous Doña Neli (Map; cnr Calle 41 & Av 62; 9am-10:15pm) dispatches pastries and bread in Convertibles. Coppelia (Map; cnr Calle 37 & Av 52) practically gives away its ice cream for two pesos a scoop.
PUNTA GORDA
Restaurante El Cochinito (Map; 51-86-11; cnr Calle 37 & Av 4; noon-3pm & 7-10pm, closed Tue) Cheap pork for tight budgets.
Restaurante Covadonga (Map; 59-64-20; Calle 37 btwn Avs 2 & 0) Legend has it that Castro and his guerrillas ate here in January 1959 during their triumphant march to Havana. The food probably tasted delicious after two years up in the Sierra Maestra but, if you’ve just flown in from Canada, you may not appreciate the rubbery fish. Enjoy a relaxing sunset cocktail and see if the paella’s on offer. If not, head elsewhere.
Club Cienfuegos (Map; 51-28-91; Calle 37 btwn Avs 10 & 12; noon-3pm & 6-9pm) With a setting this good, it’s easy for the food to fall short, which it often does. But there are plenty of options here, with the Bar Terraza for cocktails and chicken sandwiches; El Marinero, a 1st-floor seafood establishment; and Restaurante Café Cienfuegos, a more refined adventurous place up on the top floor where you’ll pay CUC$10 for a steak and CUC$6 for a fine paella. The yacht-club vibe and wraparound dining terraces make for a memorable experience even if the food doesn’t.
Palacio de Valle (Map; 51-12-26; cnr Calle 37 & Av 2; 10am-10pm) While the food doesn’t have as many decorative flourishes as the eclectic architecture, the setting is so unique it would be a shame to miss it. Seafood dominates the menu downstairs, but if you still aren’t convinced on the quality, eat in the La Jagua next door and use the rooftop bar here for a predinner cocktail or a postdinner cigar.
Drinking
Bar Terrazas (Map; 45-10-20; cnr Av 54 & Calle 31) Cienfuegos was built with the word refinement in mind and you can recreate it here with a mojito upstairs at the Cubanacán Boutique La Unión; live music starts at 10pm. Other excellent drinking perches (especially at sunset) can be found at Club Cienfuegos Click here and the Palacio de Valle Click here
El Palatino (Map; 55-12-44; Av 54 No 2514) Liquid lunches were invented with El Palatino in mind – a dark-wood bar set in one of the city’s oldest buildings on the southern side of salubrious Parque Martí. Impromptu jazz sets sometimes erupt, but be prepared to be hit up for alms at the end of song number three.
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You can enjoy all types of music in Cienfuegos. For traditional Cuban sounds there’s Costazul and Patio ARTex, for trova the Jardines de Uneac, and for salsa the terrace bar at Club Cienfuegos or upstairs at Hotel La Unión. If you want to hear some classic Benny Moré, bypass the misleadingly named El Benny – which is a disco – and head instead