Cuba - Lonely Planet [98]
El Mercurio ( 860-6188; Lonja del Comercio; 24hr) An elegant indoor-outdoor cafe-restaurant with cappuccino machines, intimate booths and waiters in black ties. You can get decent main dishes here such as lobster and steak tartar, but it’s also a great place for lunch or a snack. The formidable ‘Cuban sandwich’ with ham, cheese and pork (CUC$4.50) should keep you going until dinnertime.
La Zaragozana ( 867-1040; Av de Bélgica btwn Obispo & Obrapía; noon-midnight) Established in 1830, this is Havana’s oldest restaurant but a long way from being its best. The Spanish-themed food – which includes the obligatory paella – would have kept Don Quijote happy but the ambience, amid assorted Iberian flags and memorabilia, is a little gloomy.
CENTRO HABANA
El Gran Dragón ( 861-5396; Cuchillo No 1; 11am-midnight; ) First on the left as you enter Cuchillo from Calle Zanja, this is as good an introduction as any to the energetic pulse of Havana’s Barrio Chino. Specialties include wonton soup, chop suey, chow mein and fried rice, and the prices come in at less than CUC$5 a dish. Spread over three floors and with alfresco dining options outside, this is a good place for vegetarians.
Prado & Neptuno ( 860-9636; cnr Paseo de Martí & Neptuno; meals CUC$8-12; noon-5pm & 6:30-11:30pm) Dark lighting and tinted windows lure you into this trusty Italian restaurant on the lively intersection of Prado and Calle Neptuno. Stick to the pizza and pasta and choose from a good selection of Italian wines at the bar.
Chi Tack Tong ( 861-8095; Dragones No 356 btwn San Nicolás & Manrique; noon-midnight) Another aspiring Chinese restaurant situated in a large upstairs room in Calle Dragones, this place wins plenty of kudos for decor, with waitresses in Chinese-style dresses and a large painting of Sun Yatsen hung reverently on the wall. The downside is the menu, which is a little limited, particularly when compared to some of the Cuchillo joints nearby. As if to make amends, portions sizes are absolutely huge. Box up your leftovers.
Restaurante Tien-Tan ( 861-5478; Cuchillo No 17 btwn Rayo & San Nicolás; 11am-11pm) One of the Barrio Chino’s best authentic Chinese restaurants, Tien-Tan (the ‘Temple of Heaven’) is run by a Chinese-Cuban couple and serves up an incredulous 130 different dishes. With such complexity you might have thought that you would be in for a long wait and that the food would, at best, be average. Thankfully, neither is the case. Try chop suey with vegetables or chicken with cashew nuts and sit outside in action-packed Cuchillo, one of Havana’s most colorful and fastest-growing ‘food streets.’
VEDADO
Café TV ( 833-4499; cnr Calles N & 19; 10am-9pm) Hidden in the bowels of the Focsa building, the goggle box–themed Café TV is a funky dinner/performance venue lauded by those in the know for its cheap food and hilarious comedy nights. If you’re willing to brave the frigid air-con and rather foreboding underground entry tunnel, head here for fresh burgers (CUC$2), healthy salad (CUC$1.50), pasta (CUC$4) and Gordon Bleu (chicken stuffed with ham and cheese; CUC$5). Televisión Cubana is around the corner, hence the name and theme.
El Lugar ( 204-5162; cnr Calles 49C & 28A; noon-midnight) Set in Parque Almendares just across the road from the river below the bridge, this place is fantastic value offering CUC$5 for a juicy pork filet, a Pico Turquino of congrí (rice flecked with black beans), salad, tostones (fried plantain patties), ice cream and coffee. There’s music in the evenings.
Trattoría Maraka’s (Calle 0 No 260 btwn Calles 23 & 25; 10am-11pm) Don’t be put off by the cheap Formica tables and the pictorial map of Italy on the wall. Real olive oil, parmesan and mozzarella cheese, plus a wood oven, mean that the pizza in this Vedado Italian trattoria is among the city’s best. Also on offer are Greek salad,