Havana Cuba Adventures Final Post

Although much was closed for our vacation, we still saw a lot just wandering around. There is lots of music in the streets as you walk about being broadcasted from homes and by live musicians in the streets.

We have heard from some who visited Havana that they didn’t like it. It’s not for everybody. Cuba is Cuba and not Canada, the US or France. The world is a varied place, and there are other ways to live and make a country function than what most tourists are used to. Here is a view of an old Havana neighbourhood from our pool deck

That said, parts of Havana are slowly being rebuilt. New hotels are under construction and older buildings are getting facelifts (upper floor original and lower floor newly renovated).

The white building on the left is the first 5 story shopping mall in Havana; workers are almost finished the renovation. Behind it is The Museum of Fine Arts opened 1913.

Although the drink of choice in Cuba is rum, we prefer beer and wine. Bars in Havana mostly had 2 main national beers – Cristal and Bucanero (Bucanero being our beer of choice), and Presidente from DR. All are owned by Belgian-owned Anheuser-Busch InBev. Prices at the bars were really cheap compared to home. They ranged from 2 CUC to 2.50 CUC a bottle.

We discovered a small corner bar called Bar Bilbao in Old Havana. It was loaded with soccer jerseys from around the world. Apparently, it’s the go-to place when soccer matches are playing. Unfortunately, we could only get Bucanero here the first time we went because they ran out due to the holiday closures. They did offer Cristal on tap, but we declined (other places to go…).

We really liked Sloppy Joes and visited three times to kick back and relax. Established in the early 1900s, it is air conditioned and has no smoking. Their menu had 8 pages of alcoholic beverages and 2 pages of food.

The glass cupboards around the perimeter of Sloppy’s stock bottle after bottle of various alcohols from around the world. The columns in the centre are adorned with pictures of past customers ranging from actors to singers to sports figures to politicians.

In the past we have travelled to resorts in various areas of Cuba and while the beaches were excellent, the food certainly was not. We were pleasantly surprised with the foods we had on this trip. Our most disappointing restaurant was Los Nardos. It is highly rated and supposed to be really good and cheap; it wasn’t bad, just not that good. There is always a lineup to get in. We went for dinner one day and left. Another day we went for lunch and decided to wait in the line. Fifty minutes later, we were let into the restaurant where we waited another 10 minutes in the entryway. Neither of us got the meals we were expecting. My smoked pork was just ham and was supposed to be topped with cheese, not the onions it came with. Todd’s was also the wrong order – and not too appetizing looking, but after waiting over an hour, we just ate what we were given.

Twice, we went to Lamparilla Tapas and Cervesas. The first night, we met a couple from England and chatted for quite a while about our travels to different places (they had also been to Galapagos). They were vegan, so just stopped in for beers. They don’t know what they missed because the food was so good! Todd and I shared an order of roasted vegetables.

Todd had the Octopus which he said was delicious.

I went for the Suckling Pig…amazing!

We returned to Lamparilla on our final night in Havana. Todd started with fish ceviche, which I did taste….um…no thanks.

I once again had the Suckling Pig and Todd had the Lobster (good, but not as good as octopus).

Prior to coming to Havana, we watched the Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives TV show, where Guy featured 5 restaurants in Havana. We went to 3 out of the 5 and were not disappointed. El Figaro is known for their Coffee Lobster which Todd was looking forward to, but because of the holiday shutdown, they had run out of lobster….We started with a mixed tapas plate which was quite good!

Todd ordered the Mixed Seafood (of course). It was a massive combination of fish, clams, shrimps, and scallops.

I had pork (of course) – Pork Chateaubriand.

Wandering among the tables in the outdoor courtyard was a cat and a couple of cute kittens. There was no way Todd could finish his fish dish, so he quickly made friends.

We ended up making reservations for Al Carbon because the one night we went, they had no room unless you had a reservation. There were a few restaurants where reservations were a must due to their popularity. We chose to sit at the bar and were soon joined by a couple (from Britain) who had just arrived and were on their honeymoon. We chatted and gave them a few restaurant recommendations for dinner in the area.

Todd and I shared entrees….no seafood because of course pork was going to be the main! We started with a delicious cheese and sausage appetizer and needed a bit more bread to soak up the yummy cheese sauce.

Then we had the Suckling Pig. It was quite different from Lamparilla’s which was pulled and wrapped in bacon. Al Carbon’s was a bar-b-qued whole pig and we got the shoulder portion with delicious crispy skin.

Our absolute favourite eating spot in Havana was Nazdarovie. We went for lunch our first full day in Havana, dinner halfway through our trip, and lunch on our final full day. Each time, we sat at the same table – on the balcony overlooking the Malecon.

This Soviet-style restaurant is a nostalgic nod to Cuba’s ties with the Soviet Union during the Cold War when Moscow was Havana’s main source of trade, and a time when thousands of Cubans travelled to the Soviet Bloc as diplomats, artists, and students. The restaurant was the vision of a Canadian, Gregory, who relocated to Havana more than two decades ago.

Our first lunch (shared), consisted of a ravioli type dish made with ground beef and topped with sour cream (Siberian Pielmeni).

We also had Cabbage Rolls (Golubets with Aji Filling). These were absolutely the best tasting Cabbage Rolls we have ever had! Before we left, we made reservations for dinner a few nights later.

We met owner Gregory (below talking to a tour group) when we returned for dinner. He told us that Guy’s team came to Havana and tested out 40 restaurants before deciding on the five featured on the show. He is very passionate about his employees and his restaurant.

For an appetizer, Todd picked the plate of pickled vegetables (Ruskii Raznosol) and I had a potato & ham salad (Olivie Salad). Both were great choices.

For mains Todd chose one of the Chef’s specials, beef cutlet strips in a mushroom cream sauce (Stroganoff de Res).

My choice was one of the featured dishes on Diners, the breaded stuffed chicken with butter and fine herbs (Cotlet a Kiev). Wow!!! So good!!!

On our final day in Havana, after a long walk to Hotel Nacional, on our way back to the hotel we stopped at a bar along the Malecon for a beer (we were hot and thirsty). While there, a group stopped in for drinks too (father and daughter from Ireland visiting with a woman friend from Iowa). They just arrived and didn’t have a clue where anything really was, so we gave them the maps we had. After that we made our way along the Malecon until we reached Nazardovie. Time for lunch… The waitresses recognized us and welcomed us back and showed us to “our table”. We ordered beers and three appetizers to share. We chose the pickled veggie plate again, “the must have” cabbage rolls, and a pierogi type dish (Vareniki Domashnie). The food was once again excellent! Hard to beat the scenery – a view of the Old Fort right form our table!

We told our waitress that it was our last day. She said she was sad to see us leave and offered us dessert on the house. We thanked her, but declined; we were full.  A few minutes later she emerged smiling with two shots of vodka and caviar on a lime slice. How could we turn that down?! Good tasting vodka! What a wonderful gesture! What a wonderful place!

Although the holiday closures affected what we did, where we went, and what we saw, we had a great vacation! Havana is changing; it would be interesting to return in 10 years and see the changes. Many are affected with the passing of Fidel Castro. We saw many memorials on houses around the city for Fidel. This one in Spanish says “Farewell Commandante”.

Home for 4 ½ weeks….then Kauai and back to the Big Island…