Restaurants in Caribbean Islands
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A
Decameron
Ugly from the outside, but far prettier within, the Decameron is an intimate Italian-influenced restaurant where you can order from the varied menu with abandon. Veggie pizza, lasagna bolognese, steak au poivre and a divine calabaza soup: it’s all good. On top of that, there’s a decent wine selection and the kitchen is sympathetic to vegetarians.
reviewed
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B
Paladar La Guarida
Located on the top floor of a spectacularly dilapidated Havana tenement, La Guarida’s lofty reputation rests on its movie-location setting ( Fresa y Chocolate was filmed in this building) and a clutch of swashbuckling newspaper reviews (including the New York Times and the Guardian ). The food, as might be expected, is up there with Havana’s best, shoehorning its captivating blend of Nueva Cocina Cubana into dishes such as sea bass in a coconut reduction, and chicken with honey and lemon sauce. Reservations required.
reviewed
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C
Dinghy Dock
If you can brave the gauntlet of cigarette-smoking expats that requisition the steps nightly, you’ll find the DD to be something of a culinary revelation. Unusually for Puerto Rico, there’s an all-you-can-eat salad bar to quell your early hunger pangs, and you can chomp on your lettuce and cucumber while watching the kitchen staff throw morsels of food to the giant tarpon that swim right up to the deck. Fish is the obvious specialty here – fresh catches such as swordfish and snapper done in creole sauces. The busy bar is a frenzy of expats nursing Medalla beers and acts as the unofficial island grapevine. If you haven’t heard it here first, it’s not worth hearing.…
reviewed
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D
St Germain Bistro & Café
Kudos to the chef for transforming the main course salads – so often the dullest dish on the menu – into something fresh, tasty and filling. Then there’s the aromatic Puerto Rican coffee, the delicious paninis and the homemade cakes which can only be described as melt-in-your-mouth heavenly. Nestled on the corner of Sol and Cruz, the St Germain is a bright neighborhood place with down-to-earth service, interesting clientele and a distinct European feel. Perfect for breakfast, lunch or a light dinner.
reviewed
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E
Los Nardos
Directly opposite the Capitolio but easy to miss, Los Nardos is one of a handful of semi-private Havana restaurants operated by the Spanish Asturianas society. Touted in some quarters as one of the best eateries in the city, this unprepossessing place is decked out in mahogany and leather and serves up such astoundingly delicious dishes as lobster in a Catalan sauce, garlic prawns with sautéed vegetables and an authentic Spanish paella. Portions are huge and the prices, which start at around CUC$4 for chicken and pork dishes, are unbelievably cheap.
reviewed
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F
Paladar La Fontana
Havana discovers the barbecue or, more to the point, the full-on charcoal grill. Huge portions of meat and fish are served up in this amiable villa-cum-paladar, so go easy on the starters which include crab mixed with eggplant, quail eggs and fried chickpeas. La Fontana specializes in just about everything you’ll never see elsewhere in Cuba, from lasagna to huge steaks. Big-shot reviews from the Cigar Aficionado and the Chicago Tribune testify the burgeoning legend.
reviewed
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Café Literario del ‘G’
If Havana has a proverbial Left Bank, this is it, a laid-back student hangout full of arty wall scribblings and coffee-quaffing intellectuals discussing the merits of Guillén over Lorca. Kick back in the airy front patio among the green plants and dusty books and magazines (available to read, lend and buy), and keep an ear out for one of the regular trova (traditional music), jazz and poetry presentations.
reviewed
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G
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H
Museo del Chocolate
Chocolate addicts beware. This quirky ‘museum’ in the heart of Habana Vieja offers a lethal dose of chocolate, chocolate and yet more chocolate. (And it’s all made on the premises too.) Situated – with no irony intended – on the corner of narrow Calle Amargura (Bitterness St), this venerable sweet-toothed establishment is actually more a café than a museum, with a small cluster of marble tables set among an interesting assortment of chocolate paraphernalia. Not surprisingly everything on the delicious menu contains one all-pervading ingredient – have it hot, cold, white, dark, rich, or smooth, the stuff is divine whatever way you choose.
reviewed
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Pelican Bar
Built on a submerged sandbar 1km out to sea, this thatch-roofedeatery on stilts provides Jamaica’s – and perhaps the planet’s – most enjoyable spot for a drink. Getting there is half the fun: hire a local boat captain (you can book passage from Jake’s for US$30). The clientele is a mix of enchanted travelers and repeat-business fishermen who while away the hours playing dominoes, talking on their cell phones, checking the cricket scores or exchanging pleasantries with the self-satisfied owner. In between Red Stripes, or perhaps before your meal of lobster, shrimp or fish, feel free to slip into the salubrious waters for a dip.
reviewed
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La Bombonera
The old-fashioned coffee machine hisses like a steam engine, career waiters in black trousers appear like royal footmen at your table, and a long line of seen-it-all sanjuaneros populate the lengthy row of bar stools, catching up on the local breakfast gossip. It shouldn’t take you long to work out that La Bombonera is a city institution: it’s been around since 1902 and still sells some of the best cakes in town. Come here for breakfast, lunch or an early evening snack attack and soak up the unique Latin ambience over a copy of the San Juan Star.
reviewed
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J
Tantra
For purists, eating Masala Dosa in Puerto Rico is probably about as incongruous as chomping on mofongo in Madras, but for those willing to drop the cultural blinkers, Tantra’s adventurous ‘Indo-Latin fusion’ cuisine is actually rather authentic. It helps that the chef’s from South India. It also helps that the restaurant’s Asian-inspired decor, which places exotic lampshades among carved Buddhas, sets your taste buds traveling inexorably east. The pièce de résistance is the belly dancing that kicks off nightly at nine-ish.
reviewed
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K
Paladar Salón Tropical
The city’s best paladar is a few blocks south of Hotel Las Américas on a pleasant rooftop terrace with fairy lights and decent views. The food is plentiful and tasty with a varying menu of succulent smoked pork, chicken and sometimes lamb, served with congrí (rice flecked with black beans), salad and plantains (green bananas) and delicious yuca con mojo (starchy root vegetable with garlic lime sauce). Reservations are a good idea as this is a favorite spot for young Cuban women who come here with their 50-plus-year-old foreign sugar daddies.
reviewed
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El Templete
This upscale restaurant is situated less than 100m from its namesake temple, where the city of Habana was founded in 1519. Overlooking the harbor, the eating space is split into two halves: an outdoor alfresco area accommodated under a large awning, and a pleasant indoor dining room with starched tablecloths and expensive-looking wine glasses. For once the food quality lives up to the pretensions of the fancy decor, with seafood specialties spearheaded by shrimps and lobster. Count on forking out CUC$15 minimum for a main course here.
reviewed
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Restaurante la Torre
One of Habana’s tallest and most talked about restaurants is perched high above downtown Vedado atop the 36-story Edificio Focsa. A colossus of modernist architecture and French-Cuban haute cuisine, this lofty fine-dining extravaganza combines sweeping city views with a progressive French-inspired menu that serves everything from artichokes to foie gras to almond tart. The prices at CUC$30 a pop are as distinctly un-Cuban as the ingredients, but with this level of service, it’s probably worth it.
reviewed
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Rancho Coquito
At last, a decent restaurant on the Malecón. Run by the local Spanish Asturianas society, this is an inconspicuous food joint with a balcony that overlooks Havana’s dreamy 8km sea drive (look for the waiter posted outside) and is frequented mainly by Cubans. Upstairs, the food is tasty and unbelievably cheap. Paella goes for CUC$7, garbanzos fritos (fried chickpeas) CUC$5, tortilla CUC$3 and a decent portion of lobster pan-fried in butter for a giveaway CUC$8.
reviewed
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O
El Aljibe
On paper a humble Palmares restaurant, but in reality a rip-roaring culinary extravaganza, El Aljibe has been delighting both Cuban and foreign diplomatic taste buds for years. The furor surrounds the gastronomic mysteries of just one dish, the obligatory pollo asado (roast pork), which is served up with as-much-as-you-can-eat helpings of white rice, black beans, fried plantain, French fries and salad. The accompanying bitter orange sauce is said to be a state secret.
reviewed
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P
Ajili-Mójili
The waiters wear hats and the reception displays aromatic cigars from the Dominican Republic, so leave your sandals and singlet in your room and venture out to this classy Condado classic. Housed in one of the neighborhood’s few remaining eclectic mansions, the menu is high-end comida criolla – such as island-style pork loin with mofongo – while the atmosphere is refined and romantic. Expect discreet service and sky-high prices.
reviewed
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Q
3 Dives Jerk Centre
It’s no small tribute to 3 Dives that its jerk overshadows its reputation for lengthy waits (sometimes over an hour). Fortunately, the chefs are more than happy to let you peek into the kitchen, where there’s bound to be a pile of super-hot Scotch bonnet peppers threatening to spontaneously combust, and you can sip cheap Red Stripe on the cliffs at the end of a small garden. This is also the site of the annual Negril Jerk Festival.
reviewed
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Toscanini
One of the finest restaurants on the island, this roadside spot is run by two gracious Italians who mix local ingredients into recipes from the motherland. The daily menu ranges widely, encompassing such appetizers as prosciutto with papaya or marinated marlin and mains like lobster pasta, or shrimp sautéed with garlic and Appleton rum. Leave room for desserts such as strawberry tart or apple and plum strudel. Treat yourself!
reviewed
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Café de las Infusiones
Wedged into Calle Mercaderes, this recently restored Habaguanex coffee house is a caffeine addict’s heaven; it boasts a wonderful resident pianist, too. Fancier than your average Cuban coffee bar and more comprehensive than the Escorial, you can order more than a dozen different cuppas here, including Irish coffee (CUC$3.50), punch coffee (CUC$5), mocha (CUC$1), cappuccino (CUC$1.75) and so on.
reviewed
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El Sabor Latino
Santa Clara’s only real paladar is easily trumped by many of the city’s casa particular chefs, but still lures plenty of clients into its well-maintained midst with its improbable Rolling Stones’ ‘Glimmer Twins’ logo. The menu offers complete pork or chicken meals with rice, salad, tostones (fried plantain patties) and bread for CUC$10 (or fish for CUC$12).
reviewed
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Restaurante Europa
Fine fin de siècle furnishings lure you into this former Havana sweet shop that recently got a restaurant makeover by the City’s Historian’s office and Habaguanex. They obviously forgot to makeover the chef. Despite a menu that boasts of prize-winning cuisine (what prize?), the plate doesn’t quite live up to the billing, though the ambience is pleasant and the service eager.
reviewed
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U
Duffy’s
Esperanza’s newest bar is a sleeker and slightly more refined version of Banana’s next door. It fills a gap in the market with fresh salads and creative seafood, but still nurtures an undone Caribbean flavor. Opening out onto Esperanza’s main strip, the laid-back street atmosphere infiltrates the shady interior where expats and locals mingle over beer and scallops.
reviewed
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Épi d’Or
This Haitian take on the Subway-style sandwich outlet was taking Port-au-Prince by storm when we visited. As well as fantastic sandwiches, it also serves crepes, pizza and ‘MacEpi’ burgers, and there’s an inhouse patisserie, all in bright surroundings and with cool air-con. Pay first, then present your ticket to complete the order. Be prepared for lengthy lunchtime queues.
reviewed
