Café restaurants in Cuba
-
A
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
-
B
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
-
Café EI Escorial
Opening out onto Plaza Vieja and encased in a finely restored colonial mansion, there’s something definitively European about El Escorial. Among some of the best caffeine infusions in the city served here are café cubano, café con leche, frappé, coffee liquor and even daiquirí de café. There’s also a sweet selection of delicate pastries.
reviewed
-
Cinco Esquinas
Looking for somewhere to eat in Regla is like looking for the Niagara Falls in the Sahara. Bring a packed lunch! If desperation sets in, there are drinks and a few edible tidbits available at this Palmares place situated on ‘Five Corners’ in between the Parque Guaicanamar and the Colina Lenin. There’s a vastly unhealthy chicken booth nearby.
reviewed
-
C
Café Santo Domingo
Tucked away upstairs above Habana Vieja’s best bakery – and encased in one of its oldest buildings – this laid-back cafe is aromatic, tasty and light on the wallet. Check out the delicious fruit shakes, huge sandwich especial, or smuggle some cakes upstairs to enjoy over a steaming cup of café con leche (coffee with warm milk).
reviewed
-
D
Pastelería Francesa
This cafe has all the ingredients of a Champs-Élysées classic: a great location in Parque Central, waiters in waistcoats, and myriad pastries displayed in glass cases. But the authentic French flavor is ruined somewhat by the swarming jineteras who roll in here with their European sugar daddies for cigarettes and strong coffee.
reviewed
-
Café Atenas
Atenas is used to receiving the odd stray tourist on a moped-trip from Varadero and can rustle up a rather delicious bruschetta at short notice. Settle down in the clean, if bland, interior with the local students, taxi drivers and hotel workers on a day off, and contemplate the everyday occurrences of Plaza Vigía outside.
reviewed
-
E
G-Café
This café is the ultimate student hangout, with arty wall drawings and a modernist mural, a patio with lots of greenery, and more than 400 books and magazines to read, borrow and buy. As well as deftly concocted mojitos and chunky sandwiches, there is trova (traditional poetic singing), jazz and poetry.
reviewed
-
F
Cafetería Las Enramadas
It's the usual fried chicken, ice cream and fries at this place in the northwest corner of Plaza de Dolores - a kind of El Rápido in disguise. The terrace is shady, the beers affordable and the hours long: perfect jinetero turf. Good place for a hair-of-the-dog or for drowning a hangover in grease.
reviewed
-
G
Cafetería El Parque
This open terrace gets regularly drenched in those familiar Baracoa rain showers, but that doesn’t seem to detract from its popularity. The favored meeting place of just about everyone in town, you’re bound to end up here at some point tucking into spaghetti and pizza as you watch the world go by.
reviewed
Advertisement
-
Café Habano
A gritty, no-nonsense coffee bar on Calle Mercaderes, frequented mainly by Cubans, the Habano serves sweet, strong early-morning café cubana (strong, sweet black coffee) that gets plunked down straight in front of you on the bar. Don’t expect anything fancy here - like, um, milk.
reviewed
-
H
Cafetería Las Arecas
Nestled in the garden patio of La Maison, the mansion-turned-mod-shopping-center, this cafetería has an inexpensive menu with spaghetti, pizzas and chicken dishes. Fish filets start at CUC$5.50. The fancier dining-room restaurant in the rear part of the main building is open until 10pm.
reviewed
-
I
Bar El Polvorín
Bar El Polvorín, just beyond Los Doce Apóstoles, offers drinks and light snacks on a patio overlooking the bay. There’s zero shade, but it’s perfect for those famous Havana sunsets.
reviewed
-
J
Café Artex
This place on Parque Martí usually serves espresso and café con leche (espresso coffee with milk). The flowering patio looks out on the park where you can watch the old folk doing their morning aerobics.
reviewed
-
K
Café de O’Reilly
Good old-fashioned ‘spit and sawdust’ cafe that sells drinks and snacks morning, noon and night. The bar is spread over two floors interconnected by a spiral staircase with most of the action taking place upstairs.
reviewed
-
L
Café Libertad
If you’re going Cuban in Matanzas, this cafe on the main square is a fairly painless introduction, though the peso hamburguesas (hamburgers) could do with a little bit of extra garnish.
reviewed
-
Cafetería El Rápido, Versalles
Better than the central Cafetería El Rápido is the branch, just down from the Cuartel Goicuría in Versalles, with a nice terrace.
reviewed
-
M
BurgueCentro
The burgers aren’t quite steakhouse standard but the upstairs bar overlooking Parque Vidal is a good drinking perch.
reviewed
-
N
Cafetería La Cocinita
This is a good place for peso sandwiches and juice or more substantial meals in the nicer sit-down section in the back.
reviewed
-
D'Prisa
This Islazul-run place is on the west side of Parque Serafín Sánchez and sells cold beer and snacks.
reviewed
Advertisement
-
O
Café La Isabelica
Stronger, smokier, darker cantina-type equivalent of Café de la Catedral, with the prices in pesos.
reviewed
-
P
Paladar La Yumurina
Serves the house-specialty egg sandwich in a bright dining room. It's on the corner of Calle 292.
reviewed
-
El Rápido
When in doubt seek it out. This branch sells good yogurt and claims to be open 24 hours.
reviewed
-
Q
Cafe Oquendo
Espresso straight or rocío del gallo (rum-laced espresso) for two pesos.
reviewed
-
R
