Why hello there! Long time, no post. I’ve been eating out a lot in the last few weeks but not in the United States. For Spring Break, my friends and I went to Cuba! Yes, an unlikely choice for a group of Nebraska college students, but we did it! The country obviously has an interesting relationship with the United States and a rich history of revolution. The food, on the other hand, was all over the map! Literally and figuratively.

Internet in Cuba is not regularly available – so many of the places we went to have little to no internet presence. If they do, some tourists may have created a page for it on TripAdvisor. If you’re planning a trip, don’t worry if the information on food seems scarce – the quality is pretty much the same no matter where you go – I didn’t find too much of a difference between the cheaper restaurants and the more expensive places that other tourists on TripAdvisor recommended.

No – we did not have any Cubano sandwiches. While the version of the sandwich most often served in the States has ham, pork, mustard, pickles, and Swiss cheese, we did not see anything this fancy in Cuba. What we saw most often was a sandwich de jamon y queso – just a ham and mystery cheese sandwich on big white bread. Definitely reliable, but nothing insane.

Here are some highlights of what we ate, where we ate, and more!

Desayuno

Breakfast was typically a big spread of pretty simple food. There was soft bread or toast with butter and guava jam, and eggs usually in omelet form. There was also juice, usually mango, guava, or pineapple, plus an array of papaya, guava, pineapple, and little tiny bananas. I liked the breakfast – we got in a solid serving of fruit and carbs every morning. There never seemed to be enough coffee for all of us – but that’s to be expected.

 

Cafe Bohemia

One morning a few of us went to a breakfast cafe, Cafe Bohemia,  instead of breakfast at our Airbnb, and it was pretty similar – except for some more choice in types of coffee available.

 

Seafood

From our first dinner to our last, a lot of shrimp was ordered on this trip. Seafood stew was pretty popular, cooked in a tomato sauce with veggies. This was usually a better bet than just grilled seafood – a little more likely to be seasoned better. While the ingredients in a lot of the Cuban food was fine, we found that it wasn’t seasoned heavily enough to bring out flavor or heat.

My favorite was the seafood pasta at Casa Abel – the creamy sauce was really unique and the portion of shrimp and fish was so good for the price.

 

Habana 61

This place was really nice. Definitely a little fancier and more expensive, but the drinks and quality was one of the better meals we had. I got the frutas de malanga – the closest thing to fries we could find. The were balls of taro root fried and served with a honey garlic sauce. I also had a shrimp soup, it was like a tomato broth, similar to gazpacho. Also, look at this really cool coffee Michelle got!

 

Helad’oro

Are y’all surprised that I found and frequented an ice cream shop on this trip? We found this on the first full day there and went three times. No regrets! They had a lot of great flavors at a 1$ per scoop – so cheap! We also loved the affogato – a shot of espresso over a scoop of ice cream.

 

O’Reilly 304

Holy crap. If you go to any restaurant in Old Havana, you gotta come here. The restaurant has some amazing artwork, the waitresses and staff are super cool – but most importantly, the drinks are works of art! A little pricier than other places – drinks were 6-8$ as opposed to 3-4$ – but the size and aesthetic are worth it. The food was good – but the best part is the banana chips and salsa. Weirdly enough the salsa had some sweet and sour sauce in it – but so addicting!

 

Drinks

Coffee Culture – very interesting! Cuba has been producing coffee for hundreds of years – most is exported to Japan and France. When we had “American style” coffee, it was served in a bigger portion. Cuban style was usually teeny, like an espresso – honestly I liked it a lot, so much more efficient! However, some of them served it with a lot of sugar, bad for purists, good for sweet tooth.

Alcohol – purchasing power in Cuba is much higher than in the US – which went for cocktails too. A  drink that could easily be 12$ in the US was 4$ in Cuba which was amazing. Their national drink is a mojito – so those were abundantly available and frequently ordered. We had a lot of pina coladas, but I have no good pictures of those unfortunately. The main beers available were Presidente, a dominican beer, and Cristal or Buacnero, a Cuban beer.

 

I had a lot of other food that I have no photographic evidence of – we had coconut water out of actual coconuts! So refreshing and so good.  And Croquetas! Wish I had these more often – but also tasty little fried things. Some were filled with just mashed potatoes, but some had chicken, cheese, or fish. Very cute, and surprisingly filling!

The food in Cuba was all over the place, typically under-seasoned and rather plain, but the fruit, the seafood and the drinks will be greatly missed. Regardless, we had a fantastic time in Cuba experiencing the culture and the food.

The Bottom Line

The food may not be the highlight of your trip, but the drinks will! ❤

Cone Rating: 3.5 Cones