You don’t go to Cuba for the food however we did find a few gems among the restaurants we ate and / or drank at on this trip. Below is the complete list with comments & cost.

TV Cafe, Fosca building (Havana / Vedado): Listed in the Real Havana guide. Jerry & I each ordered one of the ofertas at 3.95 CUC. Standard state restaurant meal. Terrible mojitos at 5 CUC each; really soo bad we didn’t even drink half. Our total: 20 CUC incl tip.

La Bodeguita del Medio (Havana / Habana Vieja): In all of the guides. Hemingway’s mojito bar. Small, expensive (5 CUC) yet wonderful mojitos and great live music. We also stopped in at La Floridita, Hemingway’s daiquiri bar but it was so crowded with tour-bus people that we didn’t stay for a drink.

La Lluvia de Oro (Havana / Habana Vieja): Jerry & I each ordered one of the ofertas, 6.60 & 7.50 CUC, and beers. Standard state restaurant meal. Not only is this a higher than usual price for an oferta, the waiter tried the scam of over charging us. I write down what we order and menu cost for exactly that reason so the presented bill is validated. This one is 10 CUC too high. As an fyi, included in the oferta is a national drink, typically juice, beer or mojito, and dessert (which we rarely got). We ordered beers but the waiter charged us for them saying beer wasn’t included, a mojito is, so we demanded our mojitos. Our total: 20 CUC

El Burrito Habanero (Havana / Vedado): Ordered a combo plate for 2 and beers. Strange take on Mexican food. Prices in MN pesos. Total: 250 pesos (~ 10 CUC) incl tip.

El Carmelo (Havana / Vedado): Listed in the Real Havana guide as one of Vedado’s best-known, fancy, sit-down state restaurants. Ordered chef’s specialities: farmer’s rice @ 4.50 CUC & seafood rice @ 8 CUC. Huge portions, one dish could feed two, and tasty. Excellent mojito mini-pitchers @ 5 CUC. Our total: 20 CUC.

La Favorita (Havana / Vedado): Listed in the Real Havana guide. Small independent paladare, local food cafeteria. Prices in MN pesos. Salty student / hospital food, so not so good, with beers, total 130 pesos (~ 5.45 CUC).

Nellas (Havana / Vedado): Jerry ordered eggs, ham, toast & juice @ 2.50 CUC; I ordered eggs @ 1 CUC; 3 espressos at .50 CUC. Good & only 5 CUC.

Topoly (Havana / Vedado): Independent paladare restaurant, Iranian food. We ordered the one breakfast choice which is quite good - juice, eggs, cheese, nan, butter, honey, fruit and a small square of cake along with coffee or tea for 4.90 CUC each. With bottles of water and tip, 15 CUC. Expensive breakfast option.

La Roca (Havana / Vedado): Popular restaurant with the locals. We order the pollo asado de la Roca, a dish for two, @ 12 CUC. Generous portion, plenty for two or three people. Good. With beers, flan, coffee, 2 bottles of water and tip, total 19 CUC.

Florida Center (Santa Clara): Listed in the Footprint Travel Dream Trip Cuba guide. Independent paladare. Delightful atmosphere; small tables in a lush courtyard garden with orchids, calla lilies and caged songbirds, live music. Perfectly prepared fish & quite a large portion for me, Jerry enjoys their ropa viejo, highly spiced & garlicky. A salad of greens, radish, tomato, cucumber, shredded carrot, cabbage & green beans, and 1/2 of a grapefruit rounds out the meal. With a local drink and tip, our tab is 26 CUC. On the expensive side yet the best meal we’d had in Cuba thus far.

Restaurante El Patio (Camaguey): Good state restaurant meal on the walking street Republica. Clean, nice if dark décor. Prices in MN pesos. Shared two meals costing 60 MN pesos each (waitress tried to give us 2 orders of the paella a la Camagueyan I’d ordered. We verified our order, just one. She gave each of us a “dumb me, just take both please” look but we held firm. She took one away and the bill was correct.) Total with beers & tip: 214 MN pesos (~ 9 CUC).

La Perla de Cuba (Camaguey): State restaurant across from the central plaza. We each ordered their specialty pollo del las casa at 12.95 MN pesos each. With a large bottle of water to share, the total including tip is less than 2 CUC. Excellent and just the right amount of food for lunch.

Cafeteria La Bigornia (Camaguey): Jerry orders the ham omelet, toast, coffee, and glass of mango juice. I order a plain omelet, toast, coffee. All good. Total with tip: 6 CUC

Calle Cuba (Holguin): Independent paladare restaurant. Prices in MN pesos. Good food and generous portions. We eat there both evenings we’re in Holguin. First time we order fish in garlic sauce, chicken with veggies, sides of rice / beans and french fries. Beers, of course. We splurge and share a flan for dessert and coffee. Total is 367 MN pesos (15.30 CUC). I liked the chicken with veggies so much I order it again the following evening, Jerry orders the Bistec Uruguayo which is described as a breaded pork steak, cheese and jam. Jam? I haven’t even seen jam is the store here. Turns out to be like a cordon blue only with pork, rolled and filled with cheese and ham. The Spanish word for ham is jamon; they’d just shorted in to jam on the menu - jam, ham, hilarious. With a side of rice and beers, the total is 350 MN pesos.

Cafeteria Cristal (Holguin): State restaurant by the main plaza. A pizza, order of french fries and beers cost 5.75 CUC. Decent but touristy and overpriced. Should have continued on.

Las Begonia Snack Bar (Holguin): State restaurant by the main plaza. Great place to people watch while sipping coffee or beers. Overpriced food: 2 coffees, 1 ham / cheese sandwich and 1 juice is 9 CUC. Beers are well priced at 1 CUC. It’s customary to purchase a bottle of rum or other alcohol for the table when going out. Ice and mixers are then purchased individually. This restaurant’s bottle display included a bottle of Glenlivet (single malt scotch!) for 30 CUC, a very good price.

Zalet Restaurante (Bayamo): Independent paladare restaurant on the 2nd level of a building. Good standard Cuban fare. Pollo frito @ 8 CUC, bistec de cerdo @ 9 CUC, which includes sides of cabbage / cucumber salad, rice & beans and plantains. With beers and tip, total: 21.50 CUC.

La Bodega (Bayamo): Listed in the Footprint Travel Dream Trip Cuba guide. Decent Cuban food, good service. Two plates of pollo fricise’ @ 8 CUC which includes sides of cabbage / cucumber salad, rolls with mayonnaise spread and mango “marmalade”. With beers and tip, total: 15 CUC.

El Holandes (Santiago de Cuba): Listed in the Footprint Travel Dream Trip Cuba guide. State restaurant & small hotel by the main plaza. Pollo barbecue @ 6 CUC well worth the 20 minute cook-time, paella mixta @ 6 CUC is the best one I had in Cuba. Flan wasn’t so great though, strong local flavored cheese taste. With beers, coffee & tip 25 CUC. The second time we visit is during the Santiago layover on our way back to Havana. Bistec de cerdo / pollo, each 6 CUC, sides of rice @ 2 CUC each, beers, coffee & tip is 25 CUC.

La Baturro Taverna Bucanero (Santiago de Cuba) Cold Bucanero beer on tap! 1.50 CUC each. They also serve food but we didn’t order any in the two times we stopped in. Just two mugs of cold beer each.

El Barracon (Santiago de Cuba): Listed in the Footprint Travel Dream Trip Cuba guide, and the Eyewitness Top 10 guide. Popular local restaurant serving usual fare. El Barracon is the name of the place slaves gathered after work to eat their cuisine and socialize. Statues outside and large paintings inside commemorate their contributions, sacrifice and community. Jerry orders the house specialty, carne pa chango’ or house lamb. I order the house specialty rice dish. With beers & tip, 16 CUC.

La Terraza (Santiago de Cuba): Listed in the Footprint Travel Dream Trip Cuba guide. 2nd floor terrace state-run restaurant. Not so great standard cuban fare. At 23 CUC for two dinners, expensive for the quality of food.

El Santiaguero Mini-Restaurant (Baracoa): Teeny tiny paladare restaurant. After getting up early for the 8am bus departure with no breakfast we’re hungry for a meal and cold beers. This meal hits the spot! Generous plates of grille de pollo for me @ 3 CUC / 75 MN pesos, and pollo al a Baracoa for Jerry @ 4 CUC / 100 MN peso. Each is a full meal with cucumber / tomato salad, rice & beans. One of the best meals in Cuba.

La Casona (Baracoa): Listed in the Eyewitness Travel Top 10 guide. Charming independent paladare restaurant. We eat there both evenings we’re in Baracoa. First night, we share the chef’s speciality catch of the day in the region’s traditional coconut milk sauce since we’d had a large late lunch. Yum! Sides included fish soup, the perennial cabbage / cucumber / tomato salad, and rice for 8 CUC. With beers & tip dinner is 12 CUC. The next evening Jerry orders camarones in the traditional coconut milk sauce and I the paella mixta @ 8 CUC each. Excellent again. With beers & tip, total 24 CUC. In Baracoa we had some of the best meals of the trip.