Restaurants, bars, food festivals in Cuba

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Cuba: In Varadero opened a new restaurant Bodeguita del Medio
Cuba has a new restaurant Bodeguita del Medio, which opened in Varadero December 31 last year. As in Havana "Bodega" customer places a bar and a restaurant specializing in Creole cuisine. Visitors can leave their signatures on the walls of the restaurant and enjoy the cozy atmosphere of bohemian. One of the main proposals of the new bar will be a mojito. In addition to the classic drink with lime juice, rum, ice and mint, guests can sample a variety of other Cuban cocktails.

Bar-restaurant Bodeguita del Medio, companies belonging to the group Palmares, located in the central Avenida de Playa. Total franchise Bodeguita currently operates more than a dozen institutions located in Mexico, Argentina, Costa Rica and Europe. In January, a new restaurant is opened in the city of Trinidad, in the central Cuban province of Sancti Spiritus.

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Cuba revives and improves the culinary traditions
Great news comes at a time when, more than ever, essential power tools, as evidenced in the present moment attention to catering for the development of tourism, as is often the deciding factor for choosing the route. It is known that the choice of destination is determined by the quality of food in most cases, and therefore, it should be noted significant efforts in this direction at the moment, who do their administrative authorities of the country in the Caribbean, heads of restaurants and chefs involved in innovative activities. They intend to put the Cuban cuisine in a prominent place in the history, tradition and renewing reviving old recipes.

All that we saw during the recent visit of the delegation to Havana Ibero-American Academy of Gastronomy, at the kind invitation of the Group "Ekselensias", which for many years makes every effort to develop tourism and country kitchen, headed by President Jose Carlos de Santiago, an ardent Defender of the best traditions of this country. On the occasion of the III International Seminar Groups gastronomic "Ekselensias" in 2013, we were able to note the growing interest in the important sectors of business, listened to statements on various topics, from wine sales to profitability bars, from the qualities of the chocolate to the tiny kitchen, and more .

And to our delight, we found a high level of interest from all sectors participating in the seminar, manifest desire for further improvement of the wide field of activity. All this is displayed on the excellent dishes that are now serving in many restaurants in Havana, exquisite service to clients. We had the opportunity to meet with the brilliant work carried out with the chefs who complete their training, dedicated Miriam Rendon, director of the Cuban system of training for the tourism industry (Formatur).

In short, Cuba is moving to expand the culinary horizons fruitful that combines culture and tourism, expanding and improving the national culinary tradition. More fully satisfying, because it occurs in the context of development covering all sectors. Each time you return to Havana encounter surprises and magic that can be listed in a book, for example, in the one that has just published a famous specialist Jorge Luis Mendez, entitled "Talking with your mouth full," elevated to the rank of gastronomic vocabulary and notes steady course of development and improvement of Cuban cuisine.

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The traditional cuisine of Cuba
Power in Cuba is characterized by the fact that in recent years the island has significantly improved choice and quality of products. But if you're one of those who expect and exotic masterpieces of culinary art, you will be disappointed - Cuban cuisine is quite simple and not very diverse.
Food in Cuba

The traditional Cuban cuisine heavily influenced by African, Colombian and Spanish cuisine, so worth a try in Cuba national dishes - roast pork with rice and black beans; fried cassava tubers; salads; fish and seafood; soup pots (it is based on red or black beans, pork, garlic, onion, pepper, ground cumin); Piccadilly (minced beef with rice), meat, crocodile and turtle.

Cubans love fruit, so they give them to almost any dish: they often complement their salads, cocktails and desserts. So, you will have the opportunity to try the bananas in sauce and grilled pineapple.
Where to eat in Cuba? At your service:

snack bars and fast food restaurants where you can enjoy, such as pizza, sandwiches, ice cream;
American-style fast food (here you can eat fried chicken, french fries, hamburger, hot dog);
public restaurants: they have different quality, but visiting some of them should be alert to the possibility that serves international cuisine with a familiar name, the taste can be quite unexpected (this fact is, rather, to an unpleasant surprise);
paladares (private restaurants): often they have only a few tables and a limited selection of food, but the food you are served the best quality.

Drinks in Cuba

Cubans are popular drinks, fruit juices and cocktails made with fresh pineapple, orange, mango, papaya; lemonade (at its base is water, sugars, lime juice, ice); guarapo (a drink made from fresh sugar cane); Cuban coffee (because he is very strong, it is served with sugar); teas, including chamomile.

Be sure to try the Cuban national drink - rum: it can be drunk in its pure form, and as part of various alcoholic cocktails. If you decide to try the cocktails, then make your choice on Mojito (soda, rum, mint, lime, sugar and ice) and Cuba Libre (rum and cola).

In Cuba, you can try the beer, characterized by excellent quality and the best wine to drink, for example, Chile, as the quality of the local drink is poor.
Gastronomic tour to Cuba

If you wish, you can go to one of three popular gastronomic tours in Cuba - "Route traditional cuisine", "Route of Cuban cocktails," "Route modern kitchen." So, going on tour, dedicated to the modern kitchen, you can taste the banana balls, corn fritters and Malang, banana chips, as well as the famous Chilean wines. If you drive on all three routes, you will get a clear picture of the Cuban culinary traditions.

Cuba - sunny and cheerful country that is famous for its soulful songs about love, fiery dances, fragrant cigars and rum wonderful. In addition, resting on Liberty Island, you can enjoy, though simple, but delicious food.

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Drinks Cuba


Dream to visit Liberty Island pursues some Russian citizens from the very childhood. At the word "Cuba" in memory float line about "... the sky above me, like a sombrero", and the resort of Varadero seems to not be so far as trying to claim geography textbooks. White beaches and beverages Cuba, azure blue of the Caribbean and incendiary samba in the company of charming mulatto - excellent reasons to buy a ticket to the Western Hemisphere.
alcohol Cuba

Country and famous rum cocktails hardly needs brought with tourists alcohol. Nevertheless, customs regulations reminiscent of the maximum amount of imported alcohol in three bottles per person. Export is regulated only by the possibility of the passenger and his luggage carrying capacity.
Prices of Cuban rum vary depending on the degree of exposure. The most expensive - a seven-year Habana Club, which is in stores liter costs about $ 20. Rum Legendario «pull" at $ 10, and 0.7 liters of Santiago de Cuba will cost $ 8. The prices are at the beginning of 2014, but regular visitors Liberty Island celebrate their stability over the years.
The national drink of Cuba

On the basis of rum in Cuba make a lot of cocktails, famous visitors fashionable establishments worldwide. They differ in their ingredients, appearance, color and strength, but rum in their composition is always present. Patriotic inhabitants of the island believe that Cuba's national drink - a cocktail «Cuba Libre».
Legend and a symbol of the free island was born in 1900, when American soldiers took part in the liberation of the country from Spanish rule, were mixed in a glass of Cuban rum and Coca-Cola and toast «Por Cuba Libre!». The recipe of preparation of the famous drink is very simple:

It should take a glass Highball glass shape and squeeze the lime quarter.
Then, a glass two-thirds filled with ice, which is most advantageous to see if it is just impaled wrong pieces.
Highball glass is poured in 50 g of dark rum (ideally - Anejo 7 Anos) and twice the number of Coca-Cola, after which the contents were stirred.

Alcoholic beverages Cuba

Besides the "cocktail of freedom" in Cuba mojito and daiquiri respect. These popular cocktails owe much of writer Ernest Hemingway, who lived a long time on the island. The rest he preferred alcohol is alcohol Cuba and spent a lot of time every day in the popular bar "Floridita" and "Bodeguita" in Havana. Here and today was no room to fall from a huge number of people willing to taste your favorite cocktails Khem antiquity.

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Kitchen Cuba

Kitchen Cuba - a "cocktail" of traditional Creole, African, Spanish and Chinese cooking: it serves delicious, simple and nutritious.
National cuisine of Cuba

Virtually no meal is complete without fruit: the table is served fried bananas and pineapples in sauce, salads, smoothies and freshly cut coconut. Furthermore, they are used for the preparation of fish sauce and meat. Salted cod - demanded product in Cuba: It is used for, for example, "sofrito" - a dish, which in addition to cod include vegetables and spices (all quenched in oil). Complement this dish serves fried bread.

Lovers of sweet treat themselves on Liberty Island Cuban ice cream ("Coppelia"), a sweet cake with guava ("masa Real de Guayabo"), cheese dessert with fruit, bananas "flambe" (they decorate with mint and almonds, previously dipped in hot caramel).

Popular dishes of Cuban cuisine:

"Arroz con polo" (a dish of stew chicken with rice);
"Ajiaco cryolite" (a dish as a thick Cuban soup with the addition of corn, meat, yucca, lemon, pumpkin, banana and sauce);
"Ling" (a dish with rice and cauliflower);
"Pikadiyo" (roast beef, rice, black beans, tomatoes and peppers);
"Medalones-mango" (stew of beef, wine, mango and spices).

Where to try Cuban food?

Despite the fact that the classic restaurant on Liberty Island is not much, you find them is not difficult - you help in this will barker (they will show the way).

It is unlikely that you will disappoint service in Cuban restaurants, because the basic salary of staff catering establishments consists of a tip (to leave 10% of the total bill). Tip: Read the menu before making the order - in some food establishments in tourist areas to the invoice amount is added up to 25% service charge.

In order to stave off hunger in Havana recommended to visit the "El Aljibe" (here it is necessary to try the house specialty - "pollo asado", which serves a bitter orange sauce), in Santiago de Cuba - "Paladar Salon Tropical" (this restaurant Cuban cuisine treats Guests mainly chicken dishes, as well as a variety of cocktails based on rum).
Cooking classes in Cuba

Tourists vacationing in Cuba can go into a tasty journey through gastronomic routes related to traditional and contemporary Cuban cuisine (last route they will wait for tasting and taking part in making banana chips, fritters of Malang and corn and banana balls) .

The trip to Cuba can be timed to the Food Festival "Varadero Gourmet" (June Varadero), in which guests will delight master classes, tastings, product presentations, competitions and other entertainment events.