“You don’t go to Cuba for the food” is something we heard a lot before we took a trip there in November 2010. There is certainly a lot of truth to that; however, we did have some really interesting culinary experiences ranging from mediocre to outstanding to comical!

Chinese food in Cuba?
We spent the first three days in an all inclusive resort on the beach in Cayo Coco. There was certainly lots of food available all the time, but with the exception of our afternoon pizzas at La Barcaza on the beach, it was pretty mediocre. The buffet got tiresome pretty quickly.

Aside from the buffet though, there were several restaurants that you could make reservations at for dinner. There were about six of them with different themes (Italian, Mexican, Cuban, etc.). Of all of them, the only one we wanted to avoid was the “Oriental” themed one. As much as I love different types of Asian food, I just couldn’t imagine it would be much good in Cuba.
Being inexperienced at this all inclusive thing, we didn’t join the long line up to make our dinner reservations early. When we finally did get around to it, the “Oriental” place was the only one left! Ok, we knew it would be an interesting experience at least.
We arrived at the restaurant and it was decorated quite impressively actually and the waiters all wore Chinese waiter jackets (not sure what those are called?).  The menu had three entrees on it: Curry Chicken, Sweet and Sour Pork, and Teriyaki Beef. Eva ordered the Chicken and I ordered the Pork. It arrived quite quickly along with red wine (that I think just came out of the freezer!?) and of course no chopsticks.

As we were eating, I commented to Eva that her dish came with the same plain crunchy noodles that mine had. We quickly realized though that wasn’t the only thing the same: our dishes were basically identical except for a different coloured sauce! The meat was deep fried and tasted suspiciously similar (and not much like either chicken or pork!). The sauces were different colours but really had no taste either!

Quite a comical experience really!

Coconuts on The Beach
Official salaries in Cuba are really low ($25 / month on the high end), so the people are very motivated to do what they can to earn real money (Convertible Pesos) from foreigners. We were on the beach and one of the garden workers hacked open a couple of coconuts for a couple of pesos. Delcious coconut flavoured water! I can’t believe how much water one of those contains.

Street Pizza and Peso Ice Cream
After getting away from the resort to the real Cuba, we got to experience a bit more of the real Cuban food. In Santa Clara, we got ourselves onto the local currency (National Pesos instead of the Convertible Pesos that us foreigners are supposed to use) and enjoyed the “steet pizza” that is cranked out all day long from little shop windows all over town. These are individual size pizzas — basically lots of melted cheese on fresh doughy bread. Delicious! and the equivalent of about 25 cents.

We also enjoyed the Peso Ice Cream. For one National Peso (about 4 cents Canadian), a street vendor would crank out ice cream cones all day long. There was always a line up, but the ice cream was delicious. Something good that the average Cuban can actually afford. Viva La Revolucion 🙂

Overall the Ice Cream in Cuba was quite exceptional. Not quite on par with Italy or Slovenia, but not that far behind!

Casa Food
The rest of our time in Cuba was stayed in Casa Particulars – basically private houses that the owners rent out one or two rooms in to earn some convertible Pesos. They also typically offered breakfast and/or dinner for a few extra pesos.

By far the best food we experienced in Cuba was at “Hostel Santa Clara”, a Casa run by Miguel and his wife Noely in an old Colonial building overlooking Parque Vidal (the main square in Santa Clara). The dinner Noely made of bean soup, rice, chicken, and salad was delicious!

Breakfast consisted of fresh pinapple and guava with eggs and ham and probably the best tasting fresh fruit juice I’ve ever had. We tried to ask what kind of fruit the juice was made from, but without speaking any Spanish and with Miguel not speaking English, the best we could determine was it was some kind of “special orange”!

So while I wouldn’t recommend going to Cuba if all you’re looking for is exceptional food, there are some great experiences to be had!