Best Eats Havana by Fernando Saralegui

Author:Fernando Saralegui
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Countryman Press
Published: 2020-03-11T16:00:00+00:00

Cruising the Malecón

RESTAURANTS

Casa Miglis

$$$ P

Lealtad #120, e/ Animas y Lagunas, Centro Habana Tel. +53 7 8641486, 12 p.m.–11:30 p.m., 7 days

In the center of Havana’s crumbling downtown, the unassuming entrance and signage of Casa Miglis belies the offerings inside. Perhaps the most surprising is its Swedish-Cuban menu by Swedish owner Michael Miglis. The food spans Skagen toast and Swedish meatballs to fresh avocado with Caribbean rock shrimp in a sauce made of cream, lemon, onion, and spicy herbs. While some dishes can be underspiced and make for a less than memorable meal, the awesome cocktails make up for it. The interior is Swedish-minimal and slightly surreal, with its all-white dining room and forest of whitewashed antique chairs. Framed objects (such as a Super 8 camera and a microphone), dramatic lighting, electric blue bar, and chairs hung on the walls add up to a setting like no other. This venue has style. Go late and catch that party vibe.

Chinatown (Barrio Chino)

Barrio Chino is really its own neighborhood located within Centro Habana, not far from Parque Central. The Chinese began to migrate to Cuba in the mid-19th century, and many stayed—tens of thousands of laborers (and indentured servants), mostly men, arrived in Cuba to either work the sugarcane fields or to find other work. When restrictive racial laws were passed in the United States, many Chinese immigrants fled California and flooded Cuba. In Havana they established their own district as means to maintain their culture, creating a vibrant, and at the time, the largest (and one of the oldest) Chinatowns in the Americas. However, many Chinese fled Cuba after Fidel Castro nationalized businesses in 1961. Those who remained in Cuba scattered into other districts, while others ended up in nearby Florida, and some even settled in New York. Today, you can still go through the grand and welcoming gates of Barrio Chino, located just a few blocks behind the Capitolio in Centro Habana. Although the old Chinese crowd has since dispersed, you will find that Cuba does have quite a few Chinese tourists and investors. In more recent years, China has become the main export destination for Cuban goods, as well as the main importer on the island. Barrio Chino still marks the Lunar New Year with a dragon dance, and each year celebrates the anniversary of the first Chinese migrants.

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