Havana ’Paladares’, Between Glamor and Poverty

Havana 'Paladares', Between Glamor and Poverty / Iván García

Ivan Garcia 25 January 2017 — In the poor and mostly black neighborhood
of San Leopoldo, cradle of the picaresque, clandestine businesses and
the sex trade in Havana, is found La Guarida, probably the best private
restaurant in Cuba — which are known as "paladares."

The business is run by Enrique Nunez, a telecommunications engineer
converted into an empresario of the ovens, and dinner for four people,
wine included, is no less than 160 dollars, from the wallets of some
tourists dazzled by the opening of small family businesses on the part
of the Communist regime.

Folklore, poverty and glamor at times click. La Guarida is flanked by a
rundown tenement of narrow rooms and an ostentatious central staircase
with hints of art deco.

On the same street, where the neighbors sit in iron armchairs and on
little wooden benches in the doorways of their houses, brand new cars
with diplomatic plates park, with tourists or government heavyweights.

Romello, 65, born and raised on Virtudes Street, very close to the
prestigious paladar, remembers when "the Queen of Spain, Maradona and a
ton of famous people have come here to eat."

But asked if he has ever dined or had some drinks in La Guarida, the guy
smiles and shakes his head. "What it is man, this paladar is for
millionaires. They tell me a beer costs five bucks and a plate of shrimp
is no less than 15," he says, while walking over to the wall of the
Malecon with an improvised fishing pole.

Reservations at La Guardia can be made on the internet. "But it's a
hassle to book a table. It's always full," says a Spaniard. In paladares
like San Cristóbal, La Guarida or La Fontana, recommended by
international haute cuisine magazines, and where a family dinner can
cost more than 200 dollars, it is almost mission impossible to reserve a
table the same day.

There is a route in Havana, inserted into the usual tourist itineraries,
whether it is the area of the old city, El Vedado or Miramar, where
lunch in a private restaurant is at least 25 dollars a person.

The success of the paladares on the island is a combination of the
tenacity and creativity of their owners. Despite the scarcity of
supplies, traditional or international cuisine is given a touch of the
gourmet with a certain level of quality.

They have been catapulted to success thanks to the thunderous failure of
the state food service, full of idlers and thieves who are profiting
from the food they can steal from the diners.

Thomas, a Swiss tourist, says that in the Parque Central Hotel
restaurant, supposedly five stars, "a dinner for four people, with
tomato soup and sirloin steak which did not stand out in its
presentation, cost me 120 dollars. So when I visit Cuba I prefer to eat
in the paladares. Although the prices go up every year and sometimes the
quality doesn't. But it is always preferable to the state restaurants."

According to information published on 20 October 2016 in the state
newspaper Granma, in Havana there are more than 500 private restaurants.
But around 150 of them would be classified in the category of most
demanding and successful paladares.

And it is precisely in this category where the prices have increased by
30 percent in the last six years. "And if we compare the prices to 15 or
20 years ago, then it's an increase of 50 percent. In 2000, a person
could eat in a good quality paladar for 8 or 10 dollars. Now there's
nothing under 20 or 25," says an Italian married to a Cuban.

If a segment of tourists, businessmen and diplomats complain about the
rise in prices in the private restaurants of the capital, imagine the
Havanans. Most have never sat at a table in a five-star paladar. Many
can't even go to the smallest cafe. In Havana there are private food
businesses in classes A, B and C, depending on one's wallet.

Anselmo, retired, sells loose cigarettes in a nursing home just a
stone's throw from Villa Hernandez, a paladar next to Parque Córdoba, in
the populous neighborhood of La Viñora. "I've never bothered to look at
that paladar. What for, with my shitty pension I could never eat there.
What remains for us old people and those who earn miserable wages is
eating bread with a speck of fish or death-like pizzas from the little
stands run by the state."

In state coffee shops, almost always dirty, with poor service and poorly
prepared food, a pizza costs five Cuban pesos (about 20 cents US) and
it's fifteen pesos for a serving of congrí rice with a chicken
thigh. "That's the food bought by beggars, alcoholics, the old and
retired. Quality leaves a lot to be desired," says Mildred, a high schoo
student.

In the food businesses further away from Old Havana, Vedado or Miramar,
the areas most visited by tourists, the menu is usually cheaper but the
choices are very limited.

In general, plates are based on smoked chicken and pork. "But it is
common that the waiter, taking your order, tells you that 'off the menu'
there is seafood, beef, good fish, lamb and even loggerhead," says
Dianelis, a hairdresser, who usually eats at paladares in Santos Suarez,
Lyuano and Lawton — Havana neighborhoods farther from the center.

And there is a wide sector of private businesses, who, to improve their
profits, use double bookkeeping or financial tricks as a way to avoid taxes.

To eat even medium quality food in Cuba it is recommended you visit a
private restaurant. At special dates — birthdays, weddings,
quinceañeras, families go to paladares to celebrate. If they are short
of money they go to the cheapest ones or places that serve more food.

"Gourmet food is for foreigners. When we Cubans have to eat on the
street, we want to fill our bellies," says Ignacio. But there are not
many who can afford to do so.

Source: Havana 'Paladares', Between Glamor and Poverty / Iván García –
Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/havana-paladares-between-glamor-and-poverty-ivn-garca/