Cuban Cuisine: ‘Ropa Vieja’ and a quick peek into Cuban flirting in Havana
This has got to be Blondine’s favourite Cuban dish during the entire holiday. I’m not a meat lover though but I can swear on the Dutch flag that this ‘Ropa Vieja’ is really, really good. Cuban-Creole Cuisine is not world famous; the base is usually meat and rice which reminds me of Filipino Cuisine. In fact both have great food, perhaps too focused on meat, but sadly they lack the aesthetics.
We discovered this dish on our second night in Havana. On our first night, we only had mojitos for dinner, haha.
It was past 20:00 and we were walking on Calle Obispo searching for a cosy restaurant. We didn’t want to go that far because we don’t have enough time. The Cuban Cabaret show that we booked will start sharp at 22:00 and we have to be there earlier.
There are quite a number of restaurants and paladares on Calle Obispo but we want a place that will speak to us. Many of the restaurants were too generic looking accompanied with loud live music. Then we came across this cosy restaurant just before Bernaza street that leads to Parque Central. Sorry, I did not get the name of the place.
The restaurant is open-air, it is a loggia attached to the building which gave it a pleasant and private feel. There was a live salsa band of course. In Cuba, almost all cafes and restaurant have live bands. They are not free though. Usually at the end of a string of songs, they go from table to table selling their own music CD’s, and if you do not buy, they ask for a tip. We haven’t been feeling generous enough in this holiday to give more than CUC$1 tip. Anyway, we have a great excuse as we are Europeans, er, I mean Dutch—frugal, haha.
This ‘Ropa Vieja’ dish is very popular in Cuba. You can practically find this everywhere. It is shredded beef stew in tomato sauce base. The dish usually goes with Congri rice also known as Moros y Cristianos rice, fried thinly sliced yucca chips, fried plantains and a cabbage salad.
They say that the dish originated in the Canary Islands in Spain (I have been here!) and there are many variations throughout the Caribbean and Spain, and the Cuban variation is unique.
You’ll see more of Ropa Vieja in this blog as I go along with my holiday report.
This band is quite good especially the singer who kept teasing the audience to dance with him. Blondine love his metal toe shoes but one thing for sure, you cannot get Blondine and I to dance. If there is one thing that annoys me so much when I watch a show, eat in a restaurant with a live band or whatever, it is when the singer or whoever is on stage asks the audience to join. Please do not pick me! Ugh, I just hate this. Spare me from the limelight of embarrassment.
Anyway,the story is that there was a group of local middle-aged women (yeah my age haha) sitting at the back and I was quite sure that they were not friends with the singer because he tried to invite them to dance as well... and the waiter even relayed a song requested by the group to the singer. OK, I can understand a bit of Spanish. Well, the next thing we knew, the group moved to another table and the singer joined them. Then the singer and one of the women took turns massaging each other’s thighs. Blondine and I were like, ‘Did you see that?’ Haha!
Quite fast huh, but perhaps Cuban flirting is straightforward, they do not lose time doing the (needless?) in betweens =)
Travel Period: May 2012
Destination: Havana, Cuba
Keep in touch and follow me on Facebook: Travel & Lifestyle Diaries by Dutched Pinay Travels
Happy Travels! Enjoy Life =)
We discovered this dish on our second night in Havana. On our first night, we only had mojitos for dinner, haha.
It was past 20:00 and we were walking on Calle Obispo searching for a cosy restaurant. We didn’t want to go that far because we don’t have enough time. The Cuban Cabaret show that we booked will start sharp at 22:00 and we have to be there earlier.
There are quite a number of restaurants and paladares on Calle Obispo but we want a place that will speak to us. Many of the restaurants were too generic looking accompanied with loud live music. Then we came across this cosy restaurant just before Bernaza street that leads to Parque Central. Sorry, I did not get the name of the place.
The restaurant is open-air, it is a loggia attached to the building which gave it a pleasant and private feel. There was a live salsa band of course. In Cuba, almost all cafes and restaurant have live bands. They are not free though. Usually at the end of a string of songs, they go from table to table selling their own music CD’s, and if you do not buy, they ask for a tip. We haven’t been feeling generous enough in this holiday to give more than CUC$1 tip. Anyway, we have a great excuse as we are Europeans, er, I mean Dutch—frugal, haha.
This ‘Ropa Vieja’ dish is very popular in Cuba. You can practically find this everywhere. It is shredded beef stew in tomato sauce base. The dish usually goes with Congri rice also known as Moros y Cristianos rice, fried thinly sliced yucca chips, fried plantains and a cabbage salad.
They say that the dish originated in the Canary Islands in Spain (I have been here!) and there are many variations throughout the Caribbean and Spain, and the Cuban variation is unique.
You’ll see more of Ropa Vieja in this blog as I go along with my holiday report.
This band is quite good especially the singer who kept teasing the audience to dance with him. Blondine love his metal toe shoes but one thing for sure, you cannot get Blondine and I to dance. If there is one thing that annoys me so much when I watch a show, eat in a restaurant with a live band or whatever, it is when the singer or whoever is on stage asks the audience to join. Please do not pick me! Ugh, I just hate this. Spare me from the limelight of embarrassment.
Anyway,the story is that there was a group of local middle-aged women (yeah my age haha) sitting at the back and I was quite sure that they were not friends with the singer because he tried to invite them to dance as well... and the waiter even relayed a song requested by the group to the singer. OK, I can understand a bit of Spanish. Well, the next thing we knew, the group moved to another table and the singer joined them. Then the singer and one of the women took turns massaging each other’s thighs. Blondine and I were like, ‘Did you see that?’ Haha!
Quite fast huh, but perhaps Cuban flirting is straightforward, they do not lose time doing the (needless?) in betweens =)
The local female group with the singer. It is not however obvious in the picture the act of taking turns massaging each other's thighs.
Travel Period: May 2012
Destination: Havana, Cuba
Keep in touch and follow me on Facebook: Travel & Lifestyle Diaries by Dutched Pinay Travels
Happy Travels! Enjoy Life =)
