Cuba Expenses: Dining

Let's see... how much bang did I get for my bucks in Cuba... 

We were: 2 regular adults; 2 senior citizens; and 3 kids.  Total 7 pax.  We stayed 3 nights in Havana where breakfast was included with the hotel rooms and 4 nights in Varadero, at an all-inclusive resort...which means we didn't need to pay for anything except the extra shopping and side trips.

We spent a total of $1000 on top of what we had already paid to the travel agency.  Exchange rate was 1 CAD = 0.96 CUC pesos (Cuban Convertible pesos for tourists).  Here's what we paid for.

Re: Meals.  The amount we spent was for a total of 5 meals in Havana only.  Here is our hotel's restaurant...the a la carte menu was good here but the breakfast buffet was mediocre.

We played it safe when it came to food but still some of us (including Yours Truly) got sick.  So we had to take it easy.  I was not eating in full force...which was too bad.  IMPORTANT: Bring anti-diarrhea medication!  No such thing as running out to a corner drugstore to get a packet of Immodium!  For lunch once, I only had chicken soup...different from what I had expected.  It had a lot of vegetables in it.  I found it quite tasty despite my weakened state!

This paella-like dish of chicken and pork was pretty good too!  Er, we got into a feeding frenzy and I only remembered the photo afterwards.  he! he!  The wife and kids loved the leche flan (milk pudding) dessert too!  (Sorry, forgot to take a pic of this!)

There was an abundance of guava, papaya and pineapple at the buffet meals.  I had to hold back on these because of the fragile state of my alimentary canal.  Surprisingly, the children liked fresh guava juice...fresh guava fruit was a bit too seedy for them though.

 

The food at the buffet restaurants at the resort in Varadero was abundant but, in general, lacklustre.

BUT... there would always be one or two dishes that I found excellent!  It was a bit like treasure hunting.  Funny enough, the food I liked tasted very much like Filipino food.  They even had caramelized plantains (my favourite!)  

Grilled fish et al...  

Mussels and shrimp... 

Beef estofado,....

At the resort, the coffee at breakfast was bland and tasteless...but I discovered that if you went to the pool or lobby bar, they had proper coffee!  So not a few times I found myself sipping a double espresso by the pool. :-)

 

All opinions are mine.  I realize how huge buffets need to cater to the tastes of a whole range of people from different backgrounds...and I don't fault the hotel for not being too successful in this humongous task.  However, I have been to some Shangrila and Club Med resorts and I must say that the buffet food there were comparably better.  I generally avoided the pizzas, pastas, burgers & fries, yogurts, etc...and anything else that seem to cater to a Westerner's diet.  My son, on the other hand, was thrilled to find hamburguesa on the menu! :-)

(To be continued)