2024-03-22: Dinner and La Bodeguita
Author: Rob
Friday night dinner at Paladar Doña Eutimia. It started pouring in the late afternoon, while we were back at our home base cleaning up for dinner. We grabbed a rickshaw style taxi from the corner of our block to the restaurant in an attempt to stay more or less dry.
Doña Eutimia is another one of these well reviewed paladares, and the food here was pretty okay. We started with tostones rellenos, cup shaped twice fried plantains filled with ham and cheese, ropa vieja, and picadillo. They were a tasty bite and I like the idea of using them as a sort of canapé base. I had masa de cerdo, chunks of pork fried in oil until tender and seasoned with mojo sauce. David had classic picadillo. They both came with white rice and black beans on the side. This meal was better than most of what we’ve had in Cuba, but not stunning.
The restaurant was just around the corner from another famous Havana bar- La Bodeguita de Medio. While El Floridita is known for inventing the daiquiri, La Bodeguita claims to have invented the mojito. There’s a famous Hemingway quip that says “My mojito in La Bodeguita and my daiquiri in El Floridita”.
The atmosphere in La Bodeguita was quite different than the upscale look in El Floridita. This bar was open to the street on one side and very tiny. Even still, a five piece band was cranking out lively Cuban music, and the bartenders kept a long line of glasses filled with mint, lime, and sugar on hand, ready for them to muddle and add rum, ice, and soda as necessary. To be honest, the mojito here wasn’t great, but the experience is worth having as a tourist in Habana.
