La Guarida

The directors Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío chose the family’s home as the flat of Diego, a main character in Fresa y Chocolate. The 1994 film was nominated for an Oscar, and visitors began to come looking for the rooms they had seen on screen. In 1996 the family turned their home into a paladar, which started with just 12 chairs.

It has grown well beyond those 12 chairs, with a menu of modern Cuban cooking, and was named Best Restaurant in Cuba at the World Culinary Awards 2023. Queen Sofía of Spain is among its past guests.

Recent menus open with tuna tartare, a green seafood ceviche and fish tiradito with tiger’s milk and coconut. For a main course, try the catch of the day cooked caimanero style, oxtail with saffron risotto, or confit suckling pig with an orange and honey reduction. Grilled lobster on creamy rice with mushrooms is another current dish.

Before or after dinner, go up to Bar Mirador, the rooftop bar opened in 2014, for cocktails and tapas with views over Havana to the Malecón.

From Marina Hemingway, allow 30 to 40 minutes by taxi; from Old Havana it is about ten minutes. Ask for Concordia 418, between Gervasio and Escobar. The dining rooms are upstairs, reached by the building’s shared staircase.

La Guarida serves lunch and dinner in set sittings, and its website takes bookings for each one. You can also reserve on the landline or the mobile. Book several days ahead, and ask for the terrace if you want to eat outside.