Cuba Guide
Trinidad and Sancti Spíritus
State restaurants and paladares
1 La Coruña José Martí no.430 e/ Piro Guinart y Stgo Escobar Opening time: Daily noon–10pmPrice: Meals $8CUCFamily-run paladar with tables squeezed into an intimate backyard patio where there is a stronger sense than normal of intruding on someone's home. The menu of comida criolla is limited but tasty, though the food here is slightly poorer than at either of the other two paladares in town.
2 Don Antonio Izquierdo no.112 e/ Simón Bolívar y Piro Guinart 
41/99-6548 Opening time: Daily 10am–8pmThough only serving food at lunchtimes, there's typically a fair selection of meals to choose from here, from meat dishes to salmon, or lighter items such as tuna salad or vegetable omelettes. The atmosphere is elegant but subdued, with both a canopied courtyard and a comfortable interior.
3 Estela Simón Bolívar no.557 e/ Juan Manuel Márquez y José Mendoza 41/99-4329 Not only do the pork, chicken and fish dishes at this peaceful backyard paladar represent the best in Cuban home-cooking, but a feast of extras like fried green bananas and yucca is laid on. The two-tier patio surrounded by high walls and trees makes this one of the most relaxing spots in town.
4 
Iberostar Grand Hotel Trinidad Restaurant José Martí no.262 e/ Lino Pérez y Colón 41/99-607399-6074 & 99-6075 Price: Set-menu three-course lunches are $20CUC and buffet dinners are $35CUCUntouchable in Trinidad for the quality and variety of its food; the grand dining room of this hotel restaurant provides an appropriately fancy setting for the comparative luxuries on offer here, such as smoked salmon, serrano ham, beef carpaccio and, unheard of in Cuba, a selection of cheese. Main dishes include candied tenderloin steak in red wine and pork fillet with vegetable risotto.
5 El Jigue Rubén Martínez Villena no.69 esq. Piro Guinart 41/99-6476 Price: Set meals less than $8CUCSubtly decorated restaurant in the large front room of a rustic colonial residence. The beef, chicken and pork set-meals come with random side orders (such as carrots, spaghetti or rice), a dessert and coffee. Alternatives include a mixed seafood platter and a couple of lobster dishes. There's usually live music in the eve.
6 El Mesón del Regidor Simón Bolívar no.424 e/Muñoz y Rubén Martínez Villena 41/99-6572 Price: Lobster only $15CUC and meat dishes just over $5CUC Standard comida criolla; overall the menu lacks variety. The unpolished, unfussy decor features a brick and terracotta-tiled floor with pastel-pink and blue walls.
7 Plaza Mayor Rubén Martínez Villena no.15 esq. Francisco Javier Zerquera 41/99-6470 Price: Buffet $8CUCLarge, slickly restored colonial mansion invaded every lunchtime by tour groups. The small set of attractive terraces in and around the crumbling brick arches and walls out the back provide one of the nicest outdoor lunch spots in the city and a mellower dining environment when the interior is busy. Choose from the seafood, pork and chicken dishes on the menu or, between midday and 3pm daily, opt for the good-value buffet, which offers rarely seen but unremarkable options like pasta and salads.
8 Ruinas de Lleoncio Izquierdo no.112 e/ Simón Bolívar y Piro Guinart. Opening time: Daily 10am–9pm A set of open-air ruins with plastic chairs and tables and a lack of atmosphere, this is more a caféteria than a restaurant, though it does have a decent list of sandwiches and Cuban staples at cheap prices. Good for an uncomplicated budget lunch.
9 Sol y Son Simón Bolívar no.283 e/ Frank País y José Martí Choose from a wide selection of spaghetti dishes, fish dinners and chicken and pork entrees. Everything is carefully prepared, full of flavour and served in a romantically lit courtyard brimming with plantlife, making this paladar one of the best places to eat in the city.
10 Trinidad Colonial restaurant Maceo no.402 esq. Colón 41/99-6473 Fish, shrimp, lobster and pork – served with all the trimmings and cooked in a wider variety of styles than elsewhere – feature on one of the most extensive menus in the city. Housed in a large, prestigious-looking, restored nineteenth-century mansion, with chandeliers, ornately framed portraits and antique dressers dotted about the place.
11 Vía Reale Rubén Martínez Villena no.74 e/ Piro Guinart y Ciro Redondo 41/99-6476 Opening time: Daily 9.30am–5pmPrice: $5CUCA lunchtime stopoff joint dishing up $5CUC pizzas and very basic pastas as well as a couple of seafood and meat dishes on a diminutive, canopy-covered patio in a colonial building.