Cuba Guide
Varadero and Matanzas
Eating
1 Kawama Buffet Restaurant Hotel KawamaReparto Kawama 
45/66-7156 Opening time: Daily 7.30–10.30pmFantastically atmospheric hotel restaurant in a 1930s mock-colonial building with a terrace overlooking the beach. The expensive international menu changes on a regular basis and can include anything from pizza to rump steak.
2 Albacora Calle 59 at the beach, Vardadero town 45/61-3650 One of the best beachside restaurants, where you can enjoy good simple fresh food. Pricey lobster and shrimp or pork, chicken and beef dishes for as little as $3.50CUC, under a protective canopy of low, twisting branches on a large terrace over the beach. Very laid-back, unless there's a group playing music on the built-in stage.
3 
Antiguedades Ave. 1ra e/ 58 y 59, Vardadero town 45/66-7329 The most characterful restaurant in town justifies its slightly above-average prices with appetizing Cuban cooking and notably good-quality side orders served in a highly original Aladdin's Cave-style interior. A fantastically eclectic collection of statues, plants, plates, helmets, pictures of all kinds and even a wicker chair hung upside down adorn the walls, floor and ceiling.
4 Arrecife Camino del Mar y 13, Vardadero town 45/66-8563 Price: Set meals $3–10CUCThis quiet street-corner restaurant with a veranda offers a good variety of moderately priced seafood.
5 La Barbacoa Ave. 1ra y 64, Vardadero town 45/66-7795 A steakhouse and barbecue grill tucked into the top corner of town, shielded from the road by a screen of trees. Topping the menu are the expensive and satisfactory sirloin, T-bone and club steaks, but there's also 10-peso lobster and the usual chicken, pork and fish dishes.
6 El Bodegón Criollo Ave. Playa esq. 40, Vardadero town 45/66-7784 Price: Most mains $10CUC or less; some go as high as $25CUCVaradero's version of Havana's famous Bodeguita del Medio has a similarly bohemian look and vibe, its walls covered in handwriting and signatures; it's also one of the best-known purveyors of Cuban cooking in the area.
7 La Cabañita Camino del Mar y 10, Vardadero town 45/61-3787 Opening time: Daily 9am–9pmThis basic beachfront bungalow with a brick-columned patio has a menu of dirt-cheap chicken and pork dishes. It's somewhat neglected (hidden away, out of sight from the town), but very peaceful.
8 La Campana Parque Josone, Vardadero town 45/66-7228 Price: $10–20CUC for a traditional Cuban mealA rustic stone-and-wood lodge with a large fireplace in its cosy interior, plus outdoor dining on its veranda.
9 La Casa del Queso Cubano Ave. 1ra y 62, Vardadero town 45/66-7747 Price: Main dishes $5–15CUCFrench-Swiss food – mostly cheese fondue-based dishes – as well as tasty tortillas and an impressive selection of international wines, in a quaint homely decor.
10 Castel Nuovo Ave 1ra no.503 esq. Calle 11, Vardadero town 45/66-7786 Price: $1–2.50CUCReasonable Italian cuisine and a good selection of seafood. Popular despite being low on charm, thanks in part to its affordable prices, which start at $2.50CUC or even $1CUC if you eat outside on the terrace.
11 Chong Kwok Ave. 1ra y 55, Vardadero town Cheap and very Cuban Cantonese cuisine, while low tables and cushions for seats make this one of the few novel restaurants in Varadero.
12 El Criollo Ave. 1ra esq. 18, Vardadero town 45/66-7793 Price: Less than $5CUCClassic Cuban cooking, with huge beef platters served alongside fried or roasted chicken and pork options (as well as a couple of lighter alternatives), all cooked in the criollo style. You can eat your fill here, on a quaint patio next to the road.
13 Dante Parque Josone, Vardadero town 45/66-7738 Price: Main dishes $5–12CUCThe hit-and-miss Italian cuisine here demands careful attention while selecting. Avoid the garlic bread and be prepared for very unsubtle pasta sauces – some rich and tasty, like the bolognese, some odd-tasting, like the carbonara. The pizzas are safer but only average. Better in daylight hours, when you can enjoy the placid views across the lake and the pleasant veranda jutting out over the water.
14 Esquina Cuba Ave. 1ra y 36, Vardadero town 45/61-4019 Price: $12CUCThis reasonably priced restaurant offers an unlimited buffet of comida criolla for $12CUC. Tables are set on a wide open veranda, all under a thatched roof, where the bordering plants obscure the view of the road, and with a vague 1950s theme centred around a prominently displayed white-and-pink Oldsmobile.
15 Lai Lai Ave. 1ra y 18, Vardadero town 45/66-7793 There is a good selection of seafood and some familiar dishes at this Chinese restaurant. Less exclusive than its grand exterior suggests, inside it suffers from lacklustre decor. It's worth booking one of the two private, cosier rooms upstairs if you're in a group of four or more.
16 Mallorca Ave. 1ra y 62, Vardadero town 45/66-7646 Price: $7CUCOne of the few Spanish restaurants in Varadero, specializing in paella and $7CUC set meals. The five varieties of paella start at $3.50CUC, but it's worth paying the extra for the house special, as the cheaper versions are a little one-dimensional. Eat in the sombre and smart interior or out on the terrace.
17 Pizzería Capri Ave. Playa esq. 43, Vardadero town 45/61-2117 Price: Starts at 80cLow in quality and choices, but the prices (starting at 80c) are very cheap. One of the few places more popular with locals than tourists.
18 Ranchón de Playa Bellamar Ave. 1ra e/ 15 y 16, Vardadero town 45/66-7490 Price: Main courses $2.25–16.90CUCA pleasant country-ranch-style joint with views of the sea and a menu of traditionally prepared fish and meat dishes. The surrounding lawns go some way to softening the roadside location.
19 El Retiro Parque Josone, Vardadero town 45/66-7316 Price: $5–30CUCThis lobster specialist is Parque Josone's option for highbrow dining, with decor that's restrained rather than refined in this characterful manor house. Seven varieties of lobster, priced between $15CUC and $30CUC, but the other main dishes, including fish, shrimp and chicken, are as cheap as $5CUC.
20 Steak House Toro Ave. 1ra esq. 25, Vardadero town 45/66-7145 This place, sunk just below street level, is a real meat-fest, with six- to twenty-four-ounce steaks as well as spicy sausages, burgers and skewered chicken, plus some seafood. The decor follows internationally observed steakhouse norms, with a bull's head, wagon wheel and beer barrel all featured. Eating here is about as Cuban as apple pie, but its familiarity also makes it reliable.
21 La Vega Ave. Playa y 31, Vardadero town 45/61-1430 Hearty portions of paella are the highlights at this reasonably priced seafood restaurant on the backyard porch of a replica tobacco plantation ranch building. Giant wooden tobacco leaves droop over this pleasant beachside spot.
22 La Vicaria Ave. 1ra esq. 38, Vardadero town 45/61-4721 Price: $3CUCShredded beef and ten-peso lobster stand out on the mostly meat Cuban menu at this casual open-air restaurant. Right next to the road, this is more a daytime venue, where you can lunch under your own bohio parasol. There is no skimping on portions despite the very cheap prices – most main dishes are around the $3CUC mark.
23 Las Américas Mansión Xanadú, Autopista Sur Km 7 45/66-7750 One of the classiest and most expensive restaurants on the peninsula, with seating in the library, out on the terrace and down in the wine cellar. Though the international-style menu won't win any awards, it is a cut above the average; the selection of cocktails and wines is outstanding.
24 La Arcada Meliá Las Américas, Autopista del Sur Km 7 45/66-7600 ext. 629 Opening time: Daily 7pm– midnightPrice: $15Despite the gentlemen's club image of this swanky place in a top-notch hotel, main dishes actually start at only around $15, making this an affordable way to lord it up. More in line with the club's appearance are pricey specialities like lobster and chateaubriand.
25 El Mesón de Quijote Ave. de las Américas 45/66-7796 They claim to serve "Cuban-style Spanish food", but Spanish-style Cuban food better describes the moderately priced lobster, shrimp, chicken and lamb dishes. Perched atop a small hill, the interior is rustic, with potted plants and vases making up most of the simple decoration and the views doing the rest.
26 Pizza Nova Plaza América, Autopista del Sur Km 7 45/66-8585 The best selection and quality of pizzas in Varadero, along with mediocre pasta dishes, at the local branch of one of the better Cuban restaurant chains. The best seats are on a balcony that looks down to the sea.