As I've said in the title, we keep coming back to this lovely restaurant that has consistently served us great food for almost 4 years. The service is and has always been top notch, better than back home in some cases. There is no question in my mind that this restaurant, as well as others that we've visited over the last couple of years, are a reflection of the culinary capacity that exists in Cuba today, or at least in Havana. It seems that there are restaurants opening up daily with all sorts of styles and cuisines and almost as quickly some of them flop. Cafe Laurent is still here and busy for a reason, they do a good job and are still humble. The owner and chef Victor always welcomes me into his kitchen to exchange greetings, even when he's busy. I'm happy the restaurant is doing well, they deserve it. On this particular evening my girlfriend had her best friend visiting from Switzerland and wanted to eat somewhere special, Cafe Laurent was to be that place.
Although the restaurant allows cigar smoking both inside and out on the patio, I prefer to sit on the patio where I will be less of a nuisance with my cigar smoke. As always the service was excellent, the restaurant wasn't terribly busy on this Sunday night. Both the ladies started with a soup while I opted for the Vegetable Tempura that I saw someone have several months before and thought how good it looked. It finally happened, I was disappointed with something. The only vegetables used in my dish were cucumber and carrot....a rather poor selection of mushy, droopy deep fried vegetables that I found unappetizing. In contrast I enjoyed my main-course of Pork Loin in a wine & dried fruit sauce served with sweet potato mash, yummy. The women had a Fish Filet in white wine sauce which they raved about. With a $20 bottle of wine, 2 desserts, a shot of Santiago de Cuba Rum, a mojito, coffee and bottled water....the bill came out to $91cuc with a 10% gratuity already included. A very decent price in my opinion, good value for your dining dollars. It's not budget but it's very good. If you decide to come to come to this restaurant, I recommend you make reservations, they tend to be busy most of the time. I've been seeing a lot of larger groups lately and they take up a lot of space.
Calle M e/19 y 21 no.257 Penthouse,
Vedado, La Habana,
Tel.(537) 831-2090 832-6890
Although the restaurant allows cigar smoking both inside and out on the patio, I prefer to sit on the patio where I will be less of a nuisance with my cigar smoke. As always the service was excellent, the restaurant wasn't terribly busy on this Sunday night. Both the ladies started with a soup while I opted for the Vegetable Tempura that I saw someone have several months before and thought how good it looked. It finally happened, I was disappointed with something. The only vegetables used in my dish were cucumber and carrot....a rather poor selection of mushy, droopy deep fried vegetables that I found unappetizing. In contrast I enjoyed my main-course of Pork Loin in a wine & dried fruit sauce served with sweet potato mash, yummy. The women had a Fish Filet in white wine sauce which they raved about. With a $20 bottle of wine, 2 desserts, a shot of Santiago de Cuba Rum, a mojito, coffee and bottled water....the bill came out to $91cuc with a 10% gratuity already included. A very decent price in my opinion, good value for your dining dollars. It's not budget but it's very good. If you decide to come to come to this restaurant, I recommend you make reservations, they tend to be busy most of the time. I've been seeing a lot of larger groups lately and they take up a lot of space.
Calle M e/19 y 21 no.257 Penthouse,
Vedado, La Habana,
Tel.(537) 831-2090 832-6890
Victor, chef and owner
main dining area
the patio
tempura vegetables
marlin filet
pork loin
victor (owner chef) and I
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