Hidden in an unremarkable Vedado highrise, this clandestine home-restaurant brings Portuguese flavors to the Cuban dinner table.
After staring at myself in a dingy mirrored wall, fixing my hair while waiting for the slow, rattling elevator to reach the 11th floor of a residential apartment building in Vedado, Havana’s bustling commercial district, the door slides open to reveal a crowded restaurant. Cheery voices reverberate off the striped-wallpapered walls, drowning out The Temptations' "My Girl." An eclectic mix of furniture and fixtures that look like they each came from a different person’s living room cast the living-dining area in a warm, familial glow.
“Welcome to Porto Habana,” the smiling waitress says, “Do you have a reservation?” It’s 8 p.m. on a Sunday, and the waitress says that there are no tables available in the apartment-turned-restaurant until 9 p.m. the next day. My hopes begin to sink. The reason we ended up here is that we were turned away from a restaurant a few blocks down the road because we had no reservation there either. The waitress says this is a normal occurrence in Havana from December to March, peak tourist season. Luckily, though, the well-connected security guard at the nearby Hotel Presidente, who recommended the restaurant, is here with us. He had accompanied us around the corner from his post, escorting us past the doorman who sat guard from a white plastic chair at the entrance to the residential highrise and even squeezed into the cramped elevator. He tells the waitress he had called a couple of minutes prior to get the four of us a table, but there was no answer. The waitress quickly walks over to her co-worker, who immediately recognizes the tall guard. Apparently, he introduces visitors to the restaurant often. The waitress beckons us and says, “there’s a small table available in the back corner.”
Hidden on Calle E, Porto Habana is one of a fast-growing number of Cuban paladares, privately-owned restaurants housed in the homes of the business owners. Private restaurants indicate an increase in capitalism in Cuba, according to the New York Times.
During the late 1990’s, the socialist Cuban government cracked down on paladares, limiting the number of licenses given to private restaurants and decreasing the maximum number of seats per paladar to a mere 12. In 2011, under the direction of Raul Castro, the government relaxed restrictions, raising the maximum occupancy to 50. At the start of 2011, there were only 100 private restaurants, by 2016 the number soared to over 1,600, according to seeker.com. One of Porto Habana’s chefs and owners, Raudel Carrazana, says it was the change in the law that made him realize he could open a restaurant of his own—in his own apartment.
The atmosphere is quirky and chic—white tablecloths cover a mélange of table styles and mismatched chairs with different patterns serve as seating. The background music playing switches between jazz classics like “All of Me” by The Count Basie Orchestra in 1965 to 1980’s hits like “All Night Long” by Lionel Richie. All the while, couples, families, and groups of friends chat and gaze out the windows at the 270-degree panorama of the bright city lights that illuminate the night sky. I people-watch from 11 stories up, observing natural Cuban life—dancing, flirting, drinking rum, fishing, conversing, listening to music—unfurl on the Malecón, the city’s seawall promenade, below.
Carrazana came up with the idea for the Portuguese-Cuban fusion spot in 2013 while traveling and living part-time in Portugal. On one of his trips, he met his wife, a Portuguese citizen, and they started exploring the mountainous Portuguese countryside as well as coastal cities like Lisbon and Porto, the restaurant’s namesake. The Portuguese food and traditions inspired Carrazana. He said the dishes—like bacalhao com natas (salt-cod baked in heavy cream), and camarao a guilho (shrimp cooked in garlic and olive oil)—excited his palate. He found comfort in the family-oriented culture and cooking style. In Portugal, like in Cuba, Carrazana said, whole families get together at mealtimes to cook and eat together. When he first decided to open a restaurant blending his native Cuban culture and cuisine with those of his wife, he lacked culinary training. He started taking cooking classes in Porto, learned about agritourism, and moved out of his Havana apartment to make space for Porto Habana.
The menu includes traditional Cuban dishes like ropa vieja, customary Portuguese dishes like cozido a portuguesa, a seafood stew, and mixes of the two, like a saucy chickpea appetizer using jamon Iberico (Iberian ham). I ordered both the chickpeas and the ropa vieja. The appetizer was the best dish I had on my trip to Cuba—the salt from the Iberian ham and the brightness from the tomato-based sauce complimented each other brilliantly. The ropa vieja was standard—rich, like a beef bourguignon, but also rustic in that it had roughly cut vegetables and it was plainly presented with no fancy garnish—fitting, considering the restaurant is in a residential apartment.
My biggest surprise was how fresh the food looked and tasted. Of the handful of Havana restaurants that I dined at during my trip, the vegetables at Porto Habana were the freshest. Because of the U.S.-imposed trade embargo and the ongoing food shortages in the country, the crisp salads served with every meal are an impressive feat.
In four short years, Carrazana transformed his home from a compact two-person apartment into one of Havana’s most sought-after dining experiences. While the restaurant feels like a speakeasy stepping back in time, Carrazana says he tries to get the word out through social media. He created a Facebook page two years ago, but since internet access remains hard to come by in Cuba, he says word of mouth serves as their best marketing tool—a sign that while technology may be advancing, the culture is still the same. In the meantime, he relies on the security guard at the Hotel Presidente and others to point people in his direction. He acknowledges that while it doesn’t seem like it now, the internet will play a key role in the future of his enterprise, remarking as we leave the restaurant, “Make sure to get a review up on TripAdvisor!”
Main course with appetizer start at CUC$ 15 per person. Calle E 158, Vedado. Hours: daily, noon-11pm. Reservations: +53 7 8331425.