El Atelier

CA5
Top Pick
Style of food: Contemporary fusion
Cost: Expensive
Type of place: Paladar (private)
Food
Ambience
Service
Value
Best for: Interesting menu, beautiful building with great décor and good service.
Worst for: Getting a reservation in busy periods.
Calle 5ta e/ Paseo y 2, Vedado
(+53)7836 - 2025
Open noon-midnight daily
  • Atelier keeps getting better, recent renovations have improved the place while the food remains excellent. Atelier is run by Niuris Higueras who has a passion for creating food. She is the driving force–modest, capable, and warm. She defines the style of the food as signature cuisine, an experimental culinary workshop. The food changes every day, every week, hence those handwritten menu. Eclectic, everything from Falafels, Pato confitado [candied duck], Lomito de res con camarones y Espuma de apio al olivo [sirloin steak with shrimp and celery mousse], Conejo al vino [rabbit in wine] to cerdo asado (roast pork). Desserts are standard (flan, tarts, ice cream) but good.

    The large main room is decorated with sparse modern lines, inside a typically idiosyncratic Vedado mansion. Two balconies have boundless cushions for the outdoor lounge. An antique hob outside, old sewing and adding machines inside make the place retro yet not old.

     ‘This is such a good-looking restaurant in Vedado and with consistently quality food that nowadays is difficult to get in without a reservation. It is set in an old house located in Calle 5 and decorated by original art (mostly for sale, by the way), and with table settings that highlight antique china and glassware. The food is good, I personally love the filet mignon and I have heard wonders about the rabbit. But one thing I can’t resist is the falafel, the Middle East-inspired appetizer, totally vegetarian and made with chickpeas, served with a yogurt dressing. Order it next time, not an easy treat to find in Cuba.’

    The falafel at the Atelier:

    This is such a good-looking restaurant in Vedado and with consistently quality food that nowadays is difficult to get in without a reservation. It is set in an old house located in Calle 5 and decorated by original art (mostly for sale, by the way), and with table settings that highlight antique china and glassware. The food is good, I personally love the filet mignon and I have heard wonders about the rabbit. But one thing I can’t resist is the falafel, the Middle East-inspired appetizer, totally vegetarian and made with chickpeas, served with a yogurt dressing. Order it next time, not an easy treat to find in Cuba.

    
  • Café Laurent

    Café Laurent  LH 5

    The entrance to Café Laurent gives little away. While just a few blocks away from the iconic Hotel National, Calle M has little commerce and you have to be guided into the apartment building where a s …

    La Moneda Cubana

    La Moneda Cubana  LH 4

    If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck…it normally is a duck. Walking into La Moneda Cubana I could not believe that this really was a paladar. From the bad fake copies of Mona Lisa and the Last S …

    Sevilla Hotel – Roof Garden Torre de Oro

    Sevilla Hotel – Roof Garden Torre de Oro  LH 4+

    The Sevilla Hotel recently celebrated its 100th Anniversary. This is now managed by the Mercure group, has a gorgeous Spanish-Moorish style lobby and one of the best rooftop restaurants in the City, t …

    La Terraza de Cojimar

    La Terraza de Cojimar  LH 4

    Ernest Hemingway lived in Cojimar for some years and this was his favorite restaurant there, as evidenced by the many pictures of the American author here, including one with Fidel Castro. In one of t …

    La Moraleja

    La Moraleja  LH 4

    La Moraleja is the point of the story, the moral of a kid’s fable. The philosophy of this new paladar located in the ample backyard of a Vedado mansion is “Dreaming is free, so dream on, you’re at La …

    Club Habana – El Chelo

    Club Habana – El Chelo  LH 4

    Cuba Absolutely Review: December 2012 Club Habana has a long and distinguished history as a beach club for the well heeled. Today it is the one and only beach club left which caters mostly to the expa …

    Los Nardos

    Los Nardos  LH 5-

    The Sociedad Juventud Asturiana is a Spanish cultural society from the province of Asturias, which has a special legal status in Havana. Essentially, the society functions as a cooperative which means …

    Habana Libre Hotel – Sierra Maestra

    Habana Libre Hotel – Sierra Maestra  LH 4

    Of all the views in the entire world, this is the place. Well perhaps that is overstating things but the view is certainly spectacular from the 25th floor of the Habana Libre Hotel. You have a 180-deg …

    Tien Tan

    Tien Tan  LH 4+

    Tien Tan (Temple of Heaven) must be a very hated restaurant from the other Chinese places in Chinatown. It is at the end of the Chinese restaurant strip and every time that we walk down here, the tout …

    La Cocina de Lilliam

    La Cocina de Lilliam  LH 4

    Cuba Absolutely Review: December 2012 La Cocina de Lilliam is set in the gardens of a beautiful villa in Miramar. This is right at the top of the list of many visitors’ dream list. It is easy to see w …

    « 5 of 14 pages »