Raquel Hotel – Jardín del Edén

Style of food: Jewish

Cost: Expensive

Type of place: Hotel

Food
Ambience
Service
Value

Best for: Jewish food, beautiful ceiling to the hotel where located

Worst for: Not convinced how good the food is and often is a little quiet

Amargura esquina a San Ignacio

(+53)7860 - 8280

Open noon-11pm

The beautifully restored Hotel Raquel is another testament to the wonders being performed by Habaguanex, the Historian’s Office commercial wing. Opened in 2009, the stained glass ceiling simply takes your breath away. Magnificent. The Jardín del Edén (Garden of Eden) restaurant offers traditional Jewish dishes and is set inside the Hotel Raquel. It is next to the Lejaim (toast to life) Lobby Bar and is very much art Nouveau in its décor. Blue predominates on the screens as a colour of paramount importance in the ancient Hebrew culture, as well as some traditional symbols, such as the Star of David and the Menorah or sacred seven-branched candelabra.

Included in the partly Jewish menu are Hungarian goulash and Israeli salad. Kebabs also feature heavily, with Shashlik del Edén, a combination of plainly cooked fish, chicken and meat all cooked in accordance to kosher rules. How good is the food? Honestly, this is not really my favourite style of food and while I thought the Hungarian goulash was reasonably prepared, it didn’t particularly excite me either.

For some reason, the Hotel Raquel also sees slightly off the beaten path of many tourists (despite being so close to the ubiquitous Plaza Vieja), which means that it is often lacking in any real buzz. Given the beauty of the building, we would recommend that you stop by and take a look at the restaurant for yourself. We are distinctly undecided!