The food is considered better than in regular restaurants, which the government runs. Stews, roast chicken, and fish in a garlicky saute of onions and bell peppers might appear, along with baked root vegetables and black beans and rice, all reflecting a mildly seasoned Caribbean cuisine influenced by the culinary traditions of the Europeans, Africans, and Chinese who first settled on the island.
Dinners at a paladar, which cost about $20, might be served in a simple kitchen or dining room. Exceptional establishments, such as La Cocina de Lilliam, cost about $40. The food is more elaborate, and might have an inventive twist, served in formal garden settings or in antique filled rooms.
Food is just one part of a larger experience that begins with locating the eatery, sometimes off-the-beaten path, and then meeting the family members who run the restaurant. La Cocina de Lilliam is in an opulent Spanish colonial in the upscale Miramar district. A large wooden door opens into a garden of goddess statues, ficus, pink blossom and palm trees, staghorn and asparagus ferns, and bubbling fountains. Heavy wooden tables stand in a ceramic tiled patio. Owners Lilliam Dominguez, 68, a former dress designer, and her husband, Luis Ulloa, 72, inherited the house and refashioned a section into a restaurant 15 years ago. Lilliam became the cook and Luis the manager.
Our meal begins with a mojito, the iconic Cuban rum cocktail with lime, sugarcane juice, and spearmint leaves. Aromatic bowls of creamy asparagus soup come next, with rounds of bread to dip into a platter of creamed chickpeas. Fried plantains served in a basket are perfectly slender and crisp.
Entrees follow: plates of tender, thinly sliced duck covered with sauteed red peppers; roast chicken with rice; Lilliam’s reinvention of the classic roba vieja, made with lamb instead of beef. One dish makes us laugh — a lightly fried pargo, or red snapper, on a plate with a live goldfish swimming in a saucer (for decoration).
We finish with a dense chocolate mousse and a glass of Havana Club dark rum. At the end of the evening as we go to leave, Luis welcomes us into a private living room, and shows us photographs of Lilliam as a striking young woman. Art Deco lamps and 1950s-style adornments evoke a feeling of nostalgia for an era gone by.
La Cocina de Lilliam, Calle 48 No. 1311 (between 13 and 15), Miramar, Havana, www.lacocinadelilliam.com, 011-53-7-209-6514.
Ann Trieger Kurland can be reached at atrieger@comcast.net.
