In Havana, Chinese cuisine has never tasted this good

HAVANA — Chinese descendant Teresa Lazo hangs out for lunch at the recently reopened Tong Po Lang Restaurant in Havana’s Chinatown, a community that attracts hundreds like her for its flavor of the Chinese cuisine tailored for Cubans.

The 72- year old praises the work done by Cuban chefs who, she said, have done their best to prepare Chinese dishes, which continue to gain popularity among the island’s population.

After the city eased months of lockdown restrictions due to the COVID- 19 pandemic, the streets of Chinatown are once again bustling with people.

“I love soy sauce, fried rice, bittersweet sauces,” Lazo said while spending time with her friend. “When it comes to Chinese cuisine, everything is delicious ( and) smells so good.”

Once the biggest in Latin America, Havana’s Chinatown now struggles to keep its restaurants in business in the face of the pandemic and economic restrictions caused by the US economic blockade against Cuba.

More than 20 restaurants in the community serving all kinds of food, including Cuban and Chinese dishes, have opened to the public in conformity with social distancing guidelines and hand disinfection procedures.

Customers are only permitted to remove face coverings when sitting to eat or drink, and tables are required to maintain a physical distance of at least two meters from one another. Sodium hypochlorite solutions are available for diners to use in case they do not carry hand sanitizers.

Abel Abdel, who works as a server at El Fenix Dorado Restaurant, said Havana’s Chinatown is one of the best places to eat Chinese food on the island.

Localized flavor

“We are serving dumplings, Chinese soups, among other dishes,” he said. “People like the way Cubans cook Chinese food. We have learned very well.”

With many restaurants in the area, Havana’s Chinatown is a fundamental part of a local development project to promote commercial activities and Chinese culture. Its restaurants are among the first family- owned businesses permitted by the authorities to operate in the mid- 1990s.

In coming days, hundreds of tourists could fill the streets of Chinatown again, after Havana’s Jose Marti International Airport being due to begin operating again.