Havana Bakery Cafe

Friend and I had lunch here today--neither of us had ever been here before. They have a menu posted online, however, it appears they only make certain things on certain days, so whatever is on the hot plate (plus the sandwiches they offer) is what you can get.

I had the roasted pork with peppers and onions, yellow rice, and fried plantains. The pork and plantains were really good. The pork was tender and juicy and the plantains had really good caramelization. I felt like the pork could use a little more seasoning. Surprisingly, the yellow rice included fish. I usually don't eat fish at all, so it was kind of off-putting. My friend ordered a half chicken, which I sampled, and it was outstanding. I'll probably go back again just to get that.

Beverage selection is pretty limited and we both just got a bottled water. The bakery has Cuban bread and a large variety of cakes and pastries, and it also looked like they do custom cakes. My friend took a couple of pieces of chocolate tres leches cake home, and said they were really good.

Postscript about the selection of meats and sides - although they didn't have the full menu available, I don't think it would be possible to get there and find there was nothing acceptable. Today, they had pork chops, pork with peppers and onions, fish, half chicken, and beef available as proteins. I didn't look that closely at the sides. It's a bit out of the way for me, but I think I'll be back for the chicken. The only danger there is that the (also excellent) Yummy Pollo is on the way there!

Never heard of it.

I think we've just gotten to a place where there are more good Cuban restaurants than one could ever hope to try.

[Robin Garr]

Fern Valley Road south of Newburg, between Preston and Bardstown. There are a lot of little international eateries out there.

https://www.havanabakerycafe.com/

I think we've just gotten to a place where there are more good Cuban restaurants than one could ever hope to try.

I'm not sure there are that many, but Louisville does have a large population of Cuban immigrants. I tried the famous Columbia Restaurant when I was in Tampa a month or two ago, and it was great.

I think we've just gotten to a place where there are more good Cuban restaurants than one could ever hope to try.

I'm not sure there are that many, but Louisville does have a large population of Cuban immigrants. I tried the famous Columbia Restaurant when I was in Tampa a month or two ago, and it was great.

Funny, I was actually a bit disappointed with Columbia the last time I ate there. I’ve eaten at a couple of them in the Tampa/St. Pete area and the last meal made me appreciate Havana Rumba and Habana Blues. I’m thinking it was the sliced lechon asado (instead of chunks) and empanadas that left me wanting.

Havana Bakery and Cafe is one place we try to stop at every month or so , Hubby always eats off the steam table and I check it out and if I don't see any thing I want to try I love their Cuban sandwich and I eat half and take the other half home for later. I do this to save room for dessert love the flan topped with chocolate cake or is it cake topped with flan? Depends on how you eat it but it doesn't matter it is amazing. The folks there are so nice, too

Funny, I was actually a bit disappointed with Columbia the last time I ate there. I’ve eaten at a couple of them in the Tampa/St. Pete area and the last meal made me appreciate Havana Rumba and Habana Blues. I’m thinking it was the sliced lechon asado (instead of chunks) and empanadas that left me wanting.

I've only been the one time - had the Cuban salad, which was good, and I think I had ropa vieja.

Cafe Perera in downtown Tampa is extremely highly rated, but the Cuban sandwich I had there was terrible--thrown on to a panini press for a minute or so and barely warm.

My friend who lives down there ordered from a third place via Doordash - I can't recall the name, but it was amazing (except for the lechon asado I ordered--it was really dried out--I can't complain about that a lot, because I've read that a lot of meat authentically cooked in Cuba is practically burned), anyway the ropa vieja (someone else ordered) was juicy and the rice and plantains were outstanding. I couldn't eat the paella they ordered due to my shellfish allergy, but could tell it was amazing based on the aroma and how everyone else enjoyed it!

Edit: The Doordash place I was referring to above was The Latin Grill in Brandon. Also, I feel like Habana Blues is a little hit or miss compared to Havana Rumba--95% of HR's menu tastes amazing to me, compared to maybe 50% of Habana Blues. Habana Blues is like Lou Lou Food & Drink--if you order the right thing (like the muffuletta at Lou Lou), you'll be really impressed, but if you order the wrong thing, you might not come back.

Yes, the 1905 salad at Columbia is fantastic. I also agree that Habana Blues can be a bit spotty, and I acknowledge that my favorite dish isn’t exactly Cuban (how does Beef Wellington land on a Cuban menu anyway?). And I love all of the Rumba’s and their kin. Looking forward to trying the new place, although I will miss that chicken/ham over sofrito. My nearest HR (Douglas Loop) doesn’t have it on their menu either.