Cape to Cuba

If you’ve travelled the 15 hours from Windhoek to Cape Town, you may want to offset all that effort by hitting Cuba. ‘Cape to Cuba’, that is.

An arty and sprawling spot that all but shakes when the bright yellow Metrorail train rushes by its bay windows, momentarily disappearing the icy Atlantic as one delights in the easy illusion of being somewhere else.

Cuba in Cape Town.

Calling on the country’s famed Havana nights through the soft strains of salsa, mambo, rumba and Latin jazz, waiters dressed in homage to Che Guevara and with every nook and wall boasting biblical images and busts relating to Cuba’s predominantly Roman Catholic population, the eatery is both transportive and wonderfully kitsch in its chandeliers, centerpiece swing and bar stood right in the soft white sand.

My personal phrase for these dazzling drownings in art and culture is … rabbit hole restaurants.

Restaurants so immersive and stuffed with items conjuring the aesthetic of a specific time and place that you buy into the journey entirely.

Sip on Cuba Libres, look around hopefully for cigars and peer into display cabinets filled with miniatures of those classic cabriolets so integral to the pop culture of a place that seems to have stood still, save its support of Swapo during Namibia’s liberation struggle and its steady stream of doctors.

A sprawling art piece, imitation and vivid visual experience, ‘Cape to Cuba’ is one of those rare places where one feels as though they are within a canvas.

One intermittently adorned with the country’s signature star and serving such a delicious assortment of Cuban and Cajun style food and tapas that one almost expects to settle the considerable bill in pesos.

Yet naturally, upon bill delivery, you are reminded that you, are in fact, in Cape Town.

Which, with regard to all day visual feasting and fabulousness, is a pretty sweet place to be.

‘Cape to Cuba’ is located at 165 Main Road in Kalk Bay in Cape Town.