Havana's Chinatown
If you visit Havana, you can't leave without visiting a neighborhood that still has the sights and scents of Asia; I am speaking of course, about Havana's very own Chinatown.
At one point, it was the third biggest Chinatown in the Americas; it's main street is Calle Zanja, and its borders are roughly from Calle Galiano to Calle Lealtad.
I will say that nowadays, you're not likely to find a Chinese person in Chinatown, since the community has lost many members to immigration, mainly to the San Francisco area. However, there are many mixed race descendants of the neighborhood's original residents living there now. They promote the Chinese culture within the community, especially with a number of Chinese restaurants.
The first business in the neighborhood opened in 1858 (a tiny restaurant), and others soon followed, as well as retail stores, all frequented by Cubans working in the neighboring tobacco-producing district. Chinatown's peak occurred between 1860 and 1875 with the arrival of around 5,000 Chinese people coming from California. In 1874, these immigrants opened the first large Chinese restaurant in the area, with dishes originating from the region of Canton and developed by immigrants residing in San Francisco, with a few western touches added for good measure. Needless to say, Cubans loved the resulting dishes.
Those who know about food say that one can't speak about "Chinese food", since the country's food varies widely from region to region, whether it's Beijing, Shanghai, Szechuan, Hunan, Canton, etc.
It is food from the region of Canton that people around the world are most familiar with, the one tasted in the Chinese restaurants of Havana.
Location: Calle Zanja and Galiano, Central Havana
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