Great Cuban gourmet event closes in Ecuador

Cuban cuisine was highly praised in Ecuador during an all-embracing session held at the Colombian-run Four Points Sheraton hotels in Guayaquil and Quito. The event is held every year in an effort to advertise the good food of one of the region’s countries.

But in the case of Cuba, acceptance was so huge that word is hoteliers are already planning a repeat version in 2004 and there are even plans in the making to take the initiative to Colombia.

Wilfredo Kid, an exec from Horizontes Co., the Cuba-based hotel chain, underscored the huge success reaped by the tradeshow that included the island nation’s traditional cocktails and a corner specially reserved for its world-class cigars.

Both in the coastal city and in the nation’s capital, restaurants were swarmed over by unusual packs of patrons, including many Europeans and Americans eager to gobble up Cuban food and know everything about the island nation.

Mr. Kid pointed out an assessment made by the Four Points front office that amazingly didn’t get a single complaint from customers and were showered by words of appraisal because of the top-rated service they got.

Among the dishes that swept patrons off their feet, some standouts were Moros and Cristianos (a mixture of rice and black beans) served with roast pork meat. For those sitting on barstools, Cuban mojitos –in a bartender’s own words- “came here to stay. Make no mistakes about it.”

A young female cigar maker kept on hand-rolling stogies at a white-heat pace for ten days in a row as gaping smokers made her use up almost the entire tobacco shipment brought from Havana.

The executive from Horizontes, Cuba’s second-largest hotel company, also extolled the brotherly efforts of the Ecuadorian personnel that worked hand in hand with the Cuban chef and barmen, keen to knowing their deepest secrets in the trade.

Mr. Kid made sure this event –also planned by HAVANATUR- will serve to further boost up the number of tourists flocking to the island nation.