"Na zdarovie" is a phrase that Russians usually say in response to someone's gratitude, especially after eating. It means a wish of good health. The interior of the Nazdarovie restaurant, located on the second floor of a typical Havana building, strongly reminds one of Soviet times. The walls are covered all over with numerous posters of different Soviet epochs, with slogans that are familiar for everyone who had lived or visited the country at those times.
In addition, there are various Matryoshka dolls and other items that are associated with Russia seen on the shelves. The waiters at Nazdarovie are dressed in Soviet style with a light military "flavor": they wear the blue berets worn by Russian paratroopers and Russian Navy striped vests in blue and white.
Rolando Almirante, one of the founders and owners of the restaurant, told Sputnik about the very idea of creating the Nazdarovie restaurant.
"In this building, one of the three founders of this project lived. One day all three of us met in this place, and he told us: ‘I am a descendant of Ukrainians, and I would like to honor the memory of my Slavic ancestors. What can we do right now? Why not to open a bar?' And I offered: why not make a restaurant of Russian, Slavic cuisine?" Rolando told about the origins of Nazdarovie.
In addition, the other two of the trio also had a reason for joining this project: they studied in the USSR. Rolando graduated from a university in Lviv and the other founder studied in Moscow.
"It was hard work," Rolando said. They had to go through numerous formalities and solve a lot of problems when registering a restaurant as an enterprise, restructuring the premises, building the kitchen area, finding posters designed to recreate the USSR atmosphere and hiring the right staff.
Finally, on August 22, 2014, Nazdarovie opened its doors to the first visitors.
"This restaurant will be something like a time travel machine. It pays tribute to the union of Cuba and the USSR, which lasted more than 30 years," Rolando explained the concept of the establishment. Thus, they appeal to the memory of thousands of Cubans who studied and created families in Russia or in other Soviet republics, he added.
News about the Soviet-style restaurant spread rapidly, and it became very popular among different people, from Russian diplomats to tourists from different countries who came to Havana. Three years later, the Nazdarovie restaurant turned into a successful enterprise, despite all the difficulties in finding the right products for traditional Slavic cuisine: borscht, solyanka, pelmeni, sour cream and many others.
