Why it belongs in ORBIS
Old Havana bar and boutique hybrid on Calle Aguiar, serving tapas and cocktails alongside a fashion workshop for designer Loypa Yzaguirre. Small in-house fashion parades showcase her bold, colorful womenswear.
Color Café operates as two businesses under one roof on Calle Aguiar in Old Havana: a tapas bar at the front, and Loypa Yzaguirre's fashion workshop and boutique at the back. The bar's menu mixes French, Spanish, and Cuban small plates, including quiches, Serrano ham toast, and ceviche toast, alongside a cocktail list built on classics and house creations, including a rum-ginger-tonic 'marilou' and a melon-mint 'rosa plizzz.'
The fashion side runs small, informal parades through the bar space itself, with models wearing Yzaguirre's designs, described as bold and summery in color, moving through the same room where customers are drinking and eating. So far the boutique has stocked womenswear only, though the business has signaled interest in expanding into menswear if demand continues.
On weekends, the bar brings in guest DJs, adding a nightlife layer on top of its tapas-and-fashion-show format. The combination — bar, boutique, and runway sharing one space — makes Color Café function less like a conventional shop and more like a small, recurring fashion event with food and drink built around it.