This morning we were looking for someplace to eat breakfast. It's a twenty minute walk into the center of town, so we wanted to find someplace nearby. We were actually planning on going to VIPs (a Mexican chain which is not bad but definitely not outstanding either.) Before we reached VIPs we passed a place called "El Colibrí" (The Hummingbird). It had a good crowd, and looked clean and pleasant, so we decided to go in. We are glad we did, because we had a much better breakfast than we would have had at VIPs. Jane had "huevos mexicanos" (scrambled eggs mixed with fresh salsa), but I chose a Oaxacan specialty... "memelitas". "Memelitas" are toasted corn meal cakes topped with black beans, cheese and salsa. They were delicious! I have a feeling that we will go back to "El Colibrí" for breakfast tomorrow!
This evening we walked downtown and ate at a restaurant called "El Mayordomo". It's owned by the Oaxacan chocolate company of the same name. I ordered Mexican hot chocolate to drink, and I swear that it was the best I ever had!
At "El Mayordomo", instead of serving the typical tortilla chips and salsa, they serve chips with a small bowl of "mole negro"... the famous black sauce which includes chocolate among its many ingredients. In my opinion, it wasn't the very best "mole negro" that I have ever had, but Jane rather liked it and is looking forward to sampling more of the "moles" of Oaxaca.
We both ordered soup. I had cream of corn soup, and Jane had "sopa oaxaqueña", a soup made with cilantro, zucchini and mushrooms.
As our main course we split a "tlayuda", another Oaxacan specialty. I've mentioned "tlayudas" before. You might call them Oaxaca's answer to the pizza... a giant corn tortilla covered with a variety of toppings.
On our way back to the apartment, we stopped at a little place and had "churros" and more hot chocolate.
I guess it's a good thing that we have a twenty minute walk from our apartment to the center of the city. With all the wonderful Oaxacan food that we will be consuming, we will need to burn up plenty of calories!
It IS an outstanding culinary city, to put it mildly. World renowned in fact. Enjoy.........I'm envious. Don't remember if I mentioned Casa Oaxaca but if you go over in that area - if I remember correctly it was somewhere near the big church, there are many, many, many excellent restaurants......a feast of food.....
ReplyDeleteI know that Casa Oaxaca is supposed to be THE restaurant in the city, but we aren't going there. I ate there the last time I was in Oaxaca... the prices were high, and the food was just so-so. The most memorable thing about it was that it was so dark on the rooftop terrace that we took turns holding a flashlight so that we could see our food. No matter... there are plenty of other great places to eat.
DeleteI am going to be in Oaxaca for 2.5 months and I am trying to figure out a food budget. Is Café Colibri very expensive? I often eat at La Olla but I know that there are many restaurants that are less expensive. Where do you recommend?
ReplyDeleteNo, El Colibrí is not expensive (by our standards). Hearty breakfasts (that's all we have had there) run maybe $10 US. In the evening we have been eating at very nice, but not fancy restaurants... places like La Olla, but not the overpriced gourmet places like Casa Oaxaca. Our suppers have been running around $20 US per person or less. I'm sure that you can find plenty of places that are less expensive. The exchange rate is very favorable right now. I would think that you could eat very well on $30 US per day.
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