Hi folks,
I must apologize profusely for losing all my notes on the SUPERB meal
the three of us had on our last night at GRAND VELAS' SEN LIN Asian-
inspired restaurant. The decor was elegant and very Zen-inspired
relaxing, the service superb as it had been in all the Grand Velas
venues, and the food again truly excellent. The local and Asian
infused ingredients made all the dishes tasty, novel and exciting. The
presentation was also on the level of any top notch luxury restaurant.
Our three dinner, lunch and breakfast buffets and just everything made
me confident that an all-inclusive resort can conjure up great dining
experiences.
Yesterday we moved right next door to the MAYAKOBA complex where we
will spend the rest of our stay here. Our first stop is the one-year
old Asian inspired and truly beautiful BANYAN TREE MAYAKOBA. The just
over 100 suites/villas here have the choice of three dining
experiences and we chose ORIENTE, the modern Mexican spot. It is a
silly name as they have a Thai spot, which would be more "oriente,"
and our server actually could not explain why the Mexican restaurant
was named as such!
It is a large place with slate and mosaic floors, huge woven rattan-
like chairs with big pillows and lots of wrought iron, especially in
the chandeliers. We ordered a bottle of CHATEAU d'AUGLES Rousanne-
Marsanne from Coteaux de Languedoc 2006 which was quite yummy,
although the price list has no more than several wines ringing in
below $50. The glasses here are Schott (modern style) as opposed to
the restaurant Riedel next door at Grand Velas, and we had to
constantly asked to have thee glasses filled. Failure #1, even though
we kept telling them that we drink fast!
A small cylinder of BEEF TENDERLOIN TAQUITO arrived as an amuse with
CHILMOLE (a mole made with local chiles) and cheese that was a yummy
one bite pop in the mouth. Samuel's beef tacos arrived and the meat
was top quality fajita style lean beef. The rolls looked basic, but
when we opened the small buns they were filled with a mushroom
duxelles-like paste made from the local HUITLACOCHE that was divine.
Samuel thought it was pesto and gobbled it up until the words local
mushroom were mentioned. So much for his continuing to eat something
he likes when he thinks the ingredient is something he DISlikes.
Both starters were huge and of top quality ingredients as well. CONFIT
PRAWNS, Vegetables & Avocado Ice Cream was oh so much more with a
poached-egg looking yogurt, asparagus, cucumber, carrots, beet and
onion all arranged in an Asian-like salad around the huge prawns with
the yummy ice cream as a "sauce" scoop on the side. Will's Shredded
BEEF CEVICHE was again tender meat on crispy CORN TORTILLA with Ranch
Aged Cheese. There was not much cheese and a squeeze of lime might
have made the salsa with sour cream a bit more exciting, but the dish
was delish.
We ordered a second bottle and it took about 10 minutes for them to
tell us it was all gone, so we settled for a very buttery ESCUDO ROJO
CHARDONNAY from Maipo in Chile. Will had the VERACRUZ Style Grouper
with Creamy Zucchini and Blossom Rice which was a delish fish as it
should be for $33 (the prices here ranged from $14-21 on starters, and
$28-36 on mains). My choice was indeed the $36 Seared CARIBBEAN
LOBSTER TAIL with the CHILMOLE & Tomatillo Sauce, Sauteed Veggies,
Portobello, Oyster & White Mushrooms. The sauce was excellent, the
vegetables superb and the tails HUGE but sadly cooked a bit too much
to a slightly dry stage! DAMN! The attention to this mos important and
quality ingredient in the kitchen had totally failed.
We decided to share a dessert of CHURROS with Mexican Chocolate dip
and Mexican Coffee Ice Cream. At $16 this was about 7-8 churros with a
thick and gloppy chocolate sauce that just didn't do much and the ice
cream was nice but won no awards. At this point we really were glad we
decided not to dine at the adult only Tamarind (where cold starters
run $13-21, $31 for foie gras terrine;warm starters $19-25, and mains
$31-47) in the resort tonight, but instead head into town.
