After quite a harrowing delay of close to 7 hours on our flight to Mexico,
we finally arrived at our hotel at about 6am on Xmas Eve, went to sleep, woke up
before noon and spent the day touring as much as we could see. Dinner was early
as we needed sleep. So we headed to the beautiful courtyard of Casona de la
China Poblano, a pleasant colonial building in the center of town. It was
deserted and as we enjoyed our meal the staff almost annoyingly hovered over us.
We started with yummy margaritas and looked around the quaint courtyard
over which the hotel rooms opened up on. In the center was the larger than life
statue of La China Poblano, the fabled daughter of a Mongol king who was
abducted to Mexico. Well, Samuel noted that her blonde braids and fair skin made
her look more like a little Dutch girl!
Amuses came in the form of mimelitas, small pizza like squares with salsa
and queso fresca, which is very tasty in this region as it is indeed so
fresh.
Will had a gorgeous Sopa Azteca of avocado, pasilla chilis, chicharron,
queso fresco and crema de rancho, a sour cream of sorts. Samuel had the even
more intriguing and tasty Taquitos Santos made from chicken and cheese, but here
wrapped in root beer leaves with chili Serrano sauce that packed a punch. Think
of it as a Mexican version of meaty/cheesy stuffed grape leaves, but
bigger.
Sesame seed rolls with salsa verde and red salsa(hotter) arrived and we
enjoyed these as well, but little did I know my starter of Las Cemitas Poblanasa
"Mercado del Carmen was several miniature sandwiches with the same bread stuffed
with a slaw, salsa and then some kind of small fried square of meat and perhaps
ground seeds, but we never did find out, as language for food is a big problem
here, even when Samuel speaks the language so well, as the dishes are so
local.
We ordered a superb Santo Tomas 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon from Baja that was
very full bodied and went brilliantly with the traditional signature dish of the
region, which both Will & I had, Mole Poblano or chicken breast in mole with
tamale, rice and full of delish flavor.
Samuel ordered guacamole as his main course, even though a starter, yet
they brought an bland soup broth which he could put some things in like onion,
cilantro and such; he did not want to speak up, so he ate it.
We were full and spent the rest of the evening walking through all the Xmas
stuff in town and visiting churches, which was fun.
We thought our dinner was okay, but it sure didn't win any prizes for the
first night. Praying for better as we move through 2 more weeks in
Mexico.
--
