Breakfast dish of the day at The Red Tree House was cheese enchiladas with a red sauce – have yet to have a breakfast here that I don’t love! This Mexican food is becoming addictive (let’s just not look too closely at the dairy and carb content, ok?).
Drawn by the architecture and the thrill of being in Mexico, we walked from San Angel to Coyoacán, a distance of about 5km. This took us past the Plaza San Jacinto and we stopped in at the Casa del Risco – one of the old mansions surrounding the plaza that has been preserved. It is open for the public to visit, and they stage live music performances in the patio as well. It has a quirky fountain in the courtyard made out of shells and crockery. Odd, but interesting, and an intriguing backdrop for performances.
Our tourist trail took us down Avenida Francisco Sosa – the oldest colonial street in Latin America, all cobbled and lovely (only film stars can afford to live there). This led us to the Jardin Centenaria at the end of the avenida and it was in full swing Sunday mode; people everywhere, a group of clowns doing their thing, some mime buskers and hawkers trying to sell their apparently authentic Mexican made shawls and other bits and pieces. It was such a great vibe – families, couples and groups of friends everywhere enjoying their Sunday together, and tourists eating up the atmosphere as though famished.
We found the restaurant recommended to us by the knowledgeable Alejandro at The Red Tree House, Los Danzantes, right on the square with a perfect view of the afternoon’s amusements and diversions. We enjoyed a very nice rosé, bread basket with olive oil for dipping and two different red spicy sauces (one was smokier and sweeter than the other). This was followed by an entrée called a tuna salad but contained no tuna – it had prickly pear, avocado, spinach, tomatoes and a sweet beer dressing (yes, beer dressing). The second dish was a specialty of the area – ravioles de huitlacoche…corn truffle with a creamy dressing of chile poblano and squash blossoms. This ‘corn truffle’ is basically the black fungus that grows on the ears of the corn and ruins the crop, but it is a rich and complex flavoured food, reminiscent of traditional truffles. The food just keeps getting better and better.
A poor choice in the afternoon led us to another 5km of walking and then a lengthy metrobus ride with the destination goal of the area of Reforma where an artists’ market awaited us. The metrobus we were on travels the longest road in the city, and workers do their daily commute in this efficient and economic way – a triumph of public transport. Problem was the journey took much longer than anticipated, so when we arrived at about 4pm, half of the ‘shop’ was packed up and off. Disappointing – if only we had taken a cab! What work remained clearly demonstrated the talent and skill of the artists, but our exhaustion by this point really did prevent any serious consideration of significant purchase. It was time to call it a day.
Our Mexico City story continues…
Read our full Mexico City story here:
Part 1: Bosque de Chapultepec and its museums
Part 2: Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo
Part 3 (current): San Angel to Coyoacan
Part 4: Centro Historico
Part 5: Teotihuacan
Mexico City Accommodation: The Red Tree House
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