It’s my last day in Mexico City. For some reason, I found myself looking at restaurants online.
I decided to treat myself to one more really good meal, and found Cedron, a nice walk away from where I am. Trip Advisor ranks it 64th of 4,391 restaurants in Mexico City.
Okay, anyone who knows me will not look far for the reason I was looking at restaurants. I love food.
Having eaten here, I can’t imagine what the number one restaurant could be like.
I strolled down the beautiful Avenida Mazatlan around 2:00 p.m., hoping to snag a table before the rush started for dinner.
Mazatlan was closed to traffic in one direction. It was all bikes and runners and dogs. I absolutely love this neighbourhood.
The restaurant is in a lovely colonial building.
Like many restaurants here, it provides convenient short hat racks at each table for purses and bags and, of course, hats.
The interior was classic and elegant.
The staff could not have been friendlier. One waiter spoke English. When I said I was from Canada, he introduced me to another, who had spent six months in Canada and Alaska, on fishing boats.
They provided me with an English menu.
Simon will be disappointed he missed this. He loves lamb.
The table was beautifully set, with the napkin rolled up in twine and a sprig of rosemary. A small dish held a damp cloth to wipe away the street grime.
While I looked at all the wonderful things on offer, the waiters brought a bread basket, pate, some sort of smooth salsa and a little dish of peppers and onions which turned out to be quite hot. Water was served from a pitcher containing strawberries and some sort of greenery.
I asked for a cocktail menu before I tackled the difficult task of making a choice among so many great food items on offer.
I’m not a big gin drinker since an unfortunate experience in my youth, over which we will draw a curtain of discreet silence. Karen and I had tried mescal at Azul. It just about burnt our tongues off. However, feeling in an adventurous mood, I had the “Opera Roja”, even though it features mescal.
It was a little strong, but I guess the fruit juice cut the edge of the mescal because I quite enjoyed it.
While I was savouring that, a small pot appeared which contained just a few spoonfuls of some kind of soup.
I think it was sweet potato, but whatever it was, it was delicious.
I confess I am a complete sucker for this kind of detail oriented dining. I adore all the little flourishes that transform a meal into a dining experience.
I ordered tuna tartare to start. The plate was a work of art.
It tasted as good as it looked, although I confess, a sudden memory of having seen Simon and Karen go red in the face from hot peppers prompted me to examine all that loveliness with a closer eye. Sure enough there were some slices of some kind of hot pepper complete with seeds, lurking amidst the flowers, avocados and other good things. I picked them out.
Deciding to throw caution to the winds, I ordered a glass of rose wine. I’ve no idea what it was, but the colour was gorgeous and it tasted pretty good too.
My main course was scallop risotto. It too looked lovely, but I will confess it was rather disappointing.
The scallops were very chewy and the risotto had a heavy smoky flavour, no doubt from the morel mushrooms. That didn’t matter at all, since it left me room for dessert.
Going for broke, I ordered a hot chocolate, as well as the Chocolate Fondant cake. The dessert took a while to prepare, but as soon as my order was in, another flourish arrived; a cup of some sort of greenish yellowish tea.
It was very tasty. I asked a waiter what it was, thinking perhaps it was coca tea. I haven’t had that since Peru. I got a very lengthy description in Spanish, of which I understood exactly nothing.
There were three ladies at the table next to me, one of whom was in a wheelchair. While I read my Kobo and waited for dessert, one of them struck up a conversation with me, asking if I lived here or was just visiting. We exchanged views on the comparative climates of Ottawa, Mexico City, Merida (“It’s hot!” I was warned) and Texas. This pleasant interlude perfectly rounded out the experience.
The dessert was well worth waiting for.
With tip, this meal cost me about $100 Canadian which, from the point of view of finances, is completely unjustifiable. And I completely don’t care. I loved it. I’ll eat tacos all next week to make up for it.
wonderful article, great photos. And it sounds like a terrific dining experience, even for those of us [a minority, surely] who don’t actually care that much about food itself – it’s the small touches that add so much. Enjoyed this article very much.