Just off the street, it looks like a cute little cafe, with half a dozen tables and a pastry counter. Out that door to the left and down the hall, there's a larger dining room. I got some odd looks when I walked in and sat down - there had been a woman working on her laptop at that last table, and another behind the counter, and a third walking around, and when I came in and sat down, none of them greeted me, they all kind of huddled up, and then left the room. I sat at the corner table for almost five minutes before one of them came back and walked over and silently gave me a menu. The other two drifted back in over the next minute or two. This didn't bode well, it's just odd behavior.
I ordered the smoked salmon sandwich on a bagel, along with a mint-ginger lemonade. By this time, at least the waitress was talking to me, though not in much more than monosyllables. When she delivered this, I asked, "I thought this came on a bagel?" She replied that it was a bagel. I suggested that it didn't seem much like a bagel, but more like a sandwich roll or hamburger bun. She avowed that this is what a real bagel looks like. With finality and conviction, turned on her heel and walked away.
It's a seeded hamburger bun, it's soft and pillowy. It's got decent smoked salmon on it, though no more than two wispy slices that don't quite cover the bun, even side by side. It's got several leaves of iceberg lettuce, a couple of pickles and some red onion, a schmear of hummus, and a veritable mound of unseasoned scrambled egg. It's got a nice salad on the side that almost dwarfs the sandwich. The lemonade is quite good. Respectively they cost 189 and 69 pesos.
Though I'm disappointed by the sandwich, it wasn't awful or anything, and the pastry case is calling my name. There are two different chocolate cakes in the display, and both are sending out cocoa tendrils in my direction. I ask the trio for their opinion, they're split on which is a favorite, but note that all cakes are available in... half portions. So, I get a half portion of each. I'm split on which one is my favorite, but probably leaning towards the denser, fudgier one. They run 60 pesos apiece in half portion, which really is half the regular price. Add in an espresso. And add in the dreaded cubierto charge, here 24 pesos. Add in a tip, and lunch comes in at just shy of 500 pesos, or about $25.
I'm not happy about the bagel. Not so much that it wasn't a bagel, but the insistence that felt like they were telling me I didn't know what I was talking about. Service at this place is weird, even if it got friendlier later. I'd go back for pastry and a coffee. read more
