I was looking for a brunch place after the perfect 10am swim at Playa Norte. No daytrippers yet, no sunbeds occupying all the space, no music. Just perfection in the water and scenery. A blogger had said Lola Valentina had the best brunches she'd tried outside of Australia. That's a pretty good accolade and I gave her credit for even knowing Australia's scene.
There's the outside area with fans or an inside bit with blasting A/C. We opted for outside just for the atmosphere. A few lazy cats slept nearby under a table.
The smoothies are actually really expensive. Avocado (avocado, papaya, coconut milk, spirulina, vanilla extract, hazelnut, cacao nibs, beepollen, chia) 140 pesos reads like a dream. It was pretty good although the avocado flavour wasn't very strong. It could be underripe or just their local avocado types being used. But the real test was the food.
- Caribbean benedict (poached eggs, mixed plantain, black beans, avocado, drizzled with hollandaise sauce, served with skillet potatoes) 165pesos - ok the potatoes were really nice. But the rest not so much. Poached eggs were overcooked (1 very much so), the plantains didn't work with the dish as it made things too sweet, and the hollandaise sauce didn't taste right;
- Chilaquiles gourmet (tortilla chips soaked in traditional adobo sauce, sprinkled with cotija cheese, fried eggs and juicy tenderloin) 215pesos - the steak was cooked quite through but maintained some tenderness and was quite nice. The flavour of the tortilla was good too. However it wasn't like the chips were topped with sauce, they were soaked in sauce which meant they disintegrated into a messy thick heap. It wasn't the most pleasant to eat.
I think that blogger needs to eat more breakfasts around the world. This wasn't bad as such, but there are many better forms...