Krishna, Krishna, Haré, Haré

Today we ventured into the historic Center of Mexico on a brief scouting trip. Our first stop was La Plaza de la Constitución where the Christmas festivities were in full swing. The entrance to the square is adorned with enormous, glittering snowflakes hanging from overhead cables. They claim to have the world’s largest artificial ice skating rink (4000 square meters, it was BIG!) and to complete the faux winter picture is a 10 meter tall Christmas tree made entirely of potted poinsettias.

In reality, the main reason for heading to that part of town was that we were hopeful some of the restaurants we wanted to try may have been open today. Unfortunately, not all the information one acquires on the web is one hundred percent accurate. After making unanswered calls to all our choices and scouring the internet for new potential dining spots, I struck gold. Govinda Ram would be open until 5:00, they were serving a special Christmas fixed menu and they were only a little over one kilometre from our location. Having eaten at a similar restaurant in Ottawa, Brenda and I knew this was an establishment run by the Hare Krishna movement.

On the way there we discussed our first exposure to this sect that, back in the day, always seemed to have a roving band of disciples with mostly shaven heads, clad in saffron coloured robes strolling down St. Catherine street, clanging cymbals and chanting. At the time, they were pretty much looked upon as a cult. But times have changed, the wandering Hare Krishna minstrels seem to have gone the way of the dodo and they are now almost mainstream.

In any case, when we arrived we were warmly greeted by the staff who informed us, once again of the special set menu for Christmas. We were promptly served a glass of Jamaica flower infused water, a plate of beet salad and another plate of what I thought was potato salad. What a surprise I got when I popped a piece into my mouth to find it was diced pear in a coconut sauce. Delicious, but more for dessert than as a main course. Another plate arrived with two more dessert items; a small torsade pastry dusted with sugar along with a red coloured mousse of some sort. With all these desserts in front of me, I asked the server if there was any more food coming, because, frankly, a beet salad and a couple of sweets wasn’t going to do it for me. She responded in the affirmative and set out a plate in front of each of us that was filled with a serving of stew, a slab of lasagna and a vegetable roll, all of it vegan and all of it delicious! The price for all this was 200 pesos for the two of us.

A much better option than another dish of food court Chinese food.

And although I may have the haircut, you won't be seeing me sporting a saffron robe and chanting anytime soon.Läs mer