Tried and True and a Few Surprises—Sanborn's

Sanborn's Logo

Sra. Cuevas and I wanted an easy and unchallenging lunch out in Morelia last a couple of weeks ago. We chose Sanborn's at Plaza Las Americas.
Sanborn's does "unchallenging" very well.

The buffet was very tempting at $145 pesos pp, so we chose that. Ordering a la carte cost more in the aggregate, except for small items.

The quality of the food is very uneven, but nevertheless, we found some appealing and satisfactory items.

The steamed vegetables were perfectly cooked and delicious, al natural. The salad bar selection was very limited, but what there was was fresh and good.

There was steamed, more or less plain white rice and Arroz a la Mexicana. We didn't try either.

A Crema de Verduras soup was mellow, buttery and Mommy-to-the-max comfort food. Delicious, and a winner.

Crema de Verduras

Tempura-like battered fish fillets were dry but not bad tasting. Nevertheless, skippable.

The tacos dorados de pollo were dry, hard and almost tasteless. Pass them over. A true dud.

Coliflor enrebozado, very dull despite the attractive chile molido sprinkled on top.

A sleeper item were the potato chunks with crumbled chorizo, delicious, and even better, served HOT. (Unlike some of the other dishes, notably the tacos dorados and the tempura fish, which were tepid.)

The Paella del Mar; the rice was savory and moist but the seafood overcooked,, as one might expect. The chorizos o.k. and the salchichas skippable.

Then, amazingly, there was Lengua Al Chipotle con Tomatillos. (Do you read me, Steve Cotton?) If you like tongue, this is the dish to have. I had one fork tender slice, with lots of the wonderful sauce, over otherwise "MEH!" mashed potatoes (evidently reconstituted instant), and wished I had skipped the earlier dud dishes. One could choose rice as a base instead of the pah-pahs.

Lengua a la izquierda, braised beef a la derecha

A sort of braised beef or stew was so-so but came nowhere close in savory appeal as the lengua.

There was a choice of agua de horchata or a fruit blend to drink, both good. A small dessert is included in the buffet price, which we skipped.  A sliver of cake, arroz con leche, gelatina, one remaining choc mousse that looked tired and was starting to film over. You might want to hold out for a gelato. See below.

The winning dishes were the steamed vegs, the crema de verduras, the papas con chorizo and the lengua. The Lengua takes the Grand Prize.

Believe it or not, we didn't try everything. Just a sampling, and in small quantity.

The Gioiello Gelato stand down the way toward Sears lower level was very appealing for its presentation and visuals of its cute, hot pants, red  capped and uniformed, all girl sales staff. But I hadn't room for a gelato, no matter how appealing the scene. (Though I had a camera, I didn't think it appropriate to take pictures inside the mall.) I settled for a café cortado at a Café Europa stand.

Sanborn's Saturday Buffet,  Ground Floor, Plaza Las Américas, Morelia

Ratings

Food: ***

Service: ****

Price: $145 peso per person

Ambience: Staid, bourgeois, traditional.

Rest rooms: clean and attended.

Special Note: One can still buy cigars and other tobacco products and accessories in the Sanborn's tabaquería, although the boxes are decorated with dreadful tobacco origin diseases and sick-making illustrations.



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