Of good food and being tipsy in Oaxaca

 A recollection of our first dinner in Oaxaca and a tipsy conversation.

Earlier that day we had a rather long round of Mezcal tasting so we were in quite a 'good' place as we stepped into the Zocalo (the square in the centre of the city) from the minivan at the end of our tour. Being the sensible travellers we were, we decided to grab dinner somewhere near to make it easy for us to go back to our hostel.

On my list of restaurants to try in Oaxaca I have noted this restaurant called Tr3s 3istro (yes it's really spelled like that) located in the Zocalo. Through my research from numerous travel blogs, guide books and trip advisor, I heard that they do very good oysters and seafood with some Oaxacan twist. The prospect of having oysters and seafood felt very enticing for us as it would give us a variety from just the traditional Oaxacan fare we have had during our lunch buffet. Finding the entrance just on the side of the Zocalo, we climbed the set of stairs and found ourselves in a very nice restaurant on the second floor of an old building, with a balcony spanning the entire length of the room opening up to the square below.

We opted for the table right by the balcony and set about the business of ordering the food. After much fuss, deliberation and a dramatic explanation of the day's specials involving a huge blackboard being taken off the wall and plonked in front of our table; we settled on some oysters, pork ribs and fish tacos. I know that sounded counter intuitive, ordering seafood in Oaxaca, a city in the middle of desserts and arid mountains, but the waitress recommended them to us as a few of their most popular dishes, and since we saw a few locals dining there, we thought why not? (Plus I got anti-dhiarreal tables in my bag lest things went south with the meal).

To go along with the meal we decided to also order some artisanal beers brewed by small local breweries from the area. Bobby opted for a Mezcal tasting dark beer, which was rather delicious as we could definitely taste the Mezcal in it. I opted for a regular dark beer from a local brewery which had strong notes of coffee and chocolate which was absolutely delicious, I loved it.

Not long after our beers, our appetisers came. We ordered half a dozen of the Baja oysters served with all the condiments. The oysters were going for less than 1 USD each, so that was really an offer that I couldn't pass up. That and the fact that the restaurant is known as a very nice oyster bar in Oaxaca. The oysters were plump, juicy and surprisingly very fresh. I had no idea how they could get such fresh oysters in a city so far away from the sea, but I wasn't complaining. It was also Bobby's first time trying out oysters, so it was definitely a rather risky order on our part. He ended up liking it and we relieved those white grey shells of their delicious contents in no time.

As the night fell, the temperature dropped slightly and there was this wonderful breeze that wafted in as we sat by the balcony. The breeze brought with it the sounds of the hustle and bustle going on underneath us. Children playing in the park with their parents watching from behind, balloon and toy sellers trying to grab the attention of the kids and various musicians playing their best songs to try and squeeze a few pesos off the passerbys and the diners enjoying their food outside by the Zocalo. Still lightly buzzed from the beers and Mezcals, the atmosphere felt intoxicating (in a charming rural town kind of way).

I was snapped back from my short reverie by the waitress, as she brought in our main; pork ribs in the red Chapulin sauce and the Baja salmon fish tacos. Looking at the pictures now as I am writing this post, I couldn't help but to realise that the delicious Chapulin sauce we had was made out of grasshoppers! In any case, the pork ribs were superb. They were not melt-in-the-mouth tender but that lack of an ideal texture was made up by the grasshopper sauce which was tangy, savoury and a little sweet, basically everything we'd want coating the pork ribs on our plate.

The fish tacos were also really good. They had fried each morsels of fish in a light crunchy batter, before assembling it with some greens, guacamole and mayo. Served with a small bowl of fresh salsa, the dish was both refreshing and satisfying, a nice change from the heavier Oaxacan fare with the pork ribs and the various meats and soups we had for lunch earlier that day.

After finishing the mains, we spent a fair bit of time just hanging out in our table enjoying the atmosphere and the myriad of vignettes unfolding below at the Zocalo. We saw couples walking together, boyfriends buying flowers or balloons for their girlfriends, families walking hand in hand in a huge line which inadvertently dammed up the flow of people in that particular walkway, the small kids running around throwing balloons to the sky before screaming with laughter trying to catch the balloons as they fell and many more.

I think this is a thing with me whenever I feel a bit tipsy and that I am in a good place in life. I would start talking about this thirst and hunger that I have for life itself. It is the reason that I travel, the reason that I love to try out new experiences and discover new cultures, arts and cuisines. From the fragments of conversations I remembered that night (after ordering another round of the delicious beer), we started discussing about the reasons why we do the things that we do and the envy I sometimes have towards those travel bloggers who made traveling their life.

But on the flip side, discussing our jobs, the stress of traveling and just general life back in London, I realised that I also love the fact that I have a stable job which I enjoy,  a home and community to go back to and some form of security in my life. It was one of those funny conversations where I suppose there were no real end or reasons for it. It was just at that moment, sitting on the balcony, listening to the music wafting in from the Zocalo below, filled with good food, feeling the tingle from alcohol and having memories of that day's journey flooding back; I felt incredibly lucky for being able to be there at that very moment and a sudden overwhelming love and appreciation of life.

Snapping out of that melodramatic state, we realised that it was nearly 10 p.m. and we had spent more than 2.5 hours at the restaurant. We knew we were going to have an early day the next day, so we decided to get the check and made our way back to our hostel to rest (and Instagram).

Getting out of my seat I told Bobby to give me a second to go to the washroom. Walking past the corridor by the bar, I noticed they had a replica of Manet's A Bar at the Folies-Bergère at the back of the bar. I know the painting well and it is one of my favourite paintings in the Courtauld Galery's collection In London. It might be my slightly tipsy state, but the sight made me chuckle to myself and brought an extra bit of joy to the already very pleasant evening. It felt like seeing an old friend in the most unexpected places. 

After settling the check, saying our goodbyes and thank yous to the staff, we stepped out to a quieter Zocalo than the one we encountered earlier in the evening. We made our way back slowly, crossing the paved streets, still quite alive with vendors and locals just hanging about, trying to soak in every detail and savouring that wonderful little moment in Oaxaca.

TR3S 3ISTRO

Portal de Flores 3, Centro, 68000 Ejido del Centro, Oaxaca, Mexico