Yes, I was a leading member of the ‘Café Popular’ crowd. Laugh, point, mock all you like, but those of us who regularly sneaked off to Café Popular after all the other restaurants had turned off their lights, knew exactly what we were doing. We were trying to be less like tourists and find some sort of foothold in a city which we couldn’t quite get to grips with through the confines of our full days of training and our cosy life in Hostel Catedral, right on the main Xocalo (square). The 24-hour openness, the surliness of the waitress beautiful in contrast with the dainty bow perched on the back of each of their heads, and the simple but pleasantly greasy and authentically Mexican food lured us there far too many a time, and proved a key bonding place for some of us within the pack.
Café Popular, for its ample and hearty menu, provided me with a gentle introduction to the resplendent wealth of Mexican cuisine. There I first experienced tamales, quesadillas, horchata and, the most genuinely Mexican of all, strawberry and frosties cake...
Aww. love it. Popular!!! Everytime i see frosties on the menu i think of this :)
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