One of the perks that comes along with our sweet little apartment in San Miguel de Allende is housekeeping service every Friday. The housekeeper, Juana, arrives around 10:00 in the morning, and does a thorough cleaning of the apartment including washing and changing the bed linens. We want to be out of the apartment while she’s here, and decided that Friday morning would be the ideal time to try a different place for brunch each week, sort of along the lines of having gelato every day in Florence.
Juana came this past Saturday instead of Friday, apparently to give us an extra day of rest in the apartment. We headed out shortly before she arrived to check out the Centro and included brunch as part of our day. San Miguel de Allende has an amazing array of good restaurants to choose from so the most difficult thing for us that day was choosing where to eat!
Since we were in Centro, and intending to go to the Mercado de Artesanias, we opened up our maps, put brunch in the search bar, and were rewarded with loads of choices in our immediate area. Reviews for several of the restaurants were available as were menus, and after some discussion we settled on El Encanto because of the reviews and its location half way between where we were and the Mercado.
The downstairs dining room
Although it’s a small restaurant, El Encanto’s colorful decor is captivating, and highlights art and design from around Mexico. There is also a whole Day of the Dead theme going on as well. The small restaurant has two distinctive dining areas that we saw: an open air patio and a colorful enclosed dining room behind it. There’s apparently also rooftop seating but it wasn’t open when we were there. Because of the hot weather we chose to eat in the dining room where it was nice and cool.
The menu had a selection of around seven brunch items. Brett chose ham and cheese quesadillas, while I went for enfrijolades, tortillas drenched in bean sauce then rolled and filled with shredded meat and topped with cheese. Both dishes came with a huge side salad topped with fresh fruit and a creamy mustard dressing. My dish also came with seasoned rice. Brett drank an Americano with his meal; I had an iced green tea. We ate everything with relish except the lettuce (which I can’t eat anyway).
We left El Encanto feeling very full and immensely satisfied. Both our meals were big enough that neither of us felt like eating anything the rest of the day! The total for our two meals, drinks, and tip came to $15.36 USD.
We’ve already researched and found where we want to brunch this Friday, another restaurant located in Centro with an impressive coffee menu and some interesting entrees, including a spin on my favorite, eggs Benedict.
The Occasional Nomads 
Wow. SM sounds like an interesting city to visit. I am enjoying reading about your visit.
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It really is an interesting place, and sort of reminds me of Japan in that turning every corner is an adventure. We’re having fun discovering what the city has to offer, new routes to walk, places to shop and eat, and so forth.
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I’ve been so busy lately that this is the first chance I’ve had to comment since you arrived in SMA. That supermarket in your Sunday post looks amazing! The only place in Mexico I’ve been to is Cancun and the photos you’ve posted of SMA don’t look anything like that. Do you feel safe there? Do you have to be careful not to drink the water?
Your apartment looks lovely. Did you find it on Airbnb? Sorry for all the questions, but SMA looks like a place I’d like to visit someday! I remember when I was in Cancun the prices were so low that we were constantly shocked!
Wow, it’s cool you’ll be meeting the Senior Nomads. Meeting them will be like meeting celebrities! Enjoy! I look forward to reading all about it.
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Oh, San Miguel de Allende is very different from Cancun! Location, climate, elevation, etc. are all completely different. We are looking forward to becoming better adjusted to the elevation so that we can do more without spending the rest of the day feeling exhausted.
We love the apartment (found on Airbnb). It’s VERY comfortable, and very well-equipped. The courtyard is the icing on the cake. Also, the neighbors we have met in our complex are all very nice as well. They’ve all lived here for a while and know lots of things so we’ve gotten some good advice.
We’re looking forward to meeting the Senior Nomads tomorrow and hearing more about their adventures and what they’ve learned.
SMA is well worth a visit, although we learned today from one of our neighbors that May is the worst month of the year (for heat). We continue to be shocked by the prices – today we stopped for Mexican hot chocolate and churros on our way to the big Tuesday market. Two cups of hot chocolate and six freshly made churros came to $6.25 – we’d pay that much for one cup in the U.S.! We filled two shopping bags with produce at the market and spent less than $10.
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What a great idea to go out for brunch when the cleaner comes. You are going to have fun finding good places to eat.
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We came up with the brunch idea for a couple of reasons: we want to be out of the house when the housekeeper comes, and brunch is usually less than dinner. We’re looking forward to this week’s location – apparently it’s very popular and we may have to stand in line!
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Your rental looks dinky, worn out, typical low level Mexicana. The food looks like something I’d rather pass over. Thanks for sharing.
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Well, well, well, look who’s back with the fake names and thoughtless, clueless comments.
Straight outta Rhinebeck.
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I’m betting I can guess who your Right-Outta-Rhinebeck troll is!
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You’d be correct!
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Curious, Is the restaurant mostly for tourists or do the locals eat there too? Love the picture of you and the senior nomads. Are they living there for an extended period or are they still traveling?
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I think there’s a pretty even mix of tourists and locals, at least from what we’ve seen so far, although we’ve been to one place where we only saw expats/visitors. When we had hot chocolate and churros the other day though we were the only non-locals in the cafe.
We’re very happy we got to meet the Senior Nomads, and our visit was too short. They depart SMA next month.
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