Mexico is the kingdom of the tortilla, which is regularly perceived here as the equivalent of the bread for French. Well…this is actually not really the truth. For instance, the majority of Mexican eat tortillas everyday and not only one or two. And this is totally part of the Mexican cuisine. On the contrary, French bread is always put aside: this is not the base of our dishes. Moreover, Mexicans also have their own bread and their own panaderias (bakeries) so…
The fact is that when you are French, months and months without “your” bread, it is a challenge. But no panic! Hopefully there is BREAD. Direction Centrito in San Pedro!
A small gravel parking, a simple house and behind the door, a treasure. As soon as you enter into the place you can smell a delicate aroma of coffee, fresh dough and chocolate. BREAD is a bakery strongly inspired by the French tradition of “boulangeries” (places where we make bread and cakes). You can thus find “baguette”, “pain au chocolat”, “croissant”, “brioche” and others typical French sweets, but also delicious scones and muffins, and different types of bread.
Everything is to take away or you simply can take your time and enjoy the decor. The old ceramics on the floor, the mismatched seats, the not identical tables and the old lamppost. Suddenly you have the feeling to be returned to childhood.
BREAD has also the advantage to serve you a really good quality coffee, which is not that common in Mexico. If the country is a coffee producer, it mainly exports and an “Americano” for instance has more the taste of “jus de chaussette” as we say in France than an Italian coffee. It actually reminds me the type of coffee that they serve you in the US (I hope that I am not offending anybody!), totally diluted in the water. The coffee of Bread comes actually from La Nacional (one of the rare authentic coffee brand) and the beans are directly grounded on location. You can see people preparing it through the window.
BREAD is a place to relax, to appreciate a sweet time with a friend or even alone, having a nice coffee and a nice pastry.
My comment? The recipe of the bread should be “re-worked”. Of course it’s good but we are still far from the French “boulangeries” where the baguette is deliciously soft inside and crispy inside. The fact is that French bread is an art. It happened to me that I found Bread products really dried and it’s simply impossible to conserve the bread for the day after.
But I like having the opportunity to have a nice place that reminds me a bit of my country. When you leave, don’t forget to have a look on the “extra” products such as the pizza dough, the jams and the organic eggs from Victoria.
The alternative? MOFIN, a branch of BREADlocated in Gomez Morin. The atmosphere is clearly different, more modern, more design, with colors more flashy, but products are mainly the same. I would say that the space is more functional with connections for your features. When MOFIN invites to work (such as Starbucks for instance), BREAD is closer to a tea room. All depends on what you are looking for!
BreAD Panaderos Artesanales, Humberto Lobo esq. con Río Nilo, Del Valle, 66220 San Pedro Garza García, N.L., 7am-8:30pm (81 2138 0677)
MOFIN por BreAD, 922 Local 2B, Monumento Italia Nuevo León, HIGHPARK, Comercial Gómez Morin, 66259 San Pedro Garza García, N.L., 7am-9pm (81 8244 3288)
