Cafe Royal

French restaurant: When most people on this side of the pond hear those words, they think of meals heavy on the calories and even heavier on the wallet.

Think agaIn.
French restaurants have come and gone in Oaxaca, but France native Christophe Tessier Lugol may be on to something. The owner of Café Royal, in one of Oaxaca’s oldest buildings on the corner of Garcia Vigil and Mariano Matamoros Murguia, hopes the recipe for success is a small bistro-style caf é and bar.

Lugol, 35, is a four-year resident of Oaxaca after managing restaurants in Sofitel and Four Seasons luxury restaurants in Miami, New York and Mexico City. After witnessing the failure of a typically elegant, expensive French restaurant in Oaxaca, he says he decided to go another direction.

At Café Royal, patrons will find a small, simple dining room with bright hues, a separate bar and a lounge with an assortment of French- and English-language publications. And don’t expect a squadron of waiters to be stumbling over you. Like Oaxaca, the atmosphere here is relaxed.

The breakfast menu is heavy on French-style omelettes, with a splash of typical Mexican fare.
A surprisingly extensive – but not expensive – lunch and dinner menu includes such French favorites as baguettes, fondue, pate, quiche, cordon bleu, roasted duck, crepes (my poblano crepa was delicious) and, yes, even snails. Don’t be afraid to try the salads. As Lugol notes, these greens are hydroponically grown.
“ I do my best to make everything organic, only the best, ” he said.

Besides a full bar, Café Royal provides an impressive array of coffees, chocolate drinks, mineral waters, juices and herbal teas.

For dessert, you’ll find an assortment of very French specialties, such as cakes, ice creams and truffles.
Open Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. until 11 p.m., and Sunday, 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.

CAFÉ ROYAL
GARCIA VIGIL 403
CENTRO, OAXACA
951 514 32 39