Nao Kitchen Bar for Ladies Lunch

 Another new restaurant for ladies lunch and this time it was the Nao Kitchen Bar.  Just a block west of  the Plaza Machado and then half a block north or right on Belisario Dominguez.  Some of us have been there but most had not.  The reservation was for 1pm when they opened.  I made the reservation on Monday and when I came home from cards I saw that the restaurant had called.  I called them back and they had thought we were coming the day I made the reservation which was Monday.  Later at the restaurant the waiter laughed and said the girl who made the reservation heard " to day" and not "Tuesday!"  No problem and it was all sorted out. Off on the bus at noon and it was a quick trip.

Sandi, Cathy, Susie and I relaxed in the square as we were a bit early due to our extra rapid bus ride!  Lovely and warm on Tuesday.  We've been colder than usual with a vicious cold north wind.  I know...no complaining as it's not freezing and there isn't any snow!!

Ladies on the street selfie. 

Heading down Constitution. 

Little stores everywhere...this is a book store but I'm guessing the books aren't in English. 

Behind that tree is the Nao Kitchen Bar sign and they were just setting up their outside tables.  He said we could go in and order drinks while we waited...good idea. 

Perusing the drink menu.  We turned out to be 11 and although he said he couldn't do individual bills he grouped us in 4, 4 and 3 and then gave us individual bills within our group.  A bit odd but fine with us. 😁

I've been here before so I was prepared for the steep prices on drinks.  180 pesos to 200 pesos for mixed drinks.  That is quite common in Mazatlan and then the food prices are reasonable.  Beer wasn't as much. 

Linda in green and her friend Karen from Kelowna.  

Marion, Cathy and Susie.  

I decided on a mineral lemonade with " frutas rojas" or red fruit...delicious and 60 pesos.  I could have been tempted with a Mojito but that wasn't on the drink list. 😕 

I expected Ruth would order a Negroni and she did! 

Diane on the left, Steffi at the end, Ruth and Marion.  They had seated us at one big table and it turned out just fine.  Lots of laughter and good chat going on. 

The waiter offered to take a photo of us all. 

Karen and Linda. 

You can see all the smiling faces as everyone was having an especially good time. Diane talking to Linda with her friend Terry leaning in.  Steffi and the waiter are chatting about the menu.

The menu here is an Asian fusion with lots of Thai.  I ordered a crab dumpling dish which Sandi, Susie and I were sharing.  They are sitting on rocks for presentation. 

Sandi and I split the delicious Thai soup that had clams and shrimp in it.  Served with a big bowl of rice which you can add.  Not too spicy and very, very tasty. 

Susie ordered the Gyoza's with pork inside and tasty sauces.  Susie had the dumplings and the crab cakes.  She's a small eater so she said she didn't need the soup. 

A number of the ladies had " Chow Fun" which I've seen on Thai menus before. 

Pad Thai with shrimp was also a popular choice.  Both the Chow Fun and Pad Thai were delicious. 

Steffi stepped outside the usual and ordered octopus on a bed of sesame.  She said it was extremely tender Octopus and Ruth agreed.  Well spiced and an interesting choice.  

I like octopus or " pulpo"and would order that to share. 

Marion and Ruth ordered some dumplings to share and in the end it wasn't enough and they ordered Pad Thai as well. 😋

Lots of interesting food and everyone was really happy about the whole meal and experience. 

Cathy and her Chow Fun.  She said she shouldn't have eaten the whole thing but that it was so good she did!

Thai soup and Gyoza's delicious. 

Lunch is done and everyone is full and happy.  The bills came out promptly and correctly from our very capable young English speaking waiter.  We were the only ones in the restaurant for most of the time we were there but I know they are usually busy in the late afternoon and evening.  A thoroughly enjoyable lunch and a great place to eat.  

Thumbs up for the Nao Kitchen Bar!

Sunday concert at the Angela Peralta and it was wonderful!

 I'm a bit late with this blog but here goes.  Sunday was our second concert of the Camerata Campbell concert season.  You may remember we weren't thrilled with the last performance but luckily Sunday was a great one.  We were off on the green bus at 11am on our way to the 12pm performance. 

There was a whole herd of theater goers on the bus but, no one we knew. 

The Plaza Machado square is always so beautiful. 

No where near as busy as it was in December.   However, it has been unusually cold so that might be part of it. 

At first we thought it wasn't going to be very well attended but by second call it was a decent sized audience. 

The young lady sitting on the right is part of the youth orchestra and the lady behind her is part of Camerata Campbell. 

Tuning up before Gordon comes on stage to conduct and give us a run down on the program. 

In this piece the orchestra is playing a train song and imitating the sounds that the train makes.  The musician in orange has some sort of a brush instrument that he ran his hand over all through the number. 

The young man getting a pat on the back was from the youth orchestra and he was in charge of the train whistle.  A fun number!

Gordon was congratulating everyone at the end of the first half.  

That is the lead violinist and the lady who is always in charge of the initial tune up.  Perhaps their orchestra master?

We had a 15 minute intermission and that's Ruth stretching her legs.  She and Marion are on the first balcony like us but opposite to us.  Good seats and never anyone in front of you. 

The young man in the center looked like Jesus to me!

An intermission selfie!

And we're done.  The final encore number was from Australia..." Waltzing Matilda" and it was hard not to sing along. 

A truly wonderful performance from start to finish and the young orchestra was quite spectacular.  Well done...all of it. 

Off down the street to find lunch at Chon's.  It was almost 2pm so we wondered if we'd get a seat. 

No problem.  There was only us in the restaurant to start with.  You can see our waitress up the front.  She is a real sweetie!

Our usual Pacifico beer and lime. 

To the right you can see the current " Chon" oriental in descent and probably from the original family.  Chon's originated in some form back in 1946. 

Nothing fancy here but good food. 

I ordered a shrimp salad that came with green salad and rice.  The shrimp salad was like a potato salad and very tasty.  I managed all but the rice. 

Eric had marlin burritos which he really likes.  Served with guacamole. 

When we finished I paid by credit card and there was no option for 20% so our waitress had to calculate the bill.  She turned to Chon with the amount so he could help and then the older Mexican lady next to us chimed in and pretty soon we were laughing as they teased her about her lack of math skills.  Cute!  

Off to bus!

Heading home and it was almost 4pm.  A really nice afternoon followed by a short happy hour, cake and cheese for dinner and the day was done.