RTW Roundup: Best complimentary hotel breakfast
Unlike in my road trip across the US where I stayed at a lot of budget chain hotels, offering consistent, standardized "free breakfasts," the only hotel brand I stayed in twice in my four months didn't offer free breakfast (Novotel). Instead, my free breakfasts ranged from white bread toast (Vanilla Place, Chiang Mai, Thailand) to elaborate international buffet with a range of baked goods, fruit juices, and hot items (Sheraton, Iguazu Falls, Argentina).
My favorite "free" hotel breakfast of all was at Pousada Dona Zilah, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. A great combination of good food, relaxing atmosphere, and inventive menu. Oh yeah, and breakfast is served from 7am all the way to 11am, which is perfect for people like me who want to sleep in!
The buffet is set up in this little serving area. The quaint decor, small serving plates, and the fact that this was a bona fide restaurant serving lunch and dinner for paying customers, gave me the exhilarating, naughty feeling that I just walked into a cute cafe and started helping myself to all of the food when the staff wasn't looking.
The eating area was bathed in natural light, which was so pleasant and something to look forward to after spending the night in a room lacking in natural light. It was autumn in Sao Paulo, and the large windows were always open to the street.
There were always standard items like a sausage and onion stir-fry, and potato and ham casserole. But then they always had a rotating selection of fresh fruit like star fruit, persimmon (brought over by the Japanese immigrants), and guava. And there were always around six different breakfast loaves and cakes, including chocolate cake and cornmeal bread steamed in banana leaves. In the breakfast below, I'm also trying out the guava jam (not from a can) and "limonada especial" which had mint blended in.
The varieties of fruits, juices, and breakfast breads always changed, so even though I stayed seven nights I always got to try new things. Like one morning a puree of avocado served in a wine glass appeared.
On another day, coconut cake and guava pudding appeared. One of my favorites was the French loaf baked with ham and cheese inside - I always got a slice or two whenever that appeared.
Pousada Dona Zilah's breakfast selection wasn't the most extensive. But it was certainly the most refreshing in both the taste and freshness of the food, as well as how it broke away from standard, predictable buffet breakfasts.
