Sometimes I forget that Prague, while a capital, is just a small city. If we rolled into a restaurant at 6pm, it probably wouldn’t be jumping yet. But when we arrived at JaJaJa in the West Village for an early dinner, it was already busy and people were making merry all over the place.

To be honest, I’m not sure why I added this place to our itinerary. I like the idea of Mexican food, but I’m not sure I’ve ever been to an all Mexican vegan restaurant, or ever had a really good Mexican dish even. I’m not a Mexican food aficionado and I have no idea what’s good to order, so it’s possible I was setting us up for failure.

Mother HH was not dazzled by the chorizo burrito. The filling itself was quite nice, she reported, with good rice, guacamole and, of course, chorizo. But she didn’t enjoy that it was covered in sauce. Maybe this is a common serving style, but I just haven’t been to that many Mexican restaurants in my life. The menu did describe it as “smothered” in sour cream and salsa, but we still weren’t quite expecting it.

Dr HH was similarly not bowled over. This was the enchiladas mole, which had a kind of meaty filling and the classic mole sauce, but he found it a bit samey and unexciting.

I was the most satisfied customer with the coconut queso quesadilla, which contained some lovely pesto, mushrooms and cheese. It packed a decent flavour punch, and the cheese was good and gooey.

All in all, this place fell a bit flat for us. We probably were not enthusiastic or savvy enough about Mexican food to make the best choices, and we were honestly exhausted – getting back to the hotel for an early night was extremely tempting after a long day on our feet. We’d spent the afternoon wandering around Central Park, which you may have heard is rather large. As well as enjoying the general pleasantness of some peace and quiet in the middle of the city, we also indulged in some birdwatching, which I have become a huge fan of since the pandemic hit (though I still barely know more about birds than I do about Mexican food). I hadn’t expected this to be a holiday with lots of nature, but we saw some really exciting birds unlike what we get in Europe. In particular there were blue jays, American robins, and northern cardinals, and we even spotted a bird of prey perched on a branch.

Is there a cuisine that you think you should like, but have never really got into? Are you also becoming a birdwatching enthusiast in the post-pandemic world?