Laihoo's Cafe de China - Tijuana

The one we visited was in Plaza Minarete, NOT in PlayasThis is a Chinese immigrants owned restaurant, but it is everything but a Chinese restaurant, it is their take on Mexican food. It is actually not that bad, In fact, I would return. They serve coffee, in the style as Mexico City's Café con Leche, they pour a little bit of coffee concentrate (like espresso) in your cup and then pour very hot milk from a jar high, making it look like a latte. This one is awesome, they call it Café Chino, meaning Chinese Coffee. They do their own bread and sweet rolls, which is Mexican Pan Dulce, whatever I tried it was very good. The food is average, I asked for Red Chilaquiles and they served me Green Chilaquiles, and they were too sour. I really need to try more things from the menu.

Been a few times to this restaurant. It's rather hidden inside Plaza Minarate, an unassuming shopping center whose biggest store is a Sam's Club. Laihoo's Café makes for a great breakfast spot in Tijuana and I love their chilaquiles!!!! The size of the plates are generous. The mole, café con leche and the delicious biscuits are to die for!!! Not quite sure why the name says "Café de China" as I did not see any Chinese item on the menu and none of the employees looks of Chinese descent... Love this place and will come back again and again! I asked one of the servers about what there was to do in Tijuana that Saturday and she kindly gave me coupons for the Cultural Center of Tijuana and I spent there the rest of the day. Thank you!

I recently took my daughters back to Laihoo's for the second time in a few months. The first time a dear friend from TJ took us. Unfortunately for the second visit, we didn't have the restaurant name, nor address, nor anything other than gut instinct. We drove and pieced together the turns and found it again. We almost gave up but the cafe con leche was just too good to give up on.The name has China in it. I've only been there for breakfast so maybe something changes later but there is nothing Chinese about the menu. It is all wonderful pasteries (that are delivered to your table for you to select from - eat what you want, leave what you don't), hearty plates of traditional breakfast foods and a few Mexican, spicy specialties thrown in. My favorite is the molletes. I prefer the one with chorizo and jalepenos but even the locals looked at me a little oddly. One couple even ventured to ask about it. Then proceeded to order it. It is a quant location, smack in the middle of a residential street as is so common in Mexico but could make someone think they'd taken a wrong turn. We highly recommend Laihoo's. The servers usually don't speak English but all have been happy to put up with our butchered attempts to order and have keen hand signals to get you by. They take cards and American currency if needed.Buen provecho!

First of all, for those of you who don't know this... there are a lot of cafes in Mexico city that were originally owned and tended by chinese immigrants and their families, there are still some left, but they almost always served traditional mexican fare, and what people remember most from them is their biscuits and cafe con leche (cafe au lait), and since you rarely find this sort of comfort food outside mexico city it's not unusual for this place smack in the middle of Playas de Tijuana to be packed for breakfast, lunch and dinner.Oh, and did I mention the very reasonable prices?Have some cafe con leche and watch as they pour it in a tall glass just like in mexico city and veracruz!! Feel like a local from mexico city, feel chilango!!