Villa Helen's Hotel and Restaurant
October 16th 2008 00:54
Helen's pool
I'm such a VIP that sometimes we go out for lunch on Sundays. Last weekend was that wild! I worked Saturday, and then got an invitation for lunch from dear friend Liz, owner of a car. I had gone way out on a limb and suggested that we could go to Sambo Creek for lunch someday. And here was Liz taking me up on it.
We took the babies, my daughter and LIz's terrier. Liz drove us out to Sambo Creek where we were going to eat at the big seafood restaurant Kabasa. We parked at Kabasa, and went inside, where we decided to sit outside by the trampoline, because my kid loves the trampoline, and we had a doggie with us, so it's good to stay out of the main restaurant.
Maybe it was this poor choice of seating that we demanded for ourselves. Or maybe they were just busy. But we had a lot of trouble getting someone to bring us a towel to wipe the seats down, and then they wouldn't even bring us two Port Royals and a towel to wipe the seats. Plus three different servers approached us, none of whom returned.
This all only took about 10 minutes, and I figured that we would wait out the bad service in good cheer since we were out on Sunday and they were busy. Liz was up and complaining though, and then she decided that she had complained so much that she didn't want to stay and order food.
More bonus points to me for not being the only one complaining (and a Honduran no less) about slow service, so we left even though my kid was about to go balistic over the trampoline. She didn't say anything, but I knew, via radar.
Luckily Liz suggested that instead we go to Hotel Helen's, that it might be a little more expensive but it was going to be good. Perfect I said. Jasmine had tears in her eyes, and we were all ravenously hungry.
The turn to go to Helen's, and also to the Hotel Canadienne is right next to the big red brick fence of Mango Tree Villas, a few minutes past Sambo Creek. We bumped down the road for about 5 minutes to get there.
The cul-de-sac at Hotel Helen's is a far cry from downtown Sambo. There was plenty of parking in the shade, although there were many cars and two other hotels nearby.
We got to the restaurant and they had our table wiped and drinks served in 3 minutes, only 30% of the time we had to invest in not getting served at the other place.
Things were a bit wild at Helen's as well, but we were packing babies and dogs. The swimming pool was full of people. We were the only indoor table at the restaraunt, but a dozen more people were eating or lounging out by the beach tables.
We ordered, starving. Liz was having grilled fish fillet, watching her caloric intake. Jasmine and I shared the largest whole fish on the menu. Fried with the eyes and tail. One of our favorites.
As we waited for the food we met Helen, as in Helen's. She was supervising, and was extremely nervous about the kids in the pool. She told us that it was actually an orphanage that was visiting that morning, and she was terribly concerned that someone was going to drown or break their head, or teeth.
Jasmine was still a bit steeped in misery, since we had left the trampoline place, and now we showed up to a very full pool. I distracted her a bit on the beach, and she said she saw no shells, only ciggie butts. I told her the beach looked wonderful, and I didn't see one single cigarette butt, and then she pointed one out to me, I couldn't argue.
Sunset at Helen's Hotel Sambo Creek, Honduras
Luckily our fish came out. It's great to share a fish, because most places have different sizes of fish on the menu, and if you're eating whole fish, you lose some plate volume to the head, fins, tail, and bony skeleton. I personally think that if you order the largest fish, you lose the least, therefore one large size fish (the biggest one ye got, yar matey), instead of two smalls.
The food came out and Liz said hers was wonderful. I didn't get to see it too close, because of course, I had many tasks involved with eating our fish, including pouring the ketchup for our platanos (yum, and eating a few). Then I had to take my share of the cabbage salad (all) and the rice (half). Then I had to stab the fish in the side a few times and peel back his flesh so that Jasmine could start eating fish. Then I also had to race to separate out some fish for me, and finally eat all of it, before jasmine finished it all. "Turn it over!" she shouted as soon as we finished one side, so I flipped the fish.
Yummy it was, right down to the bones, and the fins were crispy so I crunched a few. Jasmine got into the crevices with her little baby fingers. The total bill for 2 fish lunches and 4 beers was 396 Lps., or about $21.
Then we decided to hit the ocean. I thought I didn't want to get in, but then it looked pretty nice, so we both swam for a while. The water was nice, not crystal clear but the waves were rolling and there were other people jumping around. There were also tons of Pelicans; someone said they were migrating. We saw a group of about 15 big Pelicans flying off. There were several boats that went by, including one boat that came from the Cayos Cochinos, full of some tourists. You can see the Cayos just offshore, and these people looked happy with their snorkling excursion. We found quite a few small shells once we got over our initial misgivings. The beach was very clean, you could see the tracks of four-wheelers, and we mused a bit about how fun it would be to be a wealthy Honduran and drive a 4-wheeler down this beach to go to the stores in Sambo Creek. Honduran luxury vacation for sure.
Helen's Hotel
Alas, we were just here for lunch. So we packed up and said good bye to Helen and the orphans, and Helen's husband, and the waiters.
We asked about rooms, and they said 600 Lps. a night, an attractive price, about $31.50. They have beachfront rooms from $35 as well, and some larger cabins. The restaurant was spotless, and the gardens and beach were beautiful. I didn't actually look at the rooms (old backpackers die hard, you tell me $35 for a beach front room, and I don't ask to look at it.)
I found the website (in spite of the fact that the business card had the website printed incorrectly . . .i used my googling skillz).
Helen's Hotel and Restaurant
I give it a "highly recommended" and "please invite me along!"
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