Gossip's Kitchen

Address: Carretera #36 at Javier Mina,  Ajijic
Phone Number: 376 766-0217
Hours: 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, Closed Sunday
Facebook: www.facebook.com/gossips
Contact: gossips.kitchen@gmail.com

Directions : From Walmart, drive west on the Carretera to Ajijic. One block past Donas Donuts (mountainside) and Actnivar Bank (lakeside), is Gossip's Kitchen, at the intersection of the Carreterra and Javier Mina.

*Watch for their new location opening soon at the new Rose Bowl Mall in San Antonio, Tlay. which will be open for breakfast and lunch.

First Impressions

Gossips is one of our favorite restaurants. The chef and owner, Ismat Jivani, has created an African-fusion menu that is simply some of the best food you will find lakeside. Jivani was born in Nairobi, Kenya and trained at the Santa Fe School of Cooking in New Mexico. How lucky we are that he decided to open a restaurant in Ajijic in 2011, after having been the in-house consultant for former lakeside restaurant, Number 4. Gossip's Kitchen is located on a busy street corner and it can get a little noisy, since the best seats in the house are on the patio, but once you taste the food you will forget about the traffic. The restaurant has been recently updated with new paint and a sturdy barrier between guests and the street.

The Menu

Crab Cakes - My Favorite!

Gossip's Kitchen offers a number of fresh salads, soups, sandwiches, curry, gumbo and creative fish dishes such as defried salmon, oysters and Paul Prudhomme inspired crab cakes. Gossip's Kitchen serves wine and beer and a selection of interesting mixed drinks.

The dessert menu is limited, but delicious. Bread pudding made with banana bread and served with ice cream and Key Lime Pie are standards and there is usually a dessert special as well. The last time we ate at Gossips the dessert special was boozy raspberries over ice cream. The new menu has many old favorites and some new creations made to share - like Shells from Hell, lump crabmeat coated in coconut - and Satay. Oysters are still featured on the menu and there are always at least two scrumptious specials.

The only complaint I have is that they do not serve coffee, which would make their dessert course perfect.




The Service

The waiters at Gossips have worked there for as long as we have been living After only a few visits, the owner and staff make you feel like old friends. The service is friendly, prompt and conscientious. We have never had a bad meal at Gossips and have always had excellent service. It is one reason that we continue to return again and again.

Ambience

Gossips ambience is funky. It is situated on a busy street corner on the main road that runs through all the lakeside villages so it can be loud from the street noise. In the winter, they lower a plastic curtain to dull some of the noise and to keep in the warmth.

We almost always sit outside, unless the patio is full and then we sit indoors, across from the open kitchen. There is a mermaid painted on the outside wall admonishing you to "eat more oysters and love longer."

Price

Lunch for two, with a dessert and two glasses of wine apiece, about $400 pesos. Credit cards are not accepted.

Our Recommendation ****

This is a great place for lunch or dinner. Try the crab cakes or the deep fried salmon and don't leave without splitting a banana bread pudding with someone you love.