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Instead of cavernous, camp-like dining areas, the resort features several moderately sized specialty restaurants plus, in the family area, Azul, a buffet eatery whose indoor and outdoor seating offers water views and single rows of tables. Open 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., Azul serves breakfast, lunch and dinner buffets as well as items from a menu. Choose either or select items from both. For lunch one day, when we leave much of the buffet's Mahi Mahi and the duck kebabs on our plate (these were ho-hum), our attentive waiter notices. He suggests we order the lobster tacos from the menu and for dessert, the mango sorbet with a touch of chili. Both are terrific.
Several of the specialty restaurants welcome children. Our favorite, Frida, in a setting of fountains and cream and rust marble, serves upmarket Mexican cuisine. Be sure to try the lobster and crab chilpachole soup, a tasty treat. Entrees include veal shank, tamarind, crispy duck and enchiladas stuffed with lobster. For those too young to appreciate such pleasures, Frida's kids' menu offers grilled chicken breast, fettuccine and steak with French fries.
The two other family-friendly, specialty restaurants are Sen Lin, serving Asian fusion cuisine, and Lucca, an Italian restaurant. Both Piaf, which serves French fare, and the resort's signature restaurant, Cocina de Autor, which serves a Spanish-inspired, eclectic mix of tastes based on molecular cuisine, are restricted to ages 16 and older. While Piaf, with its red crystal curtains, might be too "romantic" a setting, teens who are foodies should welcome Cocina, whose inventive cuisine includes a gazpacho with cocoa oil fashioned into a ball that literally melts in your mouth, as well as other surprise dishes.
The Grand Velas also features 24-hour room service at no extra charge. This comes in handy when kids (and you) come back from a day in the sun hungry, but too tired to walk to the nearest eatery.
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