Getting the perfect idea for dining in such an area, South Bank's new arrival Mucho Mexicano was designed for communal eating. And what better place than smack bang in sight of the roundabout which is right in the middle of the highly populated dining precinct? Also, it is headed by the Ole Group which has several established places on the road already, there are high hopes that it might get embedded among the greats in this general area.
I was meeting a friend of mine in South Bank, and that meant the usual arrangement - lunch and a movie. Regarding what he wanted to eat for lunch, his primary demand was to go somewhere that had big bits of meat. A few places around would easily accommodate to that, and this one place had also recently opened. Being a true Mexican place, a number of items on the menu were exactly that - some good meat. As per usual as well, I showed him the menu to see what he thought and this was the place. Funnily enough with him wanting meat, this used to be an Argentine place and that was definitely a shoe-in if you had the craving for flesh.
There is a whole lot of life to this place sitting down. It is colourful with murals painted with bright colours and having all kinds of Mexican imagery and bright paper dolls (for lack of a better term, they are more in the shapes of skulls and other shapes) drooping down from the ceiling. It is a bit of a tight squeeze with all of the tables around the place, and with the amount of shop front that they have this is possible. It is open-aired This place has two levels, and I could imagine the views from the top, especially during dinner time. For the colder nights, they have plenty of gas heaters laying around to warm up the place and make it just as pleasant during the cold periods as it is during the warm spring days.
One of the biggest strengths of Muchos Mexicano has to come down to the service. We are talking a top notch standard of excellence. It took a little warming up at first, granted that the area was fairly quiet a bit before noon, but when it started getting going it was consistently switched on. Every member of the waitstaff was very friendly and delivered their services really well. It came down to smaller details, the main one I remember is filling up the water glasses - it never really sounds like much on paper, but in the flesh it makes an impression.
Well, I have already said it is a true Mexican place. That is the general array of food that is available on the menu. These come in a range of street food snacks, tacos and a couple of main menu sections - one dedicated to the big meats, and one that is for the regional area of Juarez. Drinks include margaritas, sangria, wines, beers, ciders and plenty of options for tequila. For those who can't decide, there is a shared comida for any number of people. They have an exciting and simplified menu here, and it looks to be one place that could do well along the Grey Street strip.
Getting started with the drink orders, the usual check was if they did coffee or not. Luck was in the air that day. The normal kind of coffee for me and that is a simple doppio. Whatever the type of coffee they use here is, I forget at this given time, but it was not a bad one at all. It had a texture a bit more like wine than milk, and the flavour was a mixture of tart and sour. The body of the coffee was well extracted, and it was fairly strong. Colour me impressed already, and now it is onto the food.
After placing the orders, I chatted with my friend whether or not to get something to begin the meal. Well, yes if I am writing about it now, eh? What else but some simple tortilla chips and dip? These came with a duo of dips, good old guacamole, and salsa. By salsa, it is a salsa fresca which has tomato, garlic, and onion all chopped fresh with flavourings of coriander and lime juice to round it off. These tomatoes were chunky, sweet in their flesh and combined beautifully with the sourness of the lime juice. Other aspects of it like the garlic and coriander were not too overt, and it made for a great homemade salsa. With the guacamole, it was mashed smoothly and became like a creamy dip unto itself. All of this with well salted tortilla chips. Now this is why you can't go wrong with chips and dip as a Mexican entree.
When it came to the main meal, there was really several options that I could have easily gone for. Even on a quite modest menu, this is the norm for me to be - indecisive. Regardless, I went with the grilled prawns and chorizo on top of dirty rice. It was a simple meal, and one that was done right. This had four prawns on top of a bed of rice, which was mixed with tomato and a good marsala that was very spicy. Alongside it was a lemon wedge, and coriander for a garnish. All of this combined to make one tasty little dish, with sweet prawns, smokey chorizo and rice that was done in a paella style that was equal parts spicy (I could feel the after burn in my throat) and equal parts creamy (or whatever the texture of risotto can be called). This made it have that well-put together palate that became complex in how well everything interacted with one another. Or in brevity, it is a solid and tasty meal that suits spice fiends well.
While he was a distracted, or just during a bit of swapping, I nicked a little bit of chicken from my friend's fajita platter. It was also quite good. They cooked the chicken, which itself was a good cut of meat - probably breast or thigh - and it was well seasoned and spiced. He had finished a little before me and had some leftovers i.e. tortillas. So I used one of his (for the prawns, rice et al and maybe some of his sour cream), and it was soft and really good quality.
I was impressed by the overall experience at this restaurant. Not only was the food par excellence, but it was also boosted by wonderful service, a great location and really relaxing aesthetics. After being in such a dessert as far as good, authentic Mexican cuisine is, seeing such places as this pop up is a wonderful sight. Hopefully, more diners will come along and see it for themselves. In less esoteric terms, Muchos Mexicano is definitely a place that I would like to return to, and it will have a good life it if it plays its cards correctly. Like any new kid on the block, and especially when that kid is playing with the big boys, this will have its work cut out for it for the next while.
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