Hi All, Well, I had a chance to drop in for dinner last night so I figured I'd share with you guys how the night went down. Showed up at the restaurant for a late dinner (around 8pm). First impressions: the decor is a little sparse, the open kitchen concept is cool, room was very quiet (no surprise on a tuesday & I'm sure that will change soon)...overall a refreshing departure from the usual Yaletown scene. My boyfriend and I decided to order the April tasting menu ($37) so we could try a sampling of items from the menu. Neither of us have much experience with mexican food, so we were quite excited. As our table was small, they combined our two orders and served most of the dishes "family style." So this is what arrived at our table (Item descriptions are from their website). Aguachile de Camarón Butterfly shrimp marinated in lime, onion, orange, oregano and chile. Guacamole. Homemade with fresh avocados. Made to order, spicy as you can handle. - served with tortilla crisps. The shrimp turned out to be a little too hot for my boyfriend to handle, so those sensitive to spicy foods beware. We both really enjoyed the guac, which was daaaaammn good - very refreshing and creamy. Hongos al Ajillo Sautéed mushrooms with, guajillo chile, garlic and olive oil. - these came a few minutes after the first two dishes arrived. Served with soft tortillas for wrapping, the deep smoky flavours easily made this one of my favorite dishes of the night Sopa de Tortilla Rich tomato and dry chile soup with thin tortilla crisps, avocado, cheese and cream - my boyfriend said it tasted like campbells, I'm just not a fan of tomato soup...so I don't think it'd be fair to judge on this one. For our main, we were served a trio of fish, pork, and chicken with sides of rice and esquites (corn salad) Tikin Xic Halibut filet rubbed in Yucatan achiote paste wrapped in banana leaf and oven baked Pollo en Pipian Verde Chicken breasts in a green pumpkin seed sauce Manchamanteles Literally translates to “tablecloth stainer.” Oven cooked pork with a chile and fruit sauce - The manchamanteles were our favorite of the three, the pork was tender and the sauce had a nice tang to it. Chicken was moist and I found the pumpkin seed sauce kinda interesting. Neither of us were a fan of the fish, we found it rather dry and the sauce very bland. (*note: heard from the restaurant today that this is being taken off the menu to make room for tastier items). And for dessert... Peras en Salsa de Piloncillo y Tequila Layered pears and whipped cream with a Mexican Brown Sugar and Tequila Sauce - yummy! you could really taste the tequila in the sauce & the cream was fresh and not too sweet. The service was friendly and attentive, and we were sent out the door with a chorus of goodbye's from all the staff. All in all, it was nothing spectacular, but the food was tasty and at least worth a second trip.
