13 January 2015

Mexican Cantina

Western Food January 13, 2015 0

I don't know why, but I often go to Mexican Cantina around the exam period. Perhaps it's the holy trinity of carbs, meat and alcohol. Or the fact that there is cheese pooling over every dish. Or the fact that it's a mere 12 minutes drive from my campus at Clayton. Anyhoo, it ticks every check on my box, and whenever my schedule starts heating up, I invariably find myself seated at Mexican Cantina.

On my recent visit with my family, the five of us ordered a litre of Sangria ($20.95) to share, which I thought was just right. But given that one was the designated driver, one abstained from alcohol, and another was taking medication, 1L suddenly seemed like a lot for two. It was cold and refreshing, but try as we might, and with our grandma eyeing our every sip, we left the remainder undrunk.

The best dish was Our Original Nacho's (small: $19.95, regular: $23.95, large:$27.95). What's not to like about hot, fresh, crunchy nacho chips, served with an abundance of guacamole, cheese, tomato and sour cream? Their version was some of the best nacho's I ever had and I couldn't get enough of it. Even Miss XS, who hates nachos with a passion, loved it.

Another dish I loved was their ribs. We had the Tex Mex Combo ($32.95), that came with slow-cooked ribs and BBQ chicken wings. The ribs were tender and flavourful, and was the first to disappear from the table. The wings were not as impressive, and we should have held out for their Tex Mex Ribs ($34.95), which comes with 2 slabs of ribs instead (which we had on a previous visit).

We also ordered their Texas Chili Burrito ($26.95), a three-time champion of the Australian Chili Cook-off Competition.

We also had some sort of chicken enchilada, which Miss XS loved. But I wasn't too crazy about that, and retreated to my safe haven of nacho's and ribs.