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2015-07-22
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Every month or so I google "Mexican restaurant Hong Kong" just to see if there's something new. Found Xoco recently and it looked like it was worth a go.There's some confusion in the other reviews about whether this place is "authentic" and what kind of food it serves. I grew up in Texas and this is clearly Tex-Mex. A few diagnostics: chili con carne is 100% Texan, as are these kind of fajitas, and hard taco shells. Tex-Mex is classically covered in lots of yellow cheese, and so is more than hal
There's some confusion in the other reviews about whether this place is "authentic" and what kind of food it serves. I grew up in Texas and this is clearly Tex-Mex. A few diagnostics: chili con carne is 100% Texan, as are these kind of fajitas, and hard taco shells. Tex-Mex is classically covered in lots of yellow cheese, and so is more than half the stuff here. A chimichanga is more of an Arizona thing, but they've gotten pretty popular, and you can definitely find them in Texas or Mexico. As for authenticity, it's my opinion that there's nothing inauthentic about Tex-Mex, it's just its own cuisine, that has many affinities with other Mexican cuisines, like those in Mexico and the American southwest.
A good sign at the outset was that we got free chips and salsa. The chips are fresh, and good, but not fantastic. The salsa is watery and flavorless. I'm shocked at the lack of concern Xoco shows for the one place it should be showcasing its bona fides. It's very easy to make good salsa and not that hard to make great salsa. Free is free, but this is your time to shine.
I got the steak fajitas. This is the thing I'm most likely to order at a good Tex-Mex place, because if made correctly, it's often and easily the best thing on the menu. The steak was cooked nicely. It was pink in the center, charred on the outside, and tender. That's the good news. It wasn't quite as greasy as it should be (what do you think makes fajitas so good?) and less powerfully marinated than I might have liked, but it was a good showing.The thing I didn't like about the fajitas was this powerful tomato sauce they poured over everything. The whole dish tasted like tomatoes, and not in a good way-- though there's not really a good way for fajitas to taste overwhelmingly of tomatoes.
The tortillas weren't as bad as those you get at many places in town, but they weren't as good as even those you'd find at a grocery store bakery in Texas. Kind of a little lifeless and not fluffy or soft.
The condiments consisted of the watery sauce again (there was already enough tomato in my fajitas), some sour cream, and some mediocre guacamole. This is par for the course in HK, but I was hoping for better.
My wife went more safe with the pulled pork enchiladas, and she really loved them. I had some, and I will say that they were delicious. I read an article the other day recommending that you fry your tortillas for enchiladas before you prepare them for the oven so the sauce doesn't soak through them, and I thought that was the silliest thing I'd ever heard. I like my enchiladas to be a cheesy gooey mess and that's precisely what Xoco delivered.My wife said "they were exactly like you'd get in Texas," but I think she has insufficient experience to truly appreciate the issue. There's lots of bad enchiladas in Texas, and I've eaten a fair portion of them. Making good enchiladas is by no means trivial, and these definitely impressed.
Also got a margarita-- they have frozen and on the rocks.Here's some final thoughts. First of all, I will come back here. I won't hold it up as some holy grail, but there's hardly any good Mexican (broadly construed) food in town and some of the stuff that was good has gotten a lot worse (ahem, Brickhouse). I read a blog the other day that said there was a "Mexican craze" in Hong Kong and my jaw hit the floor. A dozen Chipotle clones does not a Mexican craze make. For now, I'll make do with what I've got, and there's a number of other things on the menu that entice me. Word to the wise: on their sandwich board, Xoco was advertizing molletes for the weekend brunch. If those are any good, I might be a regular here on the weekends.
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