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2016-05-06
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Girls night out and this is the time where I can eat at a restaurant that I know my male friends would not be interested in trying. Verde Mar is something I had been eyeing for some time since it opened. It's focus was Mexican and apparently authentic Mexican at that. After doing a bit of research, I found that it was founded by the same people who started Mr. Taco Truck, a Hong Kong styled down version of an Americanized taco truck. If you ever try eating at a taco truck or even Chipotle in the
So, this restaurant is not Tex Mex, or so it says. It's "authentic" Mexican. Honestly, I've never been to Mexico. I guess the closest I've ever dined in a Mexican restuarant was in LA's Olvera Street. I was in my teens. I'm Canadian. I knew no Mexicans in Canada. And Mexican in Canada is Taco Bell. So, when my LA cousin took me here and said this is Mexican food, I said "wow. ok." and confusingly dug in. I think I had the same feeling at Verde Mar but as I'm now quite a bit older and have since explored a lot more other cuisines, I can pretty much figure out that some items on the restaurant's menu is not authentic Mexican but Americanized Mexican. But then majority of Hong Kong wouldn't know either so I guess it's all good.
The restaurant, located in the growingly trendy Wanchai district was actually quite busy despite the rain. Decorated with Mexican odds and ends without being too tacky, it seemed a lot of thought was placed into the layout. Even the menu (in English only, no Chinese available) was colorful and it seemed to explain everything like what is a taco. It was almost like one of those educational books you give to children. I rarely talk about the menu design but this was actually pretty impressive.
As there were five of us in total, we everything to share.
Horchata ($38). I started out with a horchata, a typical Mexican drink that I actually love a lot and I downed so much of this in LA. This is a drink made from rice and heavily flavored with cinnamon. You have a choice of hot or cold and I wanted cold. This is also a really good drink if you can't eat spicy food and as I was about to eat Mexican, I was getting prepared.
horchata
$38
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Tortilla Chips with Salsa and Guacomole ($68). We started with tortilla chips and guacomole. Three different salsas (salsa roja, salsa asada and salsa diabla) are also provided. The salsa was pretty good with salsa rojoa being the least spicy and a lot more on the sweet side. The type of salsa I'm more familiar with whenever I need a chip dip at home. Salsa diabla was seriously spicy. I took a dip and flew to my drink immediately. The most interesting salsa was the salsa asada as it was chunky with a bit more heat but also an added tomato sweetness to it. I found salsa asada to be the best of the three. Guacomole is a love of mine. And this was a decent guacomole. Love the tortilla chips as I could tell they weren't store bought variety. More crispier and delicate. They crumbled easily.
Snapper Cerviche with Avocado ($148). This was really wonderful. Light and refreshing. The snapper was sweet and fresh. The addition of avocado gave it a creamy buttery texture.
Chargrilled Cactus ($108). I had never tried this before so we decided to share. The cactus was grilled and only seasoned with salt and a squirt of lemon juice. Personally, I wasn't a big fan of this. It was soft and tasted like eating grass. I love the usual vegetable but this I wasn't fond of. At least I can now check this off my foodie bucket list.
Shrimp Cocktail Mexicana ($118). A nice refreshing soup almost like a garpacho as it was also tomato based. You add the avocado, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers and squeezes of lime to the tomato based soup. There is hot sauce also available which you can add a bit to spice it up. It was nice and good on a hot summer day.
Chicken Wing Habanero ($178). One of the girls wanted something spicy and we gave this a try. Habenero is one of the spiciest chillies in the world. And yes, it was spicy. I only had a dip of the sauce and I could feel it go down my throat like a stream of fire. I've never had something so spicy. EVER.
Birria Beef Stew with Mexican Rice ($188). The beef was moist and tender with a very tomato based sauce. It wasn't spicy. Instructions said to toss the rice, lime juice, cilantro and onions in. This made the whole thing seem like Chiu Chow style congee. Unsure if this is the fit with the local clientale but the first time I had a birria beef stew, it was rich and spicy.
Whole Chargrilled Chicken ($318). This was actually good. The chicken was moist and tender. The meat literally fell off the bone. It came with a salsa that wasn't spicy.
Banana Split with Homemade Ice Cream ($68). Dessert was a banana split with ice cream. This was interesting as they just grilled a whole banana so it was soft and sweet. The ice cream was corn ice cream.
Homemade Churros ($68). The churros were not very good. Way too doughy and oily. There wasn't enough cinnamon and sugar coating. It was just tasted oily.
Corn Flour Ice Cream ($68). Perhaps it was due to the mediocre churros, I wanted another round of the corn ice cream. I loved this and couldn't get over it. It tasted like sweet corn soup. I love corn soup so this was pretty awesome.
corn ice cream
$68
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张贴
