Verde MAR (已搬遷) 新店位置

Verde Mar, just off Wanchai’s Johnston Road, was opened by Vivian Wong and Chef Eligio Escobedo, the team behind Mr. Taco Truck in Central. I have been to Mr. Taco Truck a couple of time, just to pick up taco or enchiladas for a quick lunch. I found it cozy and sufficient.

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Whereas in Verde Mar, the menu has a lot more items. It is also a place that we can hang around for a whole evening.

The deco of the restaurant is full of Mexican spirit. The design concept is based around a typical Mexican village courtyard, with a very rustic style interior, warm colors and hanging lights.

It is not strange to find Mexican cowboy hats, but Gekkonidae is also everywhere on the walls. This probably reflects the fact, gekkonidae is popular in warm, forest and dessert type of environment and that is Mexico. This casual, unpretentious décor seemed instantly welcoming.

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A huge bar is situated at the far end but facing front door. Without surprise, Mexican drinks will be served.

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Verde Mar is green sea in Spanish. It is the color of Sea of Cotez in Mexico where the cuisine is rooted. Owners of the restaurant wrote: “Even though we are an ocean away. Authenticity and quality is just right at your doorstep.” I have a good expectation on seafood and authentic cuisine after I read this.

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It offered qutie a wide menu as compare to other Mexican restaurants in Hong Kong.

My first drink was a popular street drinks in Mexico, Horchata.

Horchata

It was a rice cinnamon drink. I did not recall if I had any sweet rice drink before but this was really good. The texture was creamy but not as thick as congee that I was a bit worry at the beginning. It was similar to a sweet almond drink. There was strong cinnamon aroma. I have it hot so I think the aroma would even be stronger as compare to a cold Horchata. I was told that this drink was excellent to heal the burn from spicy food.

Our pre-dinner snack tonight was Chips with Guacamole.

Chips with Guacamole

Chips were home-made by Chef Eligio Escobedo. I was told that he insisted on making all sauce, chips, taco and desserts himself so customers would have a feel of authenticity and home style.

Less is more. The dip is an avocado sauce with fresh tomato chop. The chips were fresh and crispy. It was hard in texture but broken easily in big pieces by a bite. Dipping with the avocado sauce was just a perfect match. The corn chips and avocado were in great harmony as they were both veggie-fruits. Richness of avocado sauce enlightened the slight salty taste of chips. The greatest amongst all was fresh made chips.

Salsa Sauce

We are also served with 3 types of salsa sauce in extra. Salsa Verde, Salsa Asada and Salsa Diabla and they were in orange, brown and red colors respectively. They are also in a sequence of least spicy, strong smoky to really spicy. Tomato and Mexican chilies were main ingredients whereas herbs and spices were also added. Different portion and slightly change on types of ingredients tune up extend of spiciness. Salsa Diabla was made from some of hottest Mexican chilies so it fits for “spicy girl” like me. I have my chip dipped in it and honestly speaking, really spicy but acceptable as long as not in excessive quantity.

Chorizo Quesadilla

Quesadilla meant “little cheesy” in Spanish. It is a half folded tortilla filled with savory fillings of melted mozzarella cheese and then grilled in golden brown. I was told that some traditional quesadilla was stuffed with grasshopper which was a bit scary as insects sound too many bacteria to me.

Luckily, we have a choice of chicken, Al Pastor pork, Carnitas pork, grilled sole, fried sole, veggie or mushroom as fillings in modern world. The one we have tonight was stuffed with minced pork, fresh tomato, avocado sauce and sour cream. It was same stuffing as popular nacho. I guess it was so called “Chorizo” style.

The tortilla was also made in-house, quite a tough and dry texture, however, served well in holding all wet stuffing. With a big bite, right proportion of veggie and meat, well balance of savory and sour taste, quite satisfying!

Aqua Chile Snapper

Seafood should be famous here. So, we ordered an Aqua Chile Snapper. It was actually a sashimi. Sushi-grade raw sapper was marinated in a sea of fresh chili spiked lime juice. The dish was also dressed with raw onion and cucumber. Simple but refreshing!

Japanese used wasabi & soy sauce to enlighten raw fish, Mexican made use of lime and chili sauce. Both equally lighted up further the freshness of the fish but in different experience, it was sour and hot in the latter. I found this dish wonderfully light and refreshing, excellent as an appetizer, though I prefered it less sour.

Char-Grilled Cactus

Climax arose when a cactus steak was served. Everyone has certain expectation as none of us ate cactus before. Would it taste like a plant?

Sushi-grade raw sapper

The cactus paddle was huge, guessed it was 6-7 inches in length. I was told that only those 6-12 months old cactus would be selected to cook. This dish was still weird even after decoration. A green oval shape steak with rough surface did not look like a gourmet. I wonder if there still have lots of little prickers on them. With a close look, I could not find any so they might have been removed. There was no chargilled burn marks on the cactus so it looked like it was boiled.

Cactus was, in fact, a healthy food. Fresh Mexican Cactus was full of antioxidants and essential vitamins. It was also a great steak dish for vegetarian.

The cactus paddle was already sprinkled with sea salt and we were supposed to add on lime juice.

After cut into smaller slice, the steak looked like green pepper and so did the taste. With a second thought, it also tasted like Aloe or lady finger. Green pepper was hollow in the middle but the cactus was stuffed with jelly texture juice. There was no smell of grass. On the contrary, the taste was unique but acceptable.

It worth a try, although, could not tag it delicious.

Chicken with Habanero

Habanero is the world’s second hottest chili pepper that Chef specially imported this chili from Mexico. He offered this special dish to customers upon special request.

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Chicken with Habanero

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It appeared as ordinary chicken wings in tomato sauce. We tried to be cautious according to the warning. With my Horchata and ice water stand by, I had a small bite. It was not any big deal at the beginning, but the spicy favor grown up gradually in my mouth. With another bite, it started to burn my tongue and mouth. Oh my god? The fiery sauce made of Habanero was fully absorbed by the chicken meat. It is not only the chicken skin, white meat inside carried strong hot and spicy favor. Well, the taste was familiar. I recalled, it was the same degree of spiciness as Sichuan Chili “red cluster pepper”. What a challenging experience!

Chicken with Habanero

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The chicken was spicy, however, no taste at all. I guess my taste bud was used to marinated chicken with savory favor. I presume they were frozen chicken wing cooked in spicy sauce without marinated.

Shrimp Cocktail Mexicana

It was now perfect timing for a chilled soup after the chicken wing challenge.

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Was it time for mixology? The presentation of the soup was playful. 2 half-cut limes, 5 spoons filled with colorful ingredient and a tomato soup in a wine glass with a poached shrimp hanging were served. In the spoons, there were chopped onion, cucumber, tomato, coriander and avocados.

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What we have to do was to mix everything in the wine glass. For sharing purpose, we cut the shrimp into smaller pieces and mixed with other ingredients.

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Whoever would like to take more challenge, please feel free to add on hot sauce to the cocktail as this was a common practice for Mexicanos.

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It was unbelievably refreshing with multiple layers of spicy favor. The chilled Mexican shrimp cocktail was tossed in a flavorful sauce of ketchup, onion, black pepper, cilantro and citrus juice. Strong citrus taste of the cocktail awakened my stomach, wonderful to be a cold dish itself or as an appetizer.

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My second drink was an authentic Mexican cocktail named Jarrito.

Jarrito – grapefruit favor

The word jarrito means "little jug" in Spanish and refers to the Mexican tradition of drinking water and other drinks in clay pottery jugs. Accordingly, Jurrito here was served in Mexican traditional clay jug. Jarritos is also a popular brand of soft drink in Mexico. So, I believe my cocktail was mixed with Jarritos soft drink and rum.

I picked grapefruit favor so did it tasted. It seemed to have more carbonated than popular soft drinks made in the United States. Fruity taste was natural, alcohol was low. It was a lady’s drink in my opinion.

Birria beef stew with Mexican rice

This is a street originated delicacy as I was told. The beef stew was marinated and slow cooked for 2 days. The essence of the dish was in the soup.

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I It was served juicy enough for a group of 4 to share. Optional add-on included onion, cilantro and fresh lime juice. I also liked the yellow color of rice. It looked like it was cooked in tomato juice.

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We put all rice and add-on to the beef stew. Immediately, the soup was absorbed by the rice and dry up quickly. In a rich soup with a strong beef favor, the rice was very tasteful.

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However, the texture of beef stew was too rough to me. They were chewy but tasteless. It was different with other slow cooked experience that meat used to be tender and juicy. The beef stew was simply like it was overdone by cooking in hot soup for hours.

Whole Chargrilled Chicken

A whole chicken with head and neck removed was served in a wooden cut board. Salsa sauce was provided as optional dip. The chicken was grilled in golden brown color, temperate was still fairly hot.

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Cutting the chicken into smaller piece was not too hard as the meat was very tender. We saw moisture of the meat and thin slice of stiff texture on chicken skin.

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