Mexican Food in Australia - Montezuma's in Chatswood

Mexican Food in Australia
Originally uploaded by ZeeDesertRat

So here it was... described to me as "really good Mexican food" by an Australian. I had to check it out since I've been craving Mexican food for some time now.

So myself and my new American friend Jonathan walked in the door. The decor was along the lines of a "Chevy's", which isn't necessarily a bad thing - just that I haven't been to one in over 5 years. Along the ceiling were the Mexican puppet dolls hanging, some pictures of saguaro cacti on the walls, and all sorts of pastel colors. Jon and I looked at each other both thinking "okay, this might be okay".

I learned something that night. If you ask for a table for two and you haven't "booked" they will seat you at a really small table. I know this because Jon asked for a table for two, and after we saw it I asked if my booking was there and sure enough, we were moved to a much better and larger booth. Very weird, but that's just the way it is here.

So... we both had a Corona... with LEMON. Okay, so something I've noticed is that Aussie's don't have limes very often. Seriously - that night I realized that I hadn't seen a green lime since back in the US.

So we had our Corona with LEMON and ordered a queso fundido and a frijole dip along with a side of jalapenos. As we were still in shock over the LEMON we decided to hold back on the mains until we tried the entrees. (Entree = appetizer, Main = main meal) Minutes later, actually, way more minutes than necessary later, two bowls show up with some tortilla chips. The queso fundido in my opinion was some cheddar mixed with a whole lot of sour cream microwaved together, and the frijole dip was canned refried beans with canned refried beans, also microwaved. You know, I really would like to describe this as an 'interesting version' of these dishes but I can't. They sucked. Seriously, melting a block of Spicy Velveeta would have been better. And the bean dip? Yeah, seriously.

The jalapenos weren't bad though - they were the standard canned and pickled ones you'd put on nachos, although for $2.50 I would have thought we'd get more of them. Oh, and we needed more chips which... also cost another $2.50.

That said, and from the picture we strived to continue with our comida de Aussie, although we strongly considered walking out and up the street to one of the four Indian restaurants we saw. Jonathan asked why fajitas were not on the menu... He was astonished they didn't have them on the menu but ordered something else. I forget what as it looked just like my Chile Verde Burrito.

So the dishes came out and I had to take the picture. I was surprised it looked as good as it did - totally gringo, but still there are certain suckage factors you need to accept while living abroad so I was hopeful. Okay, do you know how most gringo mexican is served on a hot plate - the real hot plate? Right, keeps everything warm and melted but doesn't really cause any bodily harm right? WRONG. I didn't touch the plate as along the edges the rice, melted cheese, and tortilla were charred black. The plate remained where it was placed throughout my meal. First bite after a few minutes of ensuring I wouldn't burn my tongue was the rice. It was rice, some moist texture, some crunch charred texture, edible, but not good. The rice was just that rice, but no stewed tomatoes or any peppers... just rice with some color. Next up was the Chile Verde Burrito. Let me describe this as "difficult". The way I eat a smothered burrito is to slice part of an end off, maybe that piece in half, and eat it. I'd call this the standard way, but what do I know. So in my attempt to slice through the tortilla I discovered the tortilla was cauterized onto the plate. Hmm, okay. The meat (beef) was actually great, and the "chile verde" portion was done using green bell peppers (instead of actual chiles).

So, all in all, what did I think? Let's leave it at the fact I won't have Mexican food ever again in Australia.