Other formats

    Adobe Portable Document Format file (facsimile images)   TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

Salient. Official Newspaper of the Victoria University Students' Association. Vol 44 No. 12. June 8 1981

Eating Out — The Mexican Cantina — 40 Willis Street BYO

page 13

Eating Out

The Mexican Cantina

40 Willis Street BYO

There is nothing posh about the Mexican Cantina. It is a place for those, students etc., whose tastes for food exceed their income. Simple, even tacky decor (complete with disused concrete and stone lily and fish pond), reasonable prices and exotic wel prepared food.

It is Mexican. What pasta is to - urn - Diamond, tortilla is to Mexican food. A pancake about the size of a bread and butter plate it can be served in several basic ways: Taco- folded and fried with seasoned meat or beans.

Enchilada - rolled soft tortilla

Tostada - flat toasted tortilla with other ingredients plonked on top.

Taquitos - rolled and stuffed then deep fried.

Aperitives: a series of dips with crisp corn meal chips to scoop them up one at a time. We tried Chile Sauce Dip at $1.50 and Taquitios at $1.20. The chilli sauce dip was like thin home made tomato sauce with a slight wallop - ask for water before you start - ergonomically ill conceived when coupled with a thin 'chippie-like' corn crisp. It is probably just as well that you can't get much sauce on at a time as you may not be used to your chilli sauces more or less straight. Tasted good. A good appetizer.

Taquitos came like a ground beef filled savory brandy snap with plenty of lettuce and more chilli. I'd never thought of the Mexicans eating a lot of lettuce, that's my fault not theirs, but crisp lettuce and chilli is the first idea from the place stored away for later home use.

We didn't bother with an entree but available were:

  • Enchilada 1.40
  • Chile Con Carne 1.40
  • Taco 1.20
  • Tostada 1.60

A combination of these could be ordered as your meal proper especially as Chilli Con Carne was not listed as a main course.

Drawing of a sombrero

Comidas (Main Courses)

Again variations on tortillas listed above with extras like beans and rice etc. Tasted were: Enchilada Chica - a spicy beef soft rolled tortilla in the canelloni style with mashed beans and cheese with a small extra taco; and Combinacion - an enchilada, taco, taquito, mashed pinto beans and sour cream.

In both dishes were a whole mass of new flavours and textures. The hot and cold vegetables, the crisp and the soft, juxtaposition subtlies and all that stuff. The food is carefully thought out placed and prepared so it makes a good meal. A luke-cold beer is suitable at this point.

The bargain of the main course menu must be the Polio a la Mexicans which was a full half chicken with beans and rice. At $4.70 it would probably be enough for two as a main course with a couple of entrees to bolster you up. They also offered three vegetarian main courses from $2.20 to $3.50.

Postres: (Afters)

Various ice cream dishes with either chopped nuts, Mexican fruit cake, coffee liqueur, or baked banana. (All $1.00 to $1.20).

The nuts topping was especially delightful.

All the normal Bebidas (drinks) plus sangrita and Mexican punch.

The service was slow. I mean really slow. But it didn't matter because when it came - and even when it didn't come - it was happy friendly and helpful. The other side of that coin is that even when we were all cashed up and stuffed full there was no feeling that you have to get going. You can sit and talk or not without having to pretend that you want another coffee sometime.

A place to go, enjoy, to eat well and feel good. I'm going back.

Robert Lithgow