Abu Dhabi: In a city that is short of good Mexican restaurants, a new eatery in Abu Dhabi has come as a welcome relief for lovers of the cuisine. Cantina Mariachi which recently opened its doors at the World Trade Centre Mall serves a good mix of authentic Mexican delicacies as well as fast food dishes.
The ambience is casual and the menu features a range of interesting dishes. The ‘Mexican Resolution’ category in the menu offers a decent choice of appetisers, starters, burgers, sandwiches, fajitas and more.
I am not a huge fan of the nachos varieties you usually get at cinemas, but I liked the extra crispy tortilla chips served with salsa sauce at Cantina Mariachi.
An extraordinarily sweet Strawberry Mojito was just perfect to wash down the snacks.
For hard core nachos fans, there are three special varieties to choose from — Nachos Con Queso, Nachos Machos and Nachos Frontera.
Crispy snacks
For starters, we ordered Tex Mex Combo – a combination of chicken fingers, jalapenos and cheese finger served with sour cream, barbeque and mustard sauce. The crispy fried snacks did not leave any trace of oil and the sour, sweet and pungent barbecue sauce added to the taste quotient. Cantina Mariachi also offers a good variety of salads. I recommend Chinampa Salad – a mix of fresh leafy greens with dry raisins, dried tortillas, toasted walnuts and chicken breast in ranch dressing.
The thin strips of chicken breasts drizzled with ranch sauce are served on crispy tortilla bread, placed on a bed of veggies. The crispy bits of dry raisins and walnuts make the healthy salad even more enjoyable.
From the classic Mexican choices we chose Dos Tacos which was made of two crunchy tortillas – one stuffed with lettuce, cheddar cheese and grilled chicken, and the other with grilled beef served with guacamole and taco sauce. Dos Tacos is presented in such a way that it can be shared by two people easily.
I was glad we kept some space for the main course. My vote for the dish of the night definitely goes for Alambers, a popular dish from north Mexico.
It is served on a sizzling hot dish and features chopped chicken breast, sliced mushrooms, zucchini, mozzarella, eggplant in taco sauce and topped with dollops of cheese.
Alambers is spicy, juicy and can be eaten on its own or enjoyed with tortillas served on the sides. The portions are quite large and in order to finish it, you will have to attempt it on an empty stomach. We could not even get through half the serving. But this was no excuse not to have a go at the dessert and wrap up the dinner. Warm gooey chocolate fondue cake filled with chocolate sauce and served with vanilla ice cream and cream on the sides gave a good finishing touch to an enjoyable meal.
Details:
Price for two: Dh150
Call: 02-627 1137
Timings: From 10am-11pm on Weekdays, 10am-1am on weekends.
Location: Level 3, World Trade Centre Mall, Markaziya, Abu Dhabi
We recommend: Chinampa Salad, Alambers
