In preparation for Tequila Fest 2014, Nik Speller ventured as far as Dalston to sample the Mexican way of drinking, eating and sharing endless plates of delicious food.
What’s more Mexican than a small restaurant on the Kingsland Road in Dalston? Surprisingly, not a lot.
I suppose it was sensible to get that fact in early: I was dining with the owner, Cesar Garibay, having been invited by his friends at London’s upcoming Tequila Fest. Let’s call this a feature then, not a review. It’s hardly likely that the service was going to be poor with Cesar sat at the table, ordering dishes as if I were a man twice my weight. Maybe he thought I needed fattening up.
Here was also a man passionate both Mexican cooking and tequila. On the latter, as expected, I received the same compassionate plea I hear from most Mexicans not to view their national drink as a shooter, to be chased down with lime and salt. Apparently, as with most’traditions’, this method of drinking was devised as a marketing gimmick, invented to sell inferior tequila to Americans and help disguise it’s poor taste.
I’m always surprised just how much I like tequila. It’s a very light, slightly sweet drink and has a smoothness that you don’t get from many spirits – definitely not from high street tequila, anyway. It also goes incredibly well in cocktails. Too well, in fact. Before long, the classic margarita in my right-hand had vanished and I had to display an incredible degree of self-restraint to prevent the margarita de horchata from following. It’s an interesting cocktail this one. A concoction of tequila, triple sec, lime, sugar and white rice concentrate – a liquid main from straining water through rice. Imagine an alcoholic rice pudding – possibly the perfect dessert.
We followed the tostadas with a plate of mixed tacos, featuring all the meats of the rainbow. My firm favourite, the fish, was just the way you want it, a vehicle for the tang of lime, splash of chilli and dribble of salsa that warms the mouth. Then arrived the big guns – polo con mole and mixiote de cordero: that’s chicken in a sauce that looks like molten chocolate (it’s not) and a lamb shank, marinated in over 20 ingredients and steamed inside banana leaves.
The polo con mole is a sight to behold and one that doesn’t photograph well in the slightest. The thigh and leg of a chicken are bathed in a mixture of dark bitter chillies, a host of other ingredients and a little chocolate to sweeten the mix. It’s spine-tinglingly good to take a juicy piece of white chicken and lather it in as much sauce as you can. Again, the taste is an earthy one, with the hints of spice coming through at the very end.
Hopefully, all three of these tequilas will be making an appearance at the London Tequila Festival – 22nd to 23rd November, at the Grange Tower Bridge Hotel. If you miss the festival, and you really shouldn’t, head to Mezcal Cantina early next year and indulge your Mexican side.
Nik visited Mezcal Cantina as a guest of Tequila Fest 2014: www.tequilafest.co.uk