Viva Mexicana

Before going down the food chain, we decide to start with the bounty of field and forest — mushrooms. Having had a vigorous bath in tequila and white wine, the mushrooms are roasted with garlic and herbs. Dotted with miniature dices of potato scented with truffle oil, the dish both kicks awake and then soothes the appetite.

Next up are the Habanero Smoked Pork Skewers and the Black Bean and Chorizo Tortas. The latter are small, layered Mexican burgers, in this case with the aforementioned beans and Portuguese sausage, sweet onions and cheese, served with a guacamole which ends up being gratuitous, given the amount of flavour these babies are packing. The Skewers come with chunks of honeyed pork, marinated with smoked Habanero, impaled between pickled jalapeno. A medley of sweet and a lot of heat, the Skewers, commonly served on the roadsides of Mexico, have us planning our next vacations there.

After this we turn to the ceviche, a dish originally from South America and traditionally made with raw fish and a generous squeeze of lime and other citric juices. Sticklers to the rules that we are, we order the Shrimp and Calamari Ceviche, which come swimming in a tumbler glass with sweet onions and cilantro lime juice, spiked with hot peppers. The seafood is as fresh as the morning after a storm, which shakes away our food coma and prepares us for dessert.

This comes in the form of a trio of Tres Leches Cupcake and Churros served with Dark chocolate and chilli chocolate. The tres Leches comprises a pound cake soaked in three kinds of milk (the tres Leches) namely condensed, evaporated and heavy cream. This gives the dessert a glorious denseness, eat bite mired in rich cake, the mouthful rendered light of fruit topping; there is one each of avocado, mango and blueberry. The Churros come fried and piping hot and while are a hit with the dark chocolate, it’s when they are dipped in the chilli chocolate that they have us reaching out again and again. Both to dip the Churros and for tissues to wipe away tears. They of course, are tears of joy.

Meal for two: Rs 3000 (including taxes)
Address: Village Restaurant Complex, Asiad Village, August Kranti Marg