A Family Meal At MEXIco In Derby INTU
Published On Friday 22 Jul 2016 by Sticky Beak
It’s been a couple of weeks since the official launch night of MEXIco restaurant in the Intu centre at Derby, so we were really pleased when they invited us back to do a full restaurant review and include our chick too. We arrived a little earlier than our reservation time of 7pm, but were happily shown to our table with no fuss. There were already plenty of diners enjoying Chef Johnny Hernandez’ Mexican delights, and there continued to be a steady stream of people arriving throughout the evening so there was a lovely, lively atmosphere in the restaurant. Grace, our server for the evening, came over with menus for us to peruse and took our drinks orders; Pacific Margarita for me, Don Equis lager for His Nibs and a bottle of still water for The Chickadee. After much deliberation we settled on Chicken Taquitos and one of MEXIco’s signature dishes, Los super Chicken Nachos, a sharing plate, for starters. For our mains we opted for a Sizzling Fajita Platter (Beef with garlic and onion marinade), Chipotle Prawns and Sea Bass a la Velacruz. We also got a couple of sides; Charro beans and seasoned fries. By this point we were all pleasantly full as you can imagine, but our will power as a flock is next to nil when it comes to sweet treats so Ashton (she of opening night fame) brought us the dessert menu over.
We also ordered the Salsa Sampler comprising all three MEXIco salsas with stone ground Corn Chips to nibble on whilst we made our choices from the menu. The Man Bird and I maybe had ten between us in total, Madam Chick scoffed the rest and declared them to be very tasty and said her favourite Salsa was the Pico de Gallo; the Boy Wonder loves the Salsa Roja and my favourite is the Salsa Verde.
Our Chick tucked in to her Taquitos with her usual gusto and really loved the pulled chicken Tinga with its subtle kick; this was paired with guacamole, crema and Pico de Gallo all in fantastic crispy mini corn tortillas. Testament to how much she enjoyed them was shown by the completely empty dish! The tortillas were absolutely stuffed with filling and there was nice crisp lettuce to give a bit of texture to the dish too.
The Chicken Nachos were every bit as good as The Man Bird and I remembered them to have been on opening night and we savoured the delightful nachos with their topping of refried beans, pulled chicken Tinga, melted Monterey Jack cheese, guacamole and grilled Jalapeno peppers. You can also swap the chicken Tinga for either Mexican Picadillo beef or pulled pork with Yucatan spices at a small extra charge. Grace came over to check that we were all enjoying our meal so far and to see if we needed any more drinks.
It wasn’t long before we were drooling with happiness at the beautiful dishes placed in front of us. My Chicks prawns had been sautéed with sweet peppers and onions along with garlic and white wine and then served with smoky chilli chipotle sauce, sliced avocado and a timbale of Mexican rice. The chipotle sauce has a great kick to it without being too hot for non spice lovers to enjoy and she said it went really well with the big juicy prawns. It was a very pleasing portion size too and she was very happy with her choice.
My own choice of Sea bass was equally positive; the fish was succulent and sweet and the capers and green olives lent a great, slightly sour note to the dish to provide a fantastic balanced finish on the palate. I really enjoyed the spices in the Mexican rice too, and again it was a great size portion.
We heard The Boy Wonders fajita arriving before we saw it as it was sizzling away merrily on the cast iron skillet carried carefully by a member of the kitchen team and placed with a flourish before him. Another staff member brought the soft flour tortillas and dishes of fresh guacamole, cream and fresh Pico de Gallo. This was a vibrant, colourful dish thanks to the trio of sweet peppers and onions that the beef had been cooked with, and His Nibs said it was crammed full of flavour.
The Charro beans had a wonderful smoky taste to them and you could just imagine yourself sat round a campfire tucking into a cantina of these delights.
Last but not least, I should mention the seasoned fries; not only were they fantastically crispy on the outside but they had a great subtle seasoning to them that just played delicately with the tongue. Chickadee again managed to devour the lion’s share of these, little monkey, but The Man and I did grab a couple each before they disappeared into her tummy .
All the plates were clean when we finished eating, so I think it fair to say that we had all thoroughly savoured them.
I decided to have the Churros Ice Cream Sundae, Him Indoors selected the Banana Burrito and Chickadee had her favourite, Chocolate Brownie. After a few minutes Grace came over to say that there was a slight 10 minute wait for desserts, they had had a bit of a rush on for puddings in the kitchen and had backed up a bit.
To be honest, it was nice to have the extra time before eating again, and I really can’t fault fellow diners for indulging, having sampled some of the puds on opening night and finding them to be rather delicious. I never mind a small wait for any course in a restaurant, especially when this is communicated in a polite fashion, as Grace did on this occasion.
Anyhow, after a short while (which I think was actually less than 10 minutes) our puddings were brought to us, and they did look blooming good I have to say. My Churros pieces were still nice and warm and this contrasted brilliantly with the cold Cinnamon ice cream. Dulce de Leche sauce and whipped cream completed the artful arrangement in the sundae glass, and it was a lovely combination of creamy and slightly crunchy textures in the mouth, which I loved.
Chickadees face was a picture when she saw how big her piece of Chocolate brownie was! In the end, she didn’t quite manage to finish it bless her, but it certainly wasn’t for lack of trying.
Next to me, The Boy Wonder was just finishing the last bite of his wonderfully aromatic burrito. This was a combination of cinnamon sugar and chopped banana that had been wrapped in a tortilla and served crispy with Dulce de Leche caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream. It did smell incredible, and I’m not the world’s biggest fan of banana by any means, but I did enjoy the mouthful I tried I have to say.
We ended the meal with a couple of Lattes; Chick was tempted by a Hot chocolate but when Grace said they’d run out she wasn’t overly bothered, she just finished her water instead as we sipped our coffees. We did spot a couple of other faces from opening night, but they were all busy with other tables of diners so we just smiled at them.
The team were working well together to ensure that everyone was having a true taste of MEXIco, both food wise and hospitality wise and it was nice to see how they had gelled together in such a short space of time.
Hot Wings definitely deserved here, and we will certainly be back again before too long. If you haven’t been before, the summer holidays will give you the perfect excuse to either take the kids for a treat, or a well deserved family meal; or maybe to provide you with a little bit of kiddie free adult time. Whatever the reason, I know you’ll have a great time at MEXIco restaurant.
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