Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Mamasita

On a cold, dreary Tuesday night, four of us finally decided to kick off our blog in proper style with a meal at the much hyped Mamasita. As per our requirements, it was a venue none of us had been before. Almost everyone we told about our outing prior to going warned us about the lines. Waiting for up to 2 or 3 hours was not uncommon, we had heard, so we headed in at 5.50pm on a Tuesday night expecting to snag a table before the evening rush began.

Wow, were we wrong or what. It was PACKED. A line stretched down the stairs and out the door. Lucky for us, we managed to get the last table, right next to the kitchen. While its probably not the most comfortable space with all the people coming and going and yelling, its also one of the more interesting places to sit and we really enjoyed it.



First things first. Mamasita is NOISY. Really noisy. The music is loud, the people are loud, everything is loud! But in some ways it added to the atmosphere… in other ways, I would have appreciated some carpet, or wall coverings, or anything that could have helped absorb some of the noise.

The tables are not super comfortable, it has to be said. They are high tables with plain stools that are not easy to get up and down from (especially if you’re wearing heels or have had a few sangrias) and they are small too, which is not ideal when you have sharing plates, water & wine glasses etc.

But these are our only complaints. Food was excellent and service was great. Prices are great. Mamasita is great!

After waiting for our extremely late friends (hazellee you know who you are) we let our waiter order for us. A few of us had enjoyed some tortilla chips with salsa and guacamole while we were waiting – best guacamole I’ve ever had. It was amazing. A few people have commented since that in the true ‘Mexican’ style, these should have been complimentary, but I wasn’t expecting that and instead focused on eating as much guacamole as I could.




We had no idea what items to expect, given we’d let the staff pick for us. Here’s a run down of what we got over the next hour:

Elotes Callejeros – “Street Style” chargrilled corn with queso, chipotle mayonnaise & lime
Now, I don’t know what most of these ingredients are. This is what I do know. Corn is yum at the best of times. When it’s served to you chargrilled, with a light topping of a shaved cheese style product and fresh lime, it’s the best. As silence descended on the table (and it takes a bit to get the four of us to shut up) we knew we were in for a yum meal.

A selection of toastaditas (2.5 inch fried tortolla with toppings). We got one each of the following:
de Maiz – Sweet corn, black beans, epazote, jalapeno salsa & queso frescoYummy – the black beans were the dominant flavour here, but the salsa and corn gave it a nice freshness and zest

de Pescado – market fish with lime, guacamole, nasturtiums & Serrano chilli
Fantastic – the return of the amazing guacamole! Paired with a white fish we couldn’t identify and forgot to ask about, and the zing of the chilli and lime, this was del-i-cious! My favourite tostaditas on offer. Yum Yum Yum!

de Cangrejo – crab meat, avocado, cucumber, tamarind mayonnaise & habanero
Very nice and creamy, which worked well with the crispness of the tortilla

de Carnitas – slow braised pork shoulder with encurtidos & jalapenos
Anything with slow braised pork is good by me, but it was a strange combination with the tortilla… but tasty. Everything was tasty!

de Pescado taco – Grilled fish with lime, achiote paste and red onion salsa
This was probably my least favourite dish of the night. The achiote paste had a really unusual flavour – I couldn’t place it or give anything that you could compare it to. And as a flavour it did kind of overtake the salsa and fish. And my first mouthful carried a huge punch of chilli, so it took me a while to recover from that!

de Huitlacoche quesadilla – Mexican truffle, mushrooms, roasted corn, epazote & queso fresco
This was super yummy and very mushroom-y. The truffle had a really unusual flavour and the waiter told us it grows as a fungus on corn. Sounds icky, but tastes yummy! The cheese was also great – not too overpowering and really well balanced

Camarones gigantes al ajillo – grilled prawns with toasted garlic and green almond sauceOh wow – these were the freshest prawns I’d had in ages. Perfectly cooked, and with loads of the green almond sauce to slather on them, this was a really enjoyable dish. Has to be said though, at this stage we were starting to get full!!!

Cordero adobado al horno – roasted lamb with red chilli adobo sauce, preserved jalapeno & mint
This was really yummy lamb. The sauce was almost like a really mild curry – those same creamy and zingy flavours. Lamb was cooked very well and was super tender

Sides: Ensalada de Quinoa (quinoa, corn, spinach, coriander, chilli & pico de gallo) and Papas! (roast potatoes, Serrano chilli & parsley)Both very nice. The salad in particular was so fresh that it cleaned out your palate a bit before you went off to try another of the never ending dishes!

Phew! I think I need a break before I tell you about dessert.

It was a lot of food but so reasonably priced. Tacos were around $15 for three, tostaditas were around $12 for four ($40 for the four of us to try the each of the tostaditas listed above). Main courses like the prawns and lamb were anywhere between $16 for veg options, to $28 for the prawns.

Service was great. We had our water topped up all night and were offered drinks whenever our glasses started to get a bit empty. We also had a few glasses of sangria to start with and it should be issued with a warning – its strong stuff.

After a while though, we were very tempted by the dessert menu. We had:

Flan de coco – Coconut flan with prune syrup & sesame brittle
This was flan-tastic (I admit I only ordered it so I could say that over and over again). But it really was delicious. The flan was creamy and sugary and yummy like all good desserts should be. The prune syrup (which wasn’t really a syrup, but more like a paste) was also yummy and worked really well with the lovely smooth flan. Yum. My only comment here would be that the piece of sesame brittle was tiny and hardly enough for one person to taste. Sad face.

Torta de chilli chocolate – chocolate & chilli pudding with chocolate & cinnamon sorbet
This was eagerly anticipated, but unfortunately a bit of a let down. The pudding was probably a bit overcooked, and a bit doughy as well. The flavours were nice enough, but not really as powerful as you’d expect from a dish like this. The sorbet was quite yummy though.

So that was our night at Mamasita! It was really fantastic, one of the most anticipated, and best meals I’ve had in Melbourne in a long time. I will go back there for sure, and would certainly take interstate or overseas visitors there.

PS Sorry we still dont have photos. I promise to ignore other guests next time and take some shots of the food!

Mamasita on Urbanspoon

No comments:

Post a Comment