Casa & Plaza Pastor
Mexican cuisine is a firm favourite of mine, not only for the amazing tastes that come via the range of chili peppers employed, but also because I appreciate how very time-intensive it is. While it's for that reason that I don't get to cook Mexican food so often, I will absolutely jump at the opportunity to eat out at a Mexican restaurant. Put a gun to my head and ask me to choose between burritos, tacos, enchiladas, tostadas and quesadillas, you might as well just pull the trigger.
Casa & Plaza Pastor is the sister venue to El Pastor. They seemingly have the same menu in play, so was happy to book into the former in lieu of the latter's bookings opening up. Casa (the indoors part) Pastor is a zero-fanfare affair, with a focus on a simple menu and attentive service (and really, the service is very good).
As tacos are the premiere Mexican Street food, I elected for the baja tacos and the mushroom tacos, served with three salsas, a side of esquites, and a mezcarita (a margarita made with Mezcal). That's a lot to take in, so let's break that down.
Firstly, the salsa. They say that if you want to make a Mexican chef proud, compliment them on their salsa (and by they I mean Gonzalo Guzman from Nopalito). It's an integral part of a meal, as a good salsa doesn't just provide spice (it doesn't have to, but often does), but depth of flavour. The three salsa produced by Pastor are: Morita (smoky and spicy, from the chipotle), Verde Fresca (zesty and earthy, from the serrano chillies, tomatillos, lime and coriander) and La Maya (sweet and biting, from the habanero and pineapple). Salsa can be spooned over the contents of the taco, over the taco itself, or used as a dip. I elected for the dip method (cleaner and more economical with choosing bites that way). All the salsas were good, but La Maya is the standout, and it is this one I kept coming back to.
Next, the esquites. Esquites is a street food snack consisting of buttered corn, toasted and sautéed with epazote (a herb that's tough to come by over here, and is usually substituted with coriander) and chillies. I had never tried esquites before, and was not prepared for just how delicious as simple a dish as sautéed corn could be. Wow.
Then came the tacos. I first had the baja tacos, consisting of beer battered pollock, shredded cabbage, pico de gallo (another salsa) and coriander, all served on a blue corn tortilla. Again, this was a first. I had sampled yellow and red (chile-infused) varieties, but not the blue variety. Every bite of the taco was flavourful, though only through accumulation of elements, with the tortilla being slightly too small for the quantity of filling provided. The taste of beer in the batter didn't really carry over, and the pico de gallo wasn't as present as the other salsas on offer.
The second taco I tried was the mushroom taco. A mushroom confit, oaxaca cheese (a white, semi-hard cheese made from cow's milk), diced onions, coriander and pumpkin seeds all sat again on a blue corn tortilla. This was really a non-entity. The textural component provided by the pumpkin seeds was appreciated, but the cheese dulled every other element, from the earthiness of the mushrooms to the bite of the onions, nothing really came through. Disappointing.
To finish, I had the chocolate and mole tart. Mole is a sauce, made from various chillies and spices, and used in a number of applications, from marinading meat to coating the masa harina in tamales. Here, the mole element was likely the inclusion of cinnamon and chillies into the chocolate of the tart. Served with a scoop of salted caramel ice cream, the tart was a real delight. The chili coming through in the aftertaste, the cinnamon ever so subtle on the palette, and the salted caramel very light (more like malted milk with just a hint of caramel), this and the esquites stood above as the highlights of the meal.
Value for Money? £47 for two plates, one side, salsas, margarita (with mezcal) and dessert. On an individual item basis, yes.
Would I return? Not of my own accord, unless they started bottomless esquites.
