[JasonS]

:clap there is a new mexican restaurant in lower hutt called Las Margaritas. we are going to go there tonight with some kiwi friends. our friend knows the owner, he use to be her hair dresser, and he is from central america. so rumor is that this is going to be pretty authentic mexican food. i will post again after our visit and let you know what we thought.

it is located at 6 Daly St., Lower Hutt.

laurel

[M-Squared]

Well, having visited Arizona (and having lived for over a decade in a city in Illinois that's 31% hispanic!), I love good Mexican food! I'm sure, being from AZ yourself, you'll be able to tell us all about it. We'll go there weekly if it'll help it get off its feet and stay in business! :D Looking forward to your review. :nice1

[Bruckner]

Is too much that you post some pictures too? Missing Mexican food...

Emily

[jen]

We're looking forward to your review too! I read about this place opening in Capital Times & we are planning our trip to The Hutt to check it out :laugh We go to Flying Burrito Bros once or twice a year, and to the nice ladies at Viva Mexico in the left bank on Cuba St when we catch them open, but otherwise have to rely on my homemade Mexican which is not nearly as good as what we miss from southern CA!

[Bruckner]

Question to Jen - what are you making? And what cheese do you use?

emily

[jen]

Hi Emily -

I am not very good at homemade Mexican - living in Southern California we had wonderful Mexican and Central American food everywhere so no need to make it at home! Since we moved here I have started making chile verde (http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/chile_verde/) , mole , posole, and chipotle-marinated rump steak & grilled chicken tacos. I have Rick Bayless's "Mexican Everyday" cookbook and use some of his recipes. We took a Latin American cooking class and learned to make enchilada sauce from scratch, though I have not found any cheese like queso fresco so I use Edam cheese but it's not at all the same :( I buy canned chipotles, tomatillos, mole sauce, and hominy from http://www.mexifoods.co.nz.

I also must admit to buying those Old El Paso taco/fajita-in-a-box kits which remind me a lot more of the "Mexican" food I ate growing up in Indiana in the 1980's then real Mexican food. :rolleyes:
Jen

[Bruckner]

DH is from Oceanside and I have Rick's book too and I found a really cool cafe/store owned by a couple from Mexico and they have all the ingredients necessary - except queso fresco and really good chorizo. There's also a place in the Ponsonby Food Court that's owned by some Mexicans and it's pretty good. I'm going to make a note of these places so we can stop when we make a trip down to Welly!

Emily

[JasonS]

well, i think that for us, it was well worth the drive all the way to the hutt valley for dinner. :) i had the chicken enchiladas, and was quite pleased. everything tasted really fresh, even the margarita, which definitely was not made from those pre-mixes you buy at the liquor store. and the best thing is right now they are offering a free margarita with every main meal that is ordered. :cheers

jason wished what he ate was a bit hotter/spicy, and he suggested to the waitress that they offer some hotter salsas for customers who ask for it, and she agreed. since they are a new restaurant, they seemed interested in hearing customers suggestions and feedback.

by the time we left, the restaurant was busy and there were people waiting to be seated. so there definitely is some interest, which is good for the owners. i know that we will probably go back there again soon.

laurel

[Jacqi B]

Sounds good. Thanks for sharing :-)

[RJLink]

Thanks for the review Laurel. I hope they're successful enough to open a second restaurant in the CBD!

[jen]

They are doing well so far - we stopped in tonight after visiting some friends in Lower Hutt. It was only 6:10 PM but we couldn't get a table as they were booked full for the night! We'll try again in a few weeks, this time with a reservation ;)

[unar]

We went there tonight. It was great. Had great tamales and also the owner made a mexican hot chocolate just for me. :)

[Kiwi Mac]

I'll check it out next time I am there.

One thing I have noticed is that the Kiwis don't really have a very spicy palate.

Whenever I go out for Thai or Indian I have great difficulty in getting things made as hot as I think they should be.

I was in a curry house in Chch a few months ago and one of the waiters had worked for his 'cousin' or something in the UK for several years - so as soon as he found out I was British he cottoned straight on to what I was looking for!

[unar]

At this place you ask for things to be made spicy.

[catt]

We have Little India here in Tauranga which comes in mild, medium or hot and they know how to spice it up. I think there is a small chain of them and from the back of the menu they appear to have one in Christchurch.......maybe give it a go Kiwimac if you havent already. And if you have would be interested to hear how it compares. :nice1

[Kiwi Mac]

At this place you ask for things to be made spicy.

I always do - but I often find that they don't really believe me!

My idea of spicy is that you should be sweating, nose running and mouth numb for half an hour afterwards though....!

[IanW99]

I always do - but I often find that they don't really believe me!

My idea of spicy is that you should be sweating, nose running and mouth numb for half an hour afterwards though....!

Our local indian takeaway does Kiwi Hot and Hot and you can bet that Kiwi Hot isn't :)

Sure they do even hotter types if you want them though.

Ian

[GrumpyGoat]

My idea of spicy is that you should be sweating, nose running and mouth numb for half an hour afterwards though....!

I agree:nice1

I noticed that even the jalepeno and habanero peppers are NOT spicy when grown here! :laugh (maybe the cool weather??)

[catt]

I always do - but I often find that they don't really believe me!

My idea of spicy is that you should be sweating, nose running and mouth numb for half an hour afterwards though....!




Hubby likes them that way too and Little India provides for his needs, except for homemade where i use scotch bonnet chilli's which seem to do the job nicely. He used to eat Phals so that kinda tells you where he is coming from. Personally i like to taste my food so not so hot for me.:nice1

[Kiwi Mac]

I agree:nice1

I noticed that even the jalepeno and habanero peppers are NOT spicy when grown here! :laugh (maybe the cool weather??)

I've tried growing them myself but never succeeded.

Thought I'd nailed it this year but I think we'll loose the sun before the chillies are ready.

[nifta]

Las Margaritas got an excellent review in the dom post - well deserved IMO. we'll definitely be going back!

[RJLink]

I finally made my way out to Lower Hutt to eat at Las Margaritas. I really enjoyed the food. The interior is also very nice. The service was good.

If you haven't been yet, you should know that it is very expensive. You're not walking out of there for anything less than $30 a person. There is no separate lunch menu that's any cheaper.

[jen]

Yeah, we've been twice & I agree with you - it was good, but it was still kind of painful paying that much for Mexican food. They're in the new Entertainment Book so that helps.

I'll put in a good word for a new South American restaurant in Left Bank on Cuba Street - it's right next to Viva Mexico & Knit World. It's a tiny place that looks like it was decorated with somebody's old parlor furniture, but the empanadas were REALLY good & so was the steak sandwich w/cubed fried potatoes. I think it's called Buenos Aires Tango Club? They also had some imported Argentinan foodstuffs for sale.

[RJLink]

I'll put in a good word for a new South American restaurant in Left Bank on Cuba Street - it's right next to Viva Mexico & Knit World. It's a tiny place that looks like it was decorated with somebody's old parlor furniture, but the empanadas were REALLY good & so was the steak sandwich w/cubed fried potatoes. I think it's called Buenos Aires Tango Club? They also had some imported Argentinan foodstuffs for sale.

Yes - I'll second the recommendation. The empanadas I had were great. She definitely knows how to cook. Her desserts are out of this world!