Tortillas all the way down?
Pro Surprises
Con Shortages
Pay
€€
Per Person €16-20. A margarita & beer. One dish. Tables pretty much full by 9pm on a Friday.
Find
Website On El tenedor
Access There is a step-free entrance to the market.
In Short
Hopes. Marque Mexican market food.
Reality. Some memorable flavours, some mystifying garnishes.
First Impressions. Colourful tabletops.
USP? They have a guey with eggs.
The offer in three words. Needs more depth.
Service! Overworked.
Friend friendly? Short menu. And guey too short on V-options.
Rating for dating. If you enjoy a bustling background, you'll find a guey to enjoy it.
Tip? Not this time.
Change one thing? Better larder management.
Revisitability. Guey lower than they'd probably like.
Compare & Contrast
Top class tacos at La Tentacion, Mercado San Fernando. Wonderful margaritas - in season - at La Taqueria de Birrä.
In Pictures
On Google Images
What's the story?
At Guey, some excellent, surprising choices need better restaurant craft to let them shine.
Friday night. You've failed to get into your chosen diner. Mistakenly, you didn't think you could book. What's more, more reasonably, you didn't anticipate there'd be a queue outside before they even opened. Even then, the only free table gets nabbed by a queue jumper. Where could this place be? Shhh. Spoilers...
So, plan B. Improvise. A swift stroll brought us to Mercado Vallehermoso. We threw ourselves on its mercy. And, with karmic wisdom, or just a fine sense of irony, what did it deliver? A Mexican corner with colourful tables, death masks and a plastic skeleton peering out of a rubbish bin. We make no bones about liking the decor.
Guey has an A4 menu card. The sort you turn over, as the first side looks short on options. What else is on offer? Nothing. Oh. Then the server pops up and gives a bewildering explanation of what's available and, more pertinently, what's not. In short, the short menu is shorter. By about 25%. And it's only just gone opening time. Oh.
Eventually, we put together four dishes to satisfy two vegetarians and two omnivores. This was a challenge. There was a double guacomole in there and we should really have doubled another one, had we known. But - to the plates.
The guaco, which was quite acidic but creamy enough, came in a 1cm thick disc, 10cm across. Putting on our science-teacher's white coat and goggles, we estimate that's about 100 cubic centimetres of green splodge per plate. Which doesn't sound a lot, didn't look a lot and even with a double order, didn't go far between four. Nice home-fried nachos were good. We'd have cooked them in a chilli oil for more seasoning. Pork scratchings as a garnish was a brow-furrower. A menu with almost no V-friendly options doesn't need to shove shavings of pig on possibly the only vegan dish going. And they weren't juicy or salty enough anyway. Mistakes in every direction, there.
Pro Surprises
Con Shortages
Pay
€€
Per Person €16-20. A margarita & beer. One dish. Tables pretty much full by 9pm on a Friday.
Find
Website On El tenedor
Access There is a step-free entrance to the market.
In Short
Hopes. Marque Mexican market food.
Reality. Some memorable flavours, some mystifying garnishes.
First Impressions. Colourful tabletops.
USP? They have a guey with eggs.
The offer in three words. Needs more depth.
Service! Overworked.
Friend friendly? Short menu. And guey too short on V-options.
Rating for dating. If you enjoy a bustling background, you'll find a guey to enjoy it.
Tip? Not this time.
Change one thing? Better larder management.
Revisitability. Guey lower than they'd probably like.
Compare & Contrast
Top class tacos at La Tentacion, Mercado San Fernando. Wonderful margaritas - in season - at La Taqueria de Birrä.
In Pictures
On Google Images
What's the story?
At Guey, some excellent, surprising choices need better restaurant craft to let them shine.
Friday night. You've failed to get into your chosen diner. Mistakenly, you didn't think you could book. What's more, more reasonably, you didn't anticipate there'd be a queue outside before they even opened. Even then, the only free table gets nabbed by a queue jumper. Where could this place be? Shhh. Spoilers...
So, plan B. Improvise. A swift stroll brought us to Mercado Vallehermoso. We threw ourselves on its mercy. And, with karmic wisdom, or just a fine sense of irony, what did it deliver? A Mexican corner with colourful tables, death masks and a plastic skeleton peering out of a rubbish bin. We make no bones about liking the decor.
Guey has an A4 menu card. The sort you turn over, as the first side looks short on options. What else is on offer? Nothing. Oh. Then the server pops up and gives a bewildering explanation of what's available and, more pertinently, what's not. In short, the short menu is shorter. By about 25%. And it's only just gone opening time. Oh.
Eventually, we put together four dishes to satisfy two vegetarians and two omnivores. This was a challenge. There was a double guacomole in there and we should really have doubled another one, had we known. But - to the plates.
The guaco, which was quite acidic but creamy enough, came in a 1cm thick disc, 10cm across. Putting on our science-teacher's white coat and goggles, we estimate that's about 100 cubic centimetres of green splodge per plate. Which doesn't sound a lot, didn't look a lot and even with a double order, didn't go far between four. Nice home-fried nachos were good. We'd have cooked them in a chilli oil for more seasoning. Pork scratchings as a garnish was a brow-furrower. A menu with almost no V-friendly options doesn't need to shove shavings of pig on possibly the only vegan dish going. And they weren't juicy or salty enough anyway. Mistakes in every direction, there.
More interesting were eggs sunk in soup (that's what it's called!), which was a success and surprise in equal measure. We weren't expecting dessicated coconut on the mole-type sauce. Or for it to be excellently rich, spicy and, with some egg yolk added, an excellent dish, all round. It's a winner and deserves a try - an ovoid dish not an avoid dish. Sunk they may be, but it's hardly a titanic portion, and we should have ordered two for the four of us to make the most of those flavours.
Our last choice was meat-based and the closest thing in size - and price - to a conventional main course - shredded chicken in mole.
Our last choice was meat-based and the closest thing in size - and price - to a conventional main course - shredded chicken in mole.
Served with half a dozen or so corn tortillas in a tea-towel (a tortilla-towel, even), this was fine too. The chef, hopefully a fan of Pratchett, had been busy in his personal discworld, again. This time, the 10cm mould had been filled with well-cooked rice to mop up some rich mole, and excellent, spicy juicy chicken which we enjoyed a lot. The ever-present pickled onions cut through (cheffy term - drink!) the richness very nicely. It's one we think you should try, but costs a euro or two more than it probably should.
With no desserts on offer, no digestives offered and no need for coffee, that's our lot. Service started off wobbly, until the hirsute owner rolled up to help. The chef had been working solo for the guaco and huevos dishes. Walrus moustache, meet the egg-man.
Open kitchens let you keep an eye on what's going on, but the downside is watching the waiting staff washing up when they could be working on meals. Inexplicably, our two guacomoles were delivered almost 10 minutes apart. Drinks came quickly when ordered. La Virgen makes a very pleasant change of beer, while the perfectly acceptable margaritas, poured over crushed ice, were from a bottle which we watched come out of the fridge. Reasonably priced, we'd not use cayenne on the rim, though. Tajin would work better.
Two very successful dishes from three tried, albeit with some smallish portions for the prices charged. Good beer, reasonable margaritas but a menu not varied enough to force us to plan an urgent revisit.