Coeliac sufferers – imagine walking into a restaurant, browsing the menu and deciding to order any meal you desire (apart from the ice cream) without needing to utter the words “it must be gluten free”. This is a possibility when at Mamasita’s! (Heaven~!)
My fellow diner and I had heard of the wait others have had to endure to eat at Mamasita’s, but we were determined to end our day with bellies full of Mexican food. After ten minutes of waiting in the queue outside, we decided that leaving would mean our wait had been a waste of time, and we maintained this way of thinking which continued for 50 minutes. We were given a menu once we were almost at the top of the narrow staircase, so we knew what we wanted to order. Our waitress however, suggested otherwise; that we order up to five dishes to satisfy our hunger. We opted against her (to which we were met with an very unimpressed look) and ordered crab tostaditas, a quasadilla and a chocolate cake to finish – all to share. Our $17 Margarita took its time getting to us, but the amount of alcohol sure kept us awake. I almost fell off my chair in regards to the Margarita – and not just because of the $17 price tag (which we found out about later with the bill), as it tasted like just tequila (and salt). I’ve since been informed (as i am not an alcohol connoisseur) that the price is due to the high alcohol content.
The noise level is very distracting, and so I found myself yelling across the small table to be heard. The lighting is quite dim and the restaurant has a warm feel to it. All furniture is wooden, and the decor is minimal. The bar is the centre of focus, with a range of coloured bottles and small decorated skull figures. There are two dining areas, one side of the restaurant features high tables and seating and the other as pictured above.
A salsa-relish arrived first at our table to accompany our meals (i’m not sure sure which, but we used it with both); it was made of cucumber, red onion, parsley and oil which complimented both our quesadilla and tostaditas perfectly.
The ‘de Cordeo’ quesadilla ($16) was a little dry, and had a bit of an ‘uncooked’ taste about it, but it softened with a squeeze of lemon or a blot of relish. The braised lamb within was very tender and soft like lamb off the spit. The taste of the spicy green sauce atop the quesadilla was hard to decipher, but it sure was spicy.
The crab of the ‘de Cangrejo’ tostaditas ($16) tasted very fresh but overall it was not flavoursome enough, perhaps needing more seasoning. The waitress removed the serving board as soon as the last tostadita left the board, so we were left assuming that the purple cabbage was there only for decoration.
Funnily enough, it was the flourless ‘Pastel De Chocolate’ cake ($11) that was the highlight of the dishes. It stands as the best chocolate cake I have ever tasted – and I’ll go so far as to say that it is probably the best I will ever taste. The moment I cut it down the middle I could feel the ultra soft texture against the fork. The cake is served with px jelly (wine flavoured jelly), a tequila white chocolate sauce and I’m not sure what was served atop. The distinct tequila flavour of the white chocolate sauce complimented the cake beautifully. The cake was rich in flavour, but the texture was fluffy, yet dense and moist, it was an amazing cake-eating experience and I’d be happy to return simply to savour another cake!
(Please excuse my lack of photography skills in harsh dark lighting + my lust to dig in after such a wait)
