[quote=“Tony”]La Casita is AWESOME! The food and service are great. I’ve grown up on Mexican and Tex-Mex food, and Amy (owner) has got it down to an art. Just stop by and tell Amy or Roland that Tony sent ya!
For information on how to get there you can send me an email at tmcanu@k.st[/quote]
Its clear that i need to cruise over to La Casita and eat that stuff up some. I’m guessing i’m not the only one.
Its on Jillin Rd. near Nanjing? Where’s Jilin then? I work on Nanjing, so this could be a very valuable nearby feed for me… Could somebody post the address?
nevermind, it was in the La Casita Mexican Restaurant thread next door. unfortunately, the discussion there somewhat doused my little inchoate flame of hope, but i’m all for a good wet burrito/super wrap.
La Casita
Address: #5, Lane 22, Chilin b[/b] Rd., Taipei
臺北市吉林路22巷5號
‘Tequila Time’ in Hsindian b[/b] is alright. Staff are grumpy though, and I’m convinced they spit in the food. I wouldn’t go out of my way to go there.
LazyMF, can you give the address of the Xindian eatery? Which MRT stop is it closest to or where’s it close to?
Thanks.
The first time I went to the place the staff welcomed me, found me a table, handed me a menu and then told me five minutes later that I couldn’t order anything because they were closing.
So on my second trip I chose to arrive a bit earlier. When my food arrived it didn’t taste anything like the local Mexican dishes I have had in the past. So I spoke to the owner to which she replied, “I’ve been to LA, I know Mexican food”. Well lady, “I’m from LA and this doesn’t even taste like food.”
Costco reciently had a good book on Mexican food. For around $350 you can have a book full of great recipes or visit www.epicurious.com.
[quote=“90630”]
Costco reciently had a good book on Mexican food. For around $350 you can have a book full of great recipes or visit www.epicurious.com.[/quote]
I’ve been suggesting this all along! Ingredients for Tex-mex fare are easy to come by in Taiwan, so whip up your own. All it takes is some finesse in the art of chopping vegetables, really. Guacamole is dead easy to make.
I made spicey black bean enchiladas recently, a Cuban variation on the theme…mmmm!
But I suppose Americans grow up on the stuff as much as the Brits grow up on curry. I only started making curries about ten years ago, but I’ve been a Mexican gourmet my whole life. To my palate, all of the so-called Mexican restaurants in Taiwan offer disappointingly bland and uncreative renditions.
I’m not sure of the exact address, but I’ll describe how to get there as best I can.
(The food is quite good actually… I’m just a stickler for service with a smile)
Best to get out at Hsindian b[/b] City Hall. Directly across the road from the exit is the Hall, and a police station. Between these two buildings is a laneway. Just walk through the laneway until it ends at ZhongXing Rd. At this point, you should turn left and walk down (towards ChiChang [Qichang]) until you reach a post office. Cross the road about 20 metres after the post office and ‘Tequila Time’ is in one of the little lanes running off ZhongXing into the mountain face. You should see the sign from the main road.
Sorry I can’t give you the exact address. I would actually rather eat at a little store just a little short of the mexican place. It has blue flags hanging at the entrance and a couple of those lighted pipes with the fake fish swimming in air bubbles. They have service with a smile And if the boss likes you, he’ll shout you a beer and sit and have a chat. Anyways, hope you can find it.
-Dave
Just back from a weekend jaunt to Taichung. Want to warn everyone about the experience I had at the Frog.
Margaritas–watered down, marginal.
Enchiladas–warmed over, drowning in viscous cheese, strange sauce, extremely mature-tasting beef. The chicken was sort of edible but not great.
Staff–Nice but lackadaisical. Polite mention of the beef problem answered with a “Really?”
Atmosphere–lousy. No music and a middle-aged, drunk American wandering around talking at twice normal volume, destroying the atmosphere for everyone. Staff not interested in sending him home.
Be warned. I’ll try Bonita Senorita next time.
Thanks, MF, the directions are perfect. In fact, I have seen that tequila sign (its on my way home to the exclusive sunny resort area of Bitan) but for some reason I never actually associated it with actual food… Kind of like the place further along. Its called Discovery, the sign is the Disovery channel’s world logo, but its a skanky bar that always stinks of microwave popcorn and the gel local gangsters use to keep their perms in place. Yeuch!
I’ll try the Mexcan tomorrow. I also have eaten at the other place you mention, and agree – service with a smile and good food.
Do you like “Taiwan-style” seafood places? If so, walk a few hundred yards further along Zhong Xin Rd (toward the Hsintien main station). Just where they’re building a new elevated road that begins on Zhong Xin, on the right-hand side going toward the station, you’ll see a big, well-lit, quite nicely decorated seafood place (there are one or two much scabbier-looking places, but avoid those). They are also friendly, the food is always very fresh and even though its pretty standard seafood restaurant fare, the chefs really know how to cook PROPERLY.
I go there at least once a week for ginger steamed prawns.
They’re open from 4pm till 1am.
Amigo’s, like all so-called Mexican restaurants outside of the Americas, does not really have Mexican food. They don’t know how. The food looks like Mexican food and the decor slightly resembles a Mexican restaurant for yuppies and nouveau riche in the states, but the similarity ends there. It seems that someone found a book with some recipes and a few photos of the Sonora desert, so they thought it would be a nice way to make money from naive people to call it Mexican.
They serve “enchiladas” with a hard taco shell. Never will you get hard taco with real enchiladas. The fillings consists of the same meats as enchiladas are made of but do not taste Mexican. Perhaps this is because the owners know nothing and care less aboaut what real Mexican food tastes like. This is just a restaurant scam.
Understanding Amigo’s is easier if we understand the area it’s in. It is on an area of Fuhsing population by pretentious, insecure nouveau riche and frequented by social climbers. They think it such a thrill to be eating at an exotic place, but they have no knowledge of the real thing. This is why Amigo’s fleeces them. Amigo tacks a 10 service charge at the end of the bill. There is no reason for them to do this, except to gouge a little more money from the unwary.
Dominick
JUKE on the corner of Heping and Dunhua. Blech.
I ordered a quesidilla and what was inside? The frozen peas,carrots, corn combo - and it’s wasn’t even a tortilla they used… it was some sort of baked… uh… i don’t even know.
Nachos were nacho chips with an itty bitty bit of cheese and about a tablespoon of salsa and guac. When I asked for a new dish because the quesadilla was just gross I got shredded chicken in a heated tortilla.
By god I’d have to agree.
Is this the same place I’ve heard does a reasonable breakfast?
HG
I haven’t been to Jukes, but I experienced quite possibly the worst Mexican food I’ve ever had at The Frog in Taichung. The meat tasted rotten, the cheese was poor quality, the sauce had not a hint of Mexican spices in it. To top it off, there was a drunk foreigner running around the place screaming at the top of his lungs, obviously bothering all of the patrons. Management just shrugged their shoulders at the problem. I left before I gave into the temptation to put the guy on his sodden ass.
Stay away from the Frog.
Which one . . or all of them? Haven’t been to the Frog in eons. It was the whopping big beers that I went for and can quite honestly say I never ate a thing!
came on down to the big city for a respite from my hakka heaven. had been reading the pig and whistle’s news adverts for years and decided to give them a try. couldn’t be any worse than TGIF (thank god its frozen?), right?
after sitting down, brushing off the immediate “ni yao shenme?” and procuring a menu, one item jumped out and seized my craving: nachos.
oh, nachos-a long lost friend remembered. a bit steep at 300 NT a platter, but such is the price to pay for a fix. finally, they arrived. what the he…? a heaping pile of chips slathered in cheese and ground meat with salsa onthe side? no.
six (6) Doritos brand corn chips. each individual sprinkled with cheese and meat droppings. i tried to explain, but you can guess how much they cared. needless to say, another place that’ll never see my money again.
Today we went to the round glass food mall at Yuanhuan (junction of Chongqing North and Nanjing West Roads in Taibei’s Datong District - see map.) Snacked therein at the Chili-Chili Mexican Restaurant. I’m no judge of what constitutes “genuine” Mexican food, but I thought it was quite nice. The stall is flanked on each side by a Thai food place and a veggy joint. You can buy things from each and eat them at the same time. My Taiwanese friend, a fan of all things Thai, praised the Thai food as being “quite authentic.”
Chili’s fajitas are great… and i know, they are not authentic but they are the best thing you can get in Taiwan… I think.
Hahaha. Lay it down for us Los Angelinos, my friend.