ESCONDITE (MEXICAN) ★★★★

1206 Ave Union, Montreal QC H3B 3C4

514-419-9755

www.escondite.ca

Mexican food is well known for its tacos, all though the ones we usually eat our "Americanized" versions of the real thing. Traditional tacos consist of tortillas no larger than the size of your palm filled with countless different fillings, veggies, meats, sauces, spreads etc. I definitely am happy that I went to Escondite as I had some amazing tacos that it could only be compared to ones I've had in Mexico.

MENU

The menu on the website varies from the one we received at the table, therefore I have decided to go with what I got at the restaurant because it could be the more recent one. The waiter told us when explaining the menu that instead of entrees with big plates along with side dishes they offered meals in the form of little tapa plates this means little dishes. There was also a raw section, as for entrees, there was the grilled section and then there was the huge taco section.

APPETIZERS

Maple Chicken Wings

The chicken wings were the first appetizer that we got and I was very surprised the size and portion of them, we got five and they were all pretty big.It was very sweet but also turn spicy as you continue to eat it. The skin was very crunchy and almost felt as if it was caramelized which I would understand as it is maple chicken wings. I also realized that the spiciness of the flavor came from using pepper has a spice.

Nachos 2.0

As our second appetizer we decided to get the nachos 2.0, we knew that this was not a traditional Mexican dish because it meshed two different types of cultures together using dumplings from Asian cuisine and the nacho toppings and feelings from Mexican cuisine. The dumplings themselves were very crunchy around the edges but softer on the top and were very easy to bite into. The filling was very cheesy and onion and it used slices of chopped onion and cheese almost seemed as though it had melted into a kind of paste which I really enjoyed. This added a different texture, and the cheese flavor came through in a very strong way.

TACOS

As our main dishes, we decided to order six different taco plates in order to have a wide variety of different flavors and fillings to choose from. We also decided to share the tacos between each other. So in the end, we shared 12 tacos between the three of us going back-and-forth between the different flavors.

POLLOS HERMANOS

The first one on the list it's called polos hermanos and it consisted of deep-fried chicken, cream of chipotle, iceberg lettuce and cornbread croutons. I found it really creamy and spicy flavor that overpowered the dryness of the chicken. The tortilla as a soft small and homemade tortilla As for taste, I found it very peppery, the chicken was nice and crunchy . The iceberg lettuce added a refreshing taste to the rest of the flavors kind of cleansing out the pallet.

E'STEAK KORENO &NOPAL

This one consisted of sirloin steak, cheese,grilled cactus and pickled jalapeños. The steak was super tender and almost melted in your mouth.

AL PASTOR

Al pastor consisted of pork belly and grilled pineapple as well as onions and cilantro and this has got to be one of my most favorite tacos that I had that evening out of the six different kinds.Grilled pineapple on its own is amazing but pineapple with meats and spicy flavors is even better it added such an amazing sweetness to the entire dish

DON PUERCO

Next up is the pulled pork taco, originally called Don Puerco, which consisted of oven pork, patacones, Salsa Verde,(green salsa) onions and cilantro. The pork itself is super tender and broke down really easily and I had plenty of spices.

MR. MOLE

Mr. Mole was the next and it consisted of Mole, chicken, feta, red pickled onions and cilantro.

LA TIKKA

The last taco we got to enjoy it was called la Tikka and in it was tomato and chipotle chicken, cheese, lime cream and lettuce. And this one, in particular, was not served on a soft tortilla but instead, it was one of the same sizes but hard.

CHURROS

The churros were hard and had a sugar coating on the outside but had like a Nutella sort of sauce on the side which changed the texture and the flavoring a little bit. It mixed the sweetness of the sugar with the chocolatiness of the sauce which I really enjoyed and I would highly recommend checking out the churros.

OVERALL

Overall I loved this restaurant and even though it wasn't the one my family and I were planning to visit I'm so glad we stumbled upon it. With its very simple menu and the huge variety of different sort of flavors I'm really happy that I got to experience these foods and the atmosphere of Escondite, and I would definitely recommend for you to check it out!