As a long time Californian traveling through Australia, Guzman y Gomez in Newtown immediately piqued my interest. I was a bit skeptical as Mexican is my favorite type of cuisine and I've yet to come across quality Mexican food outside the US or Mexico before. But the place was apparently named after two Mexican fellows and even had pictures of Mexicans on the signage.
Why not give it a shot? How bad could it be?
The answer is really bad.
A food experience so bad, in fact, that my first instinct was to check if Yelp had an Australian site so I could express my displeasure.
My first clue should have been the signage promoting the gluten free and vegetarian friendly menu. Hmmm... Don't remember that kind of signage the last time I was in Ensenada.
Then in the condiment section where Mexican restaurants traditionally have all their salsa, pico de gallo, and peppers... Guzman y Gomez had a trio of tabasco sauce dispensers. Seriously?
I should have walked out right there, but I guess deep down I am an optimist at heart.
I ordered one each of the steak chipotle, pork chipotle, and barramundi (a type of Australian whitefish) tacos. They each came in a wrapped in a cold, soggy, corn tortilla. Each was topped with a flavorless pile of boiled black beans. Both the tortillas and beans were vegetarian friendly, though I would have quite preferred them to be fried in delicious Mexican animal lard like they are other parts of the world such as Mexico.
The tacos were also topped with "pico de gallo", which Australian people have apparently taken to mean watery chopped up tomatoes without peppers or anything that might add a semblance of flavor.
The pre-cooked steak and pork for my tacos were pulled from tupperware containers where they were marinating in GYG's special "chipotle marinade". Maybe something is lost in translation overseas, but I could swear from the look and taste of my tacos that their "chipotle marinade" is just like what we in the States call "dirty water". What's more whereas these tacos had been termed on the menu as "spicy" , I would have thought the term "wretch inducing petri dish experiment" would be more fitting.
If there was one thing I was confident that the Aussies would get right, it was the fish tacos. After all, there are fish and chips joints on every block. How difficult could it be to throw one of those bad boys in corn tortilla with some cabbage and salsa? Imagine my dismay when they brought out the fish taco grilled Wahoo fish taco style! YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS, MATE! And in a cruel twist of irony the only thing on my plate that was supposed to be moist and tender was actually dry and tough, and yet flavorless all the same.
In summary, the tacos from Guzman y Gomez are an abomination, an affront to the term "Mexican food", and in fact about as Mexican as Emilio Estevez. In my travels overseas, I've had some truly awful Mexican food. In China, I once ate at a place that used tortillas made from some kind of rice flour and gave me ketchup in lieu of salsa. Guzman y Gomez ranks somewhere below that.
To the Australians giving positive reviews to this place or that actually believe this is real Mexican food: LOL @ you! Oh how I pity you! read more