For some time now, I've been lamenting the middling standards in the Mancunian food scene. Not low, not excellent... just the dictionary definition of 'meh'. Every time I eat at one of Living Ventures' seemingly 300 restaurants, I'm left with an overwhelming sense of I-could-have-made-that-at-home. The formerly diverse NQ seems to have been monopolised by 2 or 3 very intelligent and enterprising companies; however this makes things there feel very samey (not that the hipsters seem to mind). And the prices? They're enough to drive you to the chains - at least they're relatively consistent and have those 2-for-1 vouchers going for them. (Don't even get me started on our horrific Annie's Sunday roast experience.)
Years ago, I vented my spleen on the upsetting lack of Mexicuisine in the North West. I'd long given up. The closest I could get was an admittedly excellent burrito from Pancho's in the Arndale Food Market, but that's more a grab-and-go lunch kind of situation.
Knowing I was visiting my mum in L'pool (somewhere I very much enjoy cheating on MCR with), I curiously checked the Almost Famous Twitter to see how things were progressing with their opening in that-there-other-city. Through some stroke of luck, I happened upon Lucha Libre's own feed, sizzling with the promise of Mex street food. I was intrigued. I've never had a fish taco outside of SF, and there they were, taunting me from the menu But there was more. I can safely say I've never looked at a restaurant's menu and wanted to order every single dish. LL's menu did just that. My husband had a glance and I'm pretty sure he used Liz Lemon's famous phrase, 'I want to go to there'. Or I did. Who's counting.
The 3 of us entered the crisply air-conditioned space from the arid summer street and felt instantly relieved. We were greeted by a friendly and quite frankly gorgeous server who noticed our joy at the air-con and gleefully told us it had recently been fixed, making for a much more comfortable experience in this uncharacteristic hot summer. She gave us free reign to sit anywhere we wanted, asked if we'd been there before (we were all Lucha virgins) and talked us through the menu and portion sizes.
My husband's an efficient soul in these situations. My mum and I could have been there ooh-ing and ahh-ing for hours, but he happily picked 2 sharer plates and discussed the option of switching out a few dishes for others, meaning we didn't double up on anything and got to try as much as possible. This was very exciting as it meant we'd be getting everything from crispy fish to belly pork, slow cooked chicken and pulled pork in our tacos and the likes of chorizo, potato and chicken in our quesidillas as well as tostada turrets of chicken and fresh tomatoes and onions... I hadn't been quite this excited about a meal in a long time.
Our server, Rosie, was so accommodating, enthused and friendly, and she let us know that we were welcome to pack up our food to go if we didn't quite manage it all (of course she'd seen this happen before). And then it arrived.
If you've experienced the difference between Tex Mex and authentic Mexican like I did in SF, you'll know that while Tex Mex is comforting, delicious and indulgent, authentic Mex is a whole different ball game. It's fresh, it's zingy, it's flavoursome and it's nowhere near as liberal in its use of cheese or cream. I often liken it to the crisp tang of Vietnamese food, just obviously on a very different taste spectrum. This was the real deal. And can I be honest? It put the food I had in SF to shame. Readers, I wouldn't say this lightly but it put *most* of the food I've ever eaten to shame.
Within a few mouthfuls our food soared its way to the top of the chart of any meals out the three of us have had in our lives. I promise you, I'm not exaggerating. Every flavour was tangible, every texture was glorious - I couldn't fault a single thing. While we waxed lyrical to Rosie (who attended to us and made sure all was okay), we begged for them to come to MCR, please, pretty please. The news she had for us almost induced table-wide squeals.
They are coming to MCR. They're part of the new breath of life injected into the area around the Great Northern Warehouse by All Star Lanes, AF, Brewdog, Trof and the like, making your potential AMC cinema experience another night out entirely. I nearly jumped out of my seat. (By now you've probably seen the exciting wooden wrap around their new venue.) Rosie said she was so excited by the new opening, she felt goosebumps as she was telling us about it. I don't know about you, but that to me is a sign that the people involved with this company love what they do. Excellent value, beautiful food and one of the friendliest experiences we could have hoped for... I'm only sorry we didn't partake in cocktails, but believe me, I shall not be hesitating when they open in MCR. read more