El Pueblo
Be sure to share a main course
Big portions, lots of cheddar cheese, it has to be Tex-Mex
“Have you ever been to Mexico,” asked my companion as we sat down at a corner table in the vast dining area of El Pueblo Restaurante. “No, have you?” I fired back. “No, so how can we review a Mexican restaurant?”
This was being rather pedantic point and I think I emphatically won the argument with my riposte: “Does a restaurant reviewer need to have gone to India in order to do a write-up for an Indian eatery or to China in order to have an opinion about a Chinese?”
I’ve eaten in Tex-Mex and Mexican restaurants in Nicosia, London and Berlin so I have an idea of how the food, done in Europe, tastes like and I never had any intention of passing judgment on how authentically Mexican the food was anyway. I’ve also seen quite few movies supposedly set in Mexico.
But not having been to Mexico was not the only handicap I had as a reviewer. The truth is that I am not a great fan of Mexican food, which I find rather heavy and stodgy as it always seems to sit in my stomach like a sack of cement. I think my problem is large amounts of cheddar cheese put on top of everything, which, my companion informed me, was part of Tex-Mex cuisine; Mexicans used goat’s cheese instead.
Finding El Pueblo, which is situated on the top of a hill, in a residential area of Aglandja, has never been easy for me. There is a big sign on the main road, telling you when to turn and smaller ones instructing you what route to follow, but I still managed to get lost trying to get there; it has happened every time I’ve gone there. Once I had stopped the car to get my bearings right, I spotted what looked like a restaurant kitchen to my left and realised I had driven to the back. I only needed another five minutes to find the front.
On entering El Pueblo, you are confronted with a huge dining area, which must seat at least 150 people. It was more than half-empty, but this was Sunday, the slowest night of the week. The furniture is the heavy wooden type you encounter in all Tex-Mex eateries and there is an obvious attempt to give you a feel of Mexico, at least the way it is shown in Hollywood films. The idea is to make the dining area appear like a Mexican piazza – stone floor, mock windows with real shutters, water-fountain in the middle and ceiling painted black, which gives the impression you are out in the open. Painted on different walls are also the fa?ades of a bank, a general store and prison, which were cute rather than tacky.
Being in a Mexican piazza we had to have a Margarita and against my better judgment I had a strawberry one, which must be the ultimate girly drink – it is pink, sweet and comes with sugar on the lips of glass. I finished it quickly and ordered the real McCoy, a dramatic improvement on the strawberry.
For starters we had a Tex-Mex platter, which included chicken wings in barbecue sauce, potato skins covered with cheddar cheese and Chilli Con Carne on a tortilla also covered with cheese. The chicken wings were juicy, the potato skins too cheesy, but the Chilli was superb in spite of the cheese topping – it was the right kind of spicy and full of flavour. We also had a zingy guacamole dip with tortilla chips. We were already feeling full and had not had our main course yet. We had another Margarita anyway.
For a main course we shared a Fajitas Supremas, which comes with a choice of three fillings. We chose vegetables, beef and prawns, served on a hot cast iron plate. Thankfully, it was a cheese-free dish. It was another humungous portion, which we were unable to finish after having starters. We have our very helpful waitress to thank for not ordering two main courses as there was no way we could have eaten them. The portions at El Pueblo are massive, for people with gargantuan appetites (it is the Tex-Mex tradition, which I suspect is tailored for American rather than Mexican appetites). The appetizer is meal in itself, but diners must feel they are getting good value for money.
We could not have dessert, but my companion had a Mexican coffee, which included a generous shot of tequila, just in case the Margaritas were not intoxicating enough. I managed to leave without feeling too full-up, which was first at a Mexican restaurant – I was wise enough to share the main course.
VITAL STATISTICS
Speciality Fajitas
Seating 150
Where 14 Ouranias Street, Aglandja (follow the road signs)
Contact 77772021
Booking Advisable (at weekends)
Price £15 per head
