¡Hagamos una fiesta!

Which, I’m told by Google means “let’s party!”.

Mad Mex – whose food I’ve reviewed before – has just opened a brand spanking new location in George St in the city. It’s right near Central Station, and shines like a bright beacon of tasty food right before you descend into the yawning maws of the underground tunnel that leads you to the train station.

The opening night had a more-festive-than-usual atmosphere – balloons, colours, and of course, the food.

But before all that, Clovis Young – founder of Mad Mex – brought us through a course in tequila and salsa.

Part of the flavour of the salsa comes from charred vegetables.

Onions, peppers, and tomatoes are blackened over fire and then chopped up and placed into a blender. Sounds simple? Well, don’t go breaking out the gas stoves just yet.

Fragrant, spicy Mexican chillis are then added to the mixture, giving it a kick that I can only describe as piquant and incredibly addictive. The variety of chillies that are used here really give it a certain something extra, which sets the salsas apart from salsas from other origins that can sometimes taste rather…flat. Apparently, Mad Mex uses about 20,000kg of chillies and 12,000 kg of avocados a year!

Now, onto the juicy bit, THE FOOD!

What seemed like every imaginable condiment was laid out before us while the servers worked in a conveyor-belt-type line to keep hungry people fed.

Clockwise from left: Mad Mex menu, Crispy Tacos, Grande Melt

That night, we had a choice of anything on the menu, and boy did my tummy appreciate it.

Beef Burrito

Beef Nachos

Out of everything I had that night, my absolute favourite had to be the Nachos. While the flavour of all the ingredients – and there were some that were pretty common across the board – works together nicely, I liked having the option to just have certain elements on their own. The Burrito was good, as usual, and the Grande Melt deserves special mention – I brought half of it home and it reheated very nicely the next day.

The most obvious thing that I noticed that day was that I didn’t feel overly sick and filled with grease. No, I essentially ate till I dropped and still got away with it! It tasted fresh and light, and while filling, didn’t weigh you down at all! It’s a great change from the typical Mexican fare that can get rather oily and heavy. Especially good for a quick lunch in the city!

Clockwise from left: Clovis Young, founder of Mad Mex, Sean ordering at the counter, the high-energy staff at the George St store.

And what’s a great party without the great people?

There was a mariachi band that night, and friends and family were all invited for a feed. It had great energy that night, and I think it’s great that it was a similarly great energy when I went to the Darlinghurst store previously. No matter how much I like the food, the service is always what I come back for.

Good food, great people – what else could you ask for?

We ate at:

Mad Mex
Haymarket
815 George St
Ultimo NSW 2007

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