Basics
Slow Mex is now closed.
Location
Website
Per Person
Shared starter & dessert. Main. 2 beers. €26
Gratis; 3 salsas and plate of nachos.
In Short
Hopes?
Something Mex. But how slow do they go?
Reality?
Mixed Mex. And - mostly - kept up a good pace.
First Impressions?
Industrial, but pleasingly airy.
A USP?
Mexican formats, international fillings
The food in three words?
Very nearly there.
Can they get the staff?
One on duty, enough for a quiet lunchtime.
Service with a smile?
Yep. Helped us with a dessert very amiably.
Would you take your friends?
There are certainly things we'd like people to try.
Rating for a dating?
Maybe. Although some dishes are messier than you'd like to deal with on a first meeting.
Tip?
5%
Change one thing?
Chairs and stools designed with flat surfaces and right angles? Not the most comfortable.
Going back?
Yes.
Compare & Contrast
Velocity variations.
Standard speed Trad Mex at Taqueria de Birrä.
Fast Fusion Mex at The Japanese Burrito
In Pictures
On Google Images
In Depth
Supposed differences be damned. We're not about to build a wall between Mex and Tex. Madrid's fairly good on both, but perhaps tends toward the Mex, these days. Going for a Chicago spin on things, this place offers a few surprises on it's menu. We have a feeling it's deliberately not using the F word, as it doesn't always have the best connotations. We're wise you to your ways, Slow Mex.
It fills its variations on the corn tortilla with fillings from several continents. There's Korean, Thai and Indian flavours, but we decided today to broadly stick to h:m's second rule;
So, kicking off with marinated pork in green sauce. This doesn't look like a Mona Lisa, but it's a terrific tasting dish. Loads of sour cream and melted cheese mixed with excellent acidic green tomatillo sauce creates an incredibly moreish mixture. There are more shards of tortilla getting very floppy under the surface, along with a decent amount of juicily marinaded pork.
This is an excellent starter only let down by a detail. Floppy tortillas make for sloppy eating, moreso without a serving spoon, or extra tortilla chips. We made the most of it though, and it was very filling, even for two. We were very impressed.
Both main courses came in baskets. Not the best way to serve things if a) you're likely to share and b) there's high chances of juice spillage.
That wasn't a problem with the fish. Three chunky cajun spiced deep-fried white fish pieces - not cakes - in tacos, with plenty of added bits and bobs to add fun. A very yoghurty sour cream; an excellent guaco-salsa - lots of onion, tomato and whatnot stop me calling it guacomole, but there was fresh avocado in there. Some pickled pink cabbage was a smidge too crunchy but. points for this, a little lime wedge topped each burrito. It looked very pretty and tasted great, although those fish pieces could have been cooked a minute or two less. The spice didn't come through very strongly- Cajun food is normally pan fried not deep-fried. Which might well have something to do with it...
Main 2 was less an oil painting, more a special effect. A giant burrito. A tube of food that resembled a space probe sent from another galaxy to talk to whales. More guaco came with it. But, the three - excellent! - pots of salsa we'd been delivered with our aperitif nachos came in very handy. This dish, impressive looking and well cooked, failed to fulfil one critical promise.
The "slow-cooked, lime-marinated chicken" didn't taste of lime. Now, there was no shortage of filling. Chicken, cheese and rice were present and the chicken was melt-in-the-mouth soft. But the acidity that comes from an overnight marinade (ideally with plenty of zest) was missing. You might ask, yes but was it simply subtle? No. It was simply not there. A disappointment wrapped in a potential success. I'd offer them my lime chicken recipe - for a small percentage, you understand.
We opted for the chilli-choc brownie for dessert, but negotiated a change from coffee to meringue ice-cream, which was nice of them. For some reason, delivery took much longer than anything else. A 12-minute wait for a wodge of brownie with a massive drift of icecream and cream on top in a nearly empty restaurant was surprising.
Did it live up to its flavour promise better than the burrito? Well, to quote Bogart -
So as the backs of our throats felt it, the meringue icecream worked very well. The cream less so, but it was better than usual plasticatified stuff, so not, for once, a cream crime.
Drinks? Well, there's a vast number of beers on offer. Ten on the board above the bar alone, lots more bottled to inspect in fridges We stuck to a simple bottled wheat one and some Warsteiner. If you're feeling bold, you'll not be disappointed, one suspects. We didn't spot any familar mexican names on bottles, but the decor hints heavily at Coronita, so it's probably lurking in there somewhere if you need lime in your bottle.
Aside from that tardy brownie, service was good and the place is spacious and brilliantly decorated for what could easily feel like an underground concrete box. Excellent open frontage to the street helps keep things pleasingly airy.
So, it's worth a wander down Mexico way - going via the Windy City.
Slow Mex is now closed.
Location
Website
Per Person
Shared starter & dessert. Main. 2 beers. €26
Gratis; 3 salsas and plate of nachos.
In Short
Hopes?
Something Mex. But how slow do they go?
Reality?
Mixed Mex. And - mostly - kept up a good pace.
First Impressions?
Industrial, but pleasingly airy.
A USP?
Mexican formats, international fillings
The food in three words?
Very nearly there.
Can they get the staff?
One on duty, enough for a quiet lunchtime.
Service with a smile?
Yep. Helped us with a dessert very amiably.
Would you take your friends?
There are certainly things we'd like people to try.
Rating for a dating?
Maybe. Although some dishes are messier than you'd like to deal with on a first meeting.
Tip?
5%
Change one thing?
Chairs and stools designed with flat surfaces and right angles? Not the most comfortable.
Going back?
Yes.
Compare & Contrast
Velocity variations.
Standard speed Trad Mex at Taqueria de Birrä.
Fast Fusion Mex at The Japanese Burrito
In Pictures
On Google Images
In Depth
Supposed differences be damned. We're not about to build a wall between Mex and Tex. Madrid's fairly good on both, but perhaps tends toward the Mex, these days. Going for a Chicago spin on things, this place offers a few surprises on it's menu. We have a feeling it's deliberately not using the F word, as it doesn't always have the best connotations. We're wise you to your ways, Slow Mex.
It fills its variations on the corn tortilla with fillings from several continents. There's Korean, Thai and Indian flavours, but we decided today to broadly stick to h:m's second rule;
Good classics? Go back and try their innovations.
So, kicking off with marinated pork in green sauce. This doesn't look like a Mona Lisa, but it's a terrific tasting dish. Loads of sour cream and melted cheese mixed with excellent acidic green tomatillo sauce creates an incredibly moreish mixture. There are more shards of tortilla getting very floppy under the surface, along with a decent amount of juicily marinaded pork.
This is an excellent starter only let down by a detail. Floppy tortillas make for sloppy eating, moreso without a serving spoon, or extra tortilla chips. We made the most of it though, and it was very filling, even for two. We were very impressed.
Both main courses came in baskets. Not the best way to serve things if a) you're likely to share and b) there's high chances of juice spillage.
That wasn't a problem with the fish. Three chunky cajun spiced deep-fried white fish pieces - not cakes - in tacos, with plenty of added bits and bobs to add fun. A very yoghurty sour cream; an excellent guaco-salsa - lots of onion, tomato and whatnot stop me calling it guacomole, but there was fresh avocado in there. Some pickled pink cabbage was a smidge too crunchy but. points for this, a little lime wedge topped each burrito. It looked very pretty and tasted great, although those fish pieces could have been cooked a minute or two less. The spice didn't come through very strongly- Cajun food is normally pan fried not deep-fried. Which might well have something to do with it...
Main 2 was less an oil painting, more a special effect. A giant burrito. A tube of food that resembled a space probe sent from another galaxy to talk to whales. More guaco came with it. But, the three - excellent! - pots of salsa we'd been delivered with our aperitif nachos came in very handy. This dish, impressive looking and well cooked, failed to fulfil one critical promise.
The "slow-cooked, lime-marinated chicken" didn't taste of lime. Now, there was no shortage of filling. Chicken, cheese and rice were present and the chicken was melt-in-the-mouth soft. But the acidity that comes from an overnight marinade (ideally with plenty of zest) was missing. You might ask, yes but was it simply subtle? No. It was simply not there. A disappointment wrapped in a potential success. I'd offer them my lime chicken recipe - for a small percentage, you understand.
We opted for the chilli-choc brownie for dessert, but negotiated a change from coffee to meringue ice-cream, which was nice of them. For some reason, delivery took much longer than anything else. A 12-minute wait for a wodge of brownie with a massive drift of icecream and cream on top in a nearly empty restaurant was surprising.
Did it live up to its flavour promise better than the burrito? Well, to quote Bogart -
So as the backs of our throats felt it, the meringue icecream worked very well. The cream less so, but it was better than usual plasticatified stuff, so not, for once, a cream crime.
Drinks? Well, there's a vast number of beers on offer. Ten on the board above the bar alone, lots more bottled to inspect in fridges We stuck to a simple bottled wheat one and some Warsteiner. If you're feeling bold, you'll not be disappointed, one suspects. We didn't spot any familar mexican names on bottles, but the decor hints heavily at Coronita, so it's probably lurking in there somewhere if you need lime in your bottle.
Aside from that tardy brownie, service was good and the place is spacious and brilliantly decorated for what could easily feel like an underground concrete box. Excellent open frontage to the street helps keep things pleasingly airy.
So, it's worth a wander down Mexico way - going via the Windy City.
