Mamasita

Mamasita

Level 1, 11 Collins St, Melbourne

(Ph) 9650 3821

A was back in Melbourne and wanted to try Mamasita - a few years after it's opened it is still overly popular and if you come anytime near peak time be prepared to wait along the famous stairs and down onto Collins Street for up to a few hours! We decided to come at 5.30pm on a Sunday night an luckily it was only about 90% full haha. It's entrance is very small and not very visible next to the 7-Eleven but I guess if you come near peak times you would see the line of people waiting outside =P

Inside is actually not that big so no wonder the wait is so long!

We were seated at the end of the bar on high stools - not particularly comfortable but not that we really had a choice!

Sorry for the blinding flash but it's pretty dark in here =/

We started off with the famous Elote callejero - "Street style" chargrilled corn, queso, chipotle mayo & lime $5.4

Quite expensive for one cob of corn but was awesomely delicious - so cheesy with spicy seasoning on top, complimented by the lime juice.

Next we got a Tostaditas (4 per board) - 2.5inch fried tortilla chips with toppings
de Pollo - chargrilled chicken, avocado, chipotle mayo & queso fresco $15.4

The home made tortilla was crisp and crunchy - the mountain of toppings seemed a bit too much for a single tortilla chip, maybe they could have given us another one for the top so it would be more like a sandwich? Would love to try some of their other toppings like pork belly with crackling =D

The  Ceviche - raw fish cured in citrus sounded pretty interesting so we got one to share
Ceviche de Veracruz - snapper, tomato, olive, green chilli, lime & coriander $7.7 single serve, $16.5 share

Came served with some corn chips =D Not sure what it was meant to be like but there was a lot of liquid in it, it was more like a soup? The raw snapper was a bit fishy but was quite nice cured by the tanginess of the lime.

So many small dishes so we decided to get one main to share. Pancita de cerdo - Guajillo- braised pork belly, habanero cream, fried parsley & lime $27.5

This actually tasted like Asian pork belly - like a sweet soy flavour. I quite liked the habanero cream though - just a touch of spiciness which contrasted with the sweetness of the pork.

The waiter suggested us to get either some rice or some other carbs to go with the pork. She recommended the Platanos Machos - fried plantains, pico verde & queso fresco $7.7

Plantain is a starchy banana commonly used for cooking - deep fried here so tasted like chips =D Delicious as a dish by itself with the verde and the cheese anyway!

Luckily most of the dishes weren't too spicy (none of us really eat chilli!) but if you find it's not spicy enough for you, you can always add some of either green or red chilli into your dishes - we were not game enough to try though! =P

Food~
7/10 - quite tasty authentic Mexican food, would definitely want to try their tacos next time and maybe not their main dishes though

Atmosphere~
3/5 - quite a nice chilled restaurant, if only they had more tables - bar stools aren't particularly comfortable =P

Service~
3/5 - friendly but brisk service, I guess they want you in and out quickly so they can serve the massive line of customers waiting!

Would definitely be back!

C.

xo