New York: Toloache

After a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious evening with Mary Poppins on Broadway, we headed a couple of blocks uptown to grab a late Mexican dinner.

Yelp.com gave it the thumbs up. So we decided to give it a try.

Even at 10pm, Toloache (corner of Broadway and 51st St) was packed. 

Toloache is named after a Mexican flowering plant known for usage in love potions. It's one of three Meixcan bar-restaurants in the city run by chef-owner Julian Medina. And all pretty well-received by reviewers too.

It's a quaint little establishment, with plenty of indigenous paraphernalia on the walls and interesting lamp shades hanging from the ceilings.

When they finally seated us after about 20 minutes, first thing I did was to order their Tradicional homemade, fresh-to-order guacamole (USD9).

The key to any respectable Mexican restaurant lies in its standard of fresh, made-on-the-spot guacamole.

Oh, yum. This one has got to be one of the more memorable guacamoles I've had in this lifetime.

Tradicional guacamole, salsa and tortilla chips

Smooth and creamy, yet chunky at the same time, it was perfect. Especially with the homemade tortilla chips.

That was just the prelude to even more delicious dishes.

We wanted to try the cactus fries for fun, but they ran out of those. So we switched to avocado fries (USD9) instead.  Sounds odd, but they really look just like potato wedges, except that when you bite into one, it's creamy, rich avocado that awaits you.

Heavenly.

For mains, I ordered the Tacos De Pastor (USD11): 2 warm flour tacos generously topped with guajillo-marinated pork, grilled pineapple and chile de arbol salsa.

The pork was so beautifully tender and flavourful, and a perfect accompaniment with the tangy pineapple and salsa.

I wish they served more than 2.

My pals ordered quesadillas instead.

The Quesadilla de Costilla (USD13) was stuffed with braised beef short ribs, Chihuahua cheese and Chipotle BBQ sauce, whilst the Quesadilla de Huitlacoche y Trufas (USD14) came with manchego cheese, corn, black truffle, huitlacoche salsa.

Oh, both were just as good......mmmm....

I really like how they are generous with the ingredients, but without overdoing it such that the tacos / quesadillas fell apart when attempting to eat them.

Excellent excellent excellent.

For dessert, who could resist the churros with chocolate and caramel sauces for dipping?? Crisp, cinnamon-dusted donut-y sticks and dark chocolate liquid to eat to your heart's content.

Churros con chocolate

We also tried the Tres Leches de Limon - Tres Leches is a traditional Mexican dessert made with 3 types of milk. Toloache took a lemon take on the dish.

Tres Leches de Limon

It was good, but I wouldn't say it was my favourite. Think it had to do with all that meringue coating around the cake - unfortunately, I'm not much of a meringue fan.

That being said, I LOVED my meal at Toloache and would definitely strongly recommend it to anyone looking for a good and not-too-pricey Mexican meal in the city.

(PS: if you're a Rosa Mexicana fan, this one comes close!)