Review by Sarah List
If you’ve been out to eat in the last 12 months, Adelaide restaurants are really upping the vegan food stakes (pun intended) as the demand for tasty plant options grows.
Nestling on the apex of Gouger and Morphett streets, Mexican Society beckons with its red, white, and green party lights and the promise of a Hat Dance on your tastebuds. As winner of the Restaurant and Catering Awards of Excellence 2017 Best Mexican in Australia gong, our expectations were set high for the launch of their new vegan menu. Not content with just tweaking main menu fare by removing the meat, the options have been created from the ground up to create a unique set of flavours all of their own. It was great to see such a substantial listing of dedicated options available as a la carte, or as a $40 per head (min 2 people) feast option.
There were so many things we had our eye on, but settled on the classic guacamole and the carrot tostaditas to start. The guac came served with giant tortilla chips, and the avocado was fresh and perfect. Simple, but delicious. The carrot tostaditas were next level tasty, with plenty of spice complimenting the black beans, queso and crema on a crunchy mini tortilla (hence tostaditas) base. This was an excellent opening option for anyone who has been told they need to eat more veg but are still suspicious that it could ever match up to their usual choices.
Mexican Society anticipates that a lot of people will want to try everything on the menu and have pre-opted to offer all mains as an entrée size as well so you can share without rolling out the door. We selected the pistachio molé winter vegetable, and the spinach encheladas. Molé to most venues means the smoky chocolate sauced classic, but in Mexico you can buy many different molé pastes with different flavour profiles from the markets. This option blended tomatillos (a green tomato that grows in a papery case) and peas with the pistachio paste for a smoothly rich sauce. The roasted winter vegetables under the molé included a range of root vegetables, zucchini and brussel sprouts, and a pretty garnish of fresh greens and colourful slices of mini beets. I prefer my veg to be a little more caramelised than crisp, but the flavours were delicious. The corn tortilla spinach encheladas were filled with zucchini and tomatoes and the spinach was hidden in the overlaid sauce, that was topped with vegan cheese and a cluster of fresh salad greens. I could have eaten another 10 of those! Both mains left us with sauce on the plate and we wished there was an option for extra tortillas or rice to mop up the leftovers.
Closing out the meal, we were excited to hear there was a special dessert available that was not a fruit platter – Hurrah! In fact it was a piña colada panna cotta, dressed with a caramelised pineapple sauce, raspberry powder, coconut ice shavings and edible flowers. It was a dreamy creamy treat with a great balance of sweet and tart flavours, and would be worth a visit to Mexican Society as a nightcap on any given night out.
The beverage list features a range of gorgeous mocktails amongst the classic cocktails options.
A real treat!
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