!!! For Immediate Release !!!
As a world traveler who both loves Mexican food and super misses it anytime he leaves California, attempting to indulge in a delectable burrito in foreign continents typically results in bouts of self loathing and questioning whether or not life retains meaning. I’ve experienced grave crimes against Mexican food like the time in Serbia where one “Mexican” restaurant served “Salsa” which turned out to be cottage cheese (WTF?!?!?!?) or in Australia where their Chili Verde was drier than the Sahara desert (also WTF) and…well….the list could just go on and on.
So why in the world would I risk having my Mexican food loving heart broken….again…in Southeast Asia. Well, apparently I clearly haven’t learned my lesson (or my desperation for salsa got the best of me) because over the past month we’ve been traveling, i’ve had Mexican food 3 times and let me tell you, IT WAS ACTUALLY GOOD!
Not Pancho Villa or El Farolete at 2:38 AM after a night of drinking amazing, but still, really, really good! The first place I went to was the aptly named “Taco Casa” in Ubud Bali. My friend Kate who lived next door never went to it for all the reasons I mentioned above. That being said, I was in dire straits. After eating nothing but rice and noodle based dishes for the previous weeks, I was starving after an intense class at Yoga Barn and needed something familiar, so I took a risk and stopped at the closest Mexican sounding place- “Taco Casa”. EVERYTHING in my logical mind told me this was a fool’s errand destined for disappointment, but my sheer lack of tasty, passable Mexican food formed its own voice and strongly insisted “fear is the mindkiller”…and casting aside reason……in I went.
After ordering from the ever so kind waitress, I waited…nervously watching the line chefs practice their arts and in but a few minutes a sizzling platter of fajitas was delivered. With a hesitant fork poke I raised the supposed Mexican themed food to my lips and….it was actually pretty damn good! Like really good! The pico was tasty, the beans not too hard, not too mushy and the fajitas seasoned with cumin! I was damn happy. Now they didn’t have a self serve salsa bar (where I would typically back at home eat all of my weeks worth of vegetables in one sitting), but hey, burrito beggars can’t be choosers so I will happily look past that. And yes, fajitas are technically not a burrito so I went back again a few days later AND THE BURRITO WAS AMAZING TOO (all caps)!
Now I wasn’t sure how things would go elsewhere but fast forward 2 weeks when I found myself in Saigon Vietnam and those familiar hunger cravings for a taco started to hit again. Surely I couldn’t find another place that could have passable Mexican food. I figured if I did, I should definitely start buying some lotto tickets or something but out of sheer coincidence, our place in District 4 was a block away from a Mexican place called “Tippys”. Emboldened by my not soul crushing experience in Bali, I steeled my courage and plunged into the unassuming restaurant tucked down a sleepy residential street. What I was confronted with was a pretty damn robust menu of Taqueria standards plus a crapton of breakfast burrito options. They even had chile verde! I had to try it and I eagerly ordered a burrito with it. The pork was tangy, not dry and paired awesomely with the margaritas. I ended up coming back again to try the breakfast burrito which was also damn good. For extra bonus points they even had SALSA SQUEEZE BOTTLES ON EACH TABLE! They did not though have corn tortillas (this was super rare to find in any Asian taqueria.
Finally, for my third test of Southeast Asian Burritos, I stumbled on Salsa Kitchen in Chiang Mai Thailand a month later. At this point, I had higher expectations. No half-assed attempts were going to be accepted by me and as I pushed the doors to Salsa Kitchen like a cowboy walking into a saloon, I knew I was in for a treat. The interior with its grinning Caballera mural checked out but even better, the place was pretty packed-in the middle of the afternoon! It was of course packed with mostly US expats and the low density of actual Thai’s in the restaurant would usually be a bad thing in my book, but since this was a place that catered to expats, I looked past it. I saw they had actual corn chips and guac! AND SALSA! I had to try them as I was having major guac withdrawal symptoms. I ordered that for myself and then turned my attention to the burrito options. I scooped up the laminated menu and the…..what the heck…THEY HAVE AL PASTOR AS A MEAT OPTION!?!?! Like Golum in Lord Of The Rings, a good Al Pastor burrito is basically my “precious”, and I had to order this bold culinary risk. You know what? IT WAS GLORIOUS! The first bite of the burrito had me seeing stars and unicorns- it was truly something. Well seasoned, juicy and all around delectable, the wet burrito I ordered was stuffed with beans, cheese, guac, and tons of tasty al pastor. I almost died and went to heaven.
And the moral of the story is… Asia is now a safe place to eat a burrito! I’m so excited for this momentous occasion. The global exchange of flavors is happening and I hope this foreshadows that world peace is right around the corner. Until then, you can find me munching on this here burrito. See ya next time folks!
Xoxo,
Tim