Fiesta flavours
BRUNSWICK HEADS receives a colourful dose of MEXICAN CUISINE, with some extremely authentic MEZCAL to keep diners on their toes, finds LARA PICONE.
FACES CONTORT IN A KIND of horrified fascination as our waiter pours a ‘special’ mezcal at the close of our meal. Our expressions come courtesy of the explanation about this particular Oaxacan tipple’s making, whereby a raw chicken breast is suspended in the still, imparting its aroma and flavour throughout the distillation. I’ve heard of the devil’s cut and the angel’s cut, but the chook’s cut? The pechuga de pollo mezcal certainly adds a poultry punctuation to a meal at Brunswick Heads’ cool Mexican joint, La Casita.
This might be a casual seaside eatery, but La Casita comes with a good pour of pedigree. It’s owned by Josh Lewis and Astrid McCormack, who put this once sleepy hamlet on the culinary radar with their twohatted fine diner, Fleet. And even though their latest venture is a laid-back affair, it doesn’t mean the food is any less considered. A red neon ‘Mexican’ sign lights the way to the terracotta-pink courtyard and small kitchen, tucked well away from the main drag, and we settle in among the bamboo cladding for a feast that leaves the ‘Tex’ well out of the ‘Mex’.
Prior to our hen-hued nightcap (vegetarians beware), a procession of full-flavoured dishes as colourful as Dia de los Muertos is paraded at the table. The party begins with a brilliant-green guac with lightly crisp corn chips, ‘tostada de pulpo’ with curls of octopus tentacles bedded on velvety black beans, and a golden bowl of esquites (corn), triple-layered with deliciousness thanks to wood-firing, pan-frying and a dollop of crema. We wash it down with an ‘Astrid Arriba’ cerveza brewed specifically for La Casita courtesy of Yulli’s Brews with notes of pineapple, ancho chilli and coriander – the tap sporting a caricature likeness of owner Astrid.
“Dos cervezas por favor,” and onwards to bigger things, which come in the form of ‘barbacoa de cordero’, an unctuous, coal-roasted lamb taco enveloped in a soft, almost-silky tortilla. The fried egg, potato and queso Oaxaca taco is like a grown-up breakfast wrap and benefits from being folded in the same luxury tortilla blanket. A wholly reassuring plate of ‘carnitas con frijoles’, or ham hock and beans, is like a firm embrace from the Mexican abuela you wish you had. It’s the kind of dish that dries the tears in your eyes with its comforting down-home flavour.
Happiness grows with dessert. A three-milk cake is a firm wedge of sweetness, but the ‘buñuelos’, fried dough balls served with corn cream and a quenelle of locally grown sapote wins the final frontier.
We sit back to sip that chicken liquor. Faces relax into surprised delight as the mellow mezcal adds a protein-enriched finish to the evening. And somehow, it seems to make perfect sense.