I love Mexican food. Behind smoked pork BBQ, it’s my favorite food. I like the bold flavors and the comforting feeling I get when I eat it. Sure, that’s a lot of good Mexican food in the US, where I live. However, when I lived in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 2000, the one Mexican restaurant in town was simply awful. None of the traditional spices were being used. The presentation was overly ostentatious. The focus seemed to be on margaritas (bad ones) and greasy chips. It just wasn’t anything close to a Mexican restaurant experience.
I’ve recently been traveling a bit in Europe and have been thrilled to discover that delicious, carefully made Mexican food is now available in many large cities in Europe. Specifically, I want to highlight two restaurants that I visited recently that made me feel welcome, filled my belly with spicy, authentic Mexican food, and left me smiling.
I found both of these restaurants through searching on Google Maps and reading the reviews and comments from other Local Guides.
First, I visited Tlaxcal Cantina & Taquería Gastronómica in Barcelona, Spain when I was on vacation. Our meal there came toward of a long visit to Barcelona and the surrounding Catalonia region. We’d had our fair share of seafood paella and frankly, I was over eating big pots of stewed rice. I was so happy to find fresh, carefully made tacos and enchiladas. They were spicy, colorful, and filling. It was a wonderful meal and a welcome change of pace.
A few months later, I found myself in Prague, Czech Republic for work and sought out some Mexican food. I was lucky enough to come across Alebrijes, Cocina Mexicana and have dinner. I sat at the bar as the restaurant was full with reservations. I enjoyed an amazing ceviche to start and some wonderfully spicy and tart enchiladas verde for dinner. I topped it all off with a unique flan. I was surprised to find out that the person working the bar lived for a while near the town I grew up in.
I’ll be back in Prague in a few weeks and I’ll make another visit to Alebrijes. I have trips scheduled to Stockholm and Copenhagen this year. I’ll be sure to seek out Mexican food in those places, too. I’m excited to see my favorite cuisine become popular around the world. While it might be weird to seek out Mexican fare in cities where it shouldn’t necessarily be popular, I find it’s a great way to have a bit of an adventure and taste a bit of what I consider comfort food.
What are some of your favorite Mexican restaurants that you’ve found in unexpected places?