Guzman Y Gomez Mexican Taqueria
Shop E116, The Oracle
3 Oracle Boulevard
Broadbeach QLD 4218
+61 7 5504 7157
www.guzmanygomez.com/
It seems like the Mexican craze that’s been sweeping Australia like a Mexican wave at the ‘G is here to stay if the constant mushrooming of Mexican/Mexican-inspired restaurants, bars, cafes and food trucks are anything to go by. Gold Coast is arguably a backwards town when it comes to eating out but when Sydney-based Mexican franchise Guzman Y Gomez comes to Broadbeach, you know that Mexican food has finally ‘make it.’ And about time too. Step aside, Taco Bill, you no longer have a monopoly over Mexican eateries in Australia.
We weren’t really meant to eat here on my last night in Goldie but given our overpriced substandard meal at Ming Palace earlier that evening that did nothing to quash our hunger pangs, we decided to stop by for some ‘snacks.’ Of course, by snacks we really meant three tacos and a serving of nachos to share, along with some beer, a frozen margarita and way-too-sweet pineapple-flavoured Jarritos (Mexican soft drink).
The place was dead quiet when we rocked up just before 10pm. Understandable, because it was a weeknight and Gold Coastitutes tend to have early ones but on the other hand, it was Australia Day Eve so I did expect to see more people there. Oh well, more room on the communal table for us, I thought to myself as I sipped on the margarita which was refreshing and delicious, though the alcohol content negligible. As much as I like to diss Taco Bill, they do make the most awesome frozen margaritas – and they put plenty of alcohol in them.
Gotta love the really funky bottle – the beer didn’t taste bad, either.
The concept here is pretty simple. There are burritos, there are tacos and there are a number of typical Tex-Mex fare such as nachos and whatnot. And the best news? Everything is gluten-free. Basically, you use your meal (burrito, taco, whatever), and then choose your filling. From chipotle pork to barramundi, there is a protein to suit everyone and yes, they do have a vegetarian option.
We shared some soft shell tacos (three for $10.50). Given that places such as Paco’s Tacos in Melbourne charge $6.50 for arguably substandard tacos that fall into a limp, soggy mess as soon as you touch them, I thought the price tag was extremely reasonable. I’m not normally a soft-shell taco person (I go hard all the way – wahaha, that sounds duuurty) but I was glad that each taco shell managed to retain their shape. While Marty enjoyed his spicy pork chipotle and his spicy chicken guerrero tacos, both of which he thought were very good, I attacked my beef guerrero taco with intense ferocity. Packed with slow-roasted marinated tender beef, black beans with a healthy lashing of pico de gallo, it was a taco that I would happily hand over $6.50 in Melbourne.
We were both still a bit hungry after that so I ordered a serving of GYG’s famous nachos ($10.50), with beef guerrero topping. The guys at GYG use a gluten-free corn tortilla so don’t expect tasty Doritos-style corn chips, but rather something that’s a little more bland on the tongue. Doesn’t matter though, the chips soaked up the flavours of the black beans, beef, cheddar cheese, pico de gallo and guacamole brilliantly. It was a dish that could have stood on its own as a main and in fact, we couldn’t finish the whole thing so we took it home … and had it the very next day for breakfast. Strangely enough, the nachos tasted a LOT better after sitting in the fridge overnight before being heated in the oven for several minutes, as opposed to being served fresh from the store. Yum.
Given GYG’s success in New South Wales, and now Queensland (I think there is a store in Brisbane), I hope that it won’t be long until a Melbourne store opens up. Okay, so GYG will face a lot of competitors such as Mad Mex, Salsa’s, the wildly popular Mamasita and yes, good ol’ Taco Bill but if they can keep making tacos and nachos this good, then I have no doubt that YGY will cause Mexican waves all around Melbourne.
Located in the heart of Broadbeach, within walking distance of various nightclubs, Ming Palace has been serving Gold Coastitutes for a number of decades. This is evident in the outdated decor, the tired walls and carpet and the extremely full dining room of punters who looked like they had been coming to this joint for many years. As quasi-regulars, Marty and our friend, Amiee, often come here for late-night bitch fests over steamers of hot dim sum. On my visit here, I instinctively thought of Supper Inn back home – one, because it’s open until late and two, you have to actually climb up a long flight of stairs to get there. The climb at Supper Inn, however, is worth it but here at Ming Palace? Not really.
We played it safe by ordering har gow (prawn dumplings, 4 for $5.80). They weren’t the biggest and they had ridiculously thick skins to boot (good thing? bad thing? I say ‘bad’), with a decent-tasting filling that was generous on the prawns. This was probably the only ‘good’ thing I ate here, though.
Marty normally rates the siu mai (pork dumplings, 4 for $4.80) and I have to say that they were of decent size. Again, they were generous with the filling – the pork seemed to be on the verge of bursting. I didn’t like them as much as the har gow, though. The pork meat and pork fat ratio was off – they put too much of the fat in – so the filling emitted a bit of a nasty smell when you bit into it.
I made the mistake of ordering the next two dishes. In hindsight, I didn’t even know why because they’re not normally dishes I would order – I think it was because the yum cha menu was so limited and I felt pressured to order them. I don’t know. But anyway. First up, the deep-fried prawns (4 for $5.80). Oh man, they were awful. They obviously used the frozen stuff as was obvious by the lack of taste, and how dry the meat was (obviously from having nuked it in the microwave after they had fished them out of the freezer – and left them in the microwave for too long). I don’t understand the need to use frozen stuff when one, Queensland’s famous for its abundance of fresh, good quality seafood and two, they used fresh prawns in the har gows. Meanwhile, the batter was limp and tired – and not the least bit crunchy – and given the amount of oil that was left on the paper doily, the kitchen dudes had forgotten all about draining.
Our deep-fried scallops (4 for $5.80) fared much worse. Again, the frozen stuff was used and again, the whole thing – soggy batter and all – was just nasty, nasty, nasty. Yuck.
Thus, I wasn’t surprised when I paid $4.90 each for a hot chai latte and an iced chai latte late one night. I can’t say much for Marty’s iced chai latte, but mine was sweet beyond recognition and the milk, cooler than the night’s air temperature of 21 degrees. Forget proper chai leaves, honey and all that jazz – all the flavouring came from a bottle. I hate to say this, but I would have been happier at Starbucks.
We started off with a serving of prawn rice paper rolls, or ‘summer rolls’ as they call them here (they come in fours for $5.90, but we requested six so we paid $8.85). Marty once brought a Vietnamese friend from Melbourne here who declared that the skins on these rolls were too thick, thus rendering them inauthentic and bad. Marty and I, however, actually preferred the thicker skins which encased a generous smearing of cooked prawns married with a strip of pork, vermicelli and mint. They weren’t the best I’ve ever had, but they were better than most I’ve had as of late.
My Vietnamese beef salad ($16.90). Again, this isn’t ‘authentic’ – who the hell serves beef salad with prawn crackers and what’s with the sweet as Vitamin Water dressing?! It was a shame the dressing was so sweet for it could have been an amazing salad. Thinly-sliced beef strips were mixed in with paper-thin slices of red onion, fresh vegetables and accentuated by red chillies and roasted peanuts. If they had added a bit more fish sauce or even more citrus juice or vinegar in the dressing, it would have been perfect. As for the prawn crackers, I guess I spoke too soon. I might have initially scoffed when I saw them, but they did go a long way in diffusing some of the sweetness.
Marty ordered the decidedly un-Vietnamese crispy chicken with vegetables and sweet chilli sauce ($14.90). On that note, I was surprised to see a lot of non-Vietnamese dishes on the menu – chicken ragout and garlic prawns, for example. Sure, you get non-Vietnamese dishes in a lot of Vietnamese restaurants around Melbourne but such restaurants often advertise themselves as offering both ‘Chinese and Vietnamese’ cuisine whereas New O-Me-Ly is purely (and supposedly) Vietnamese.
