10 July, 2009

Nanna Mexico



I love Mexican food, and for awhile I thought I was alone in this country. Mexican food is about so much more than salt and chilies, lard and cheese, it's about friends. How many times have we had a party re-cap over a lunch at Cancun (my favorite Mexican haunt)? How many nights have we giggled over margaritas about someone's unfortunate situation? How any times do we leave swearing never to eat again? Too many to count.
You see, Mexicans are our Indians, our enchiladas are your curries (I'm talking to you, English people.).
Now I'm not one to dread cultural expierences, I won't stop at Subway in every big city because I "miss" American food, but this is something different. I've eaten yorkshire puddings, mash, and bakewell tarts. I've had my fairshare of cauliflower cheese and pub chips, but I miss what I miss. My life in the UK, though not void of laughs or fun, had been missing a certain something, a cilantro spiced, cheesy, tequila something, until Nanna Mexico.
Now as any Texan will attest, we don't trust Mexican food from other places; citing several horror stories about attempting to order Mexican food in other states we are highly suspicious of non-Texan attempts at enchiladas or rellenos. With this said, I was, to say the least, unconvinced by the idea of Mexican food in the UK, but call it desperation, I tried it out anyway.
Nanna Mexico in Cambridge is what I would call a 'burrito shack', kind of modeled in the same vein as Freebirds or Chipotle. I'm not the biggest fan of these places, but in addition to the usual fare of oversized burritos and quesadillas there are "Mexico City Tacos", soft corn tortillas (not those fried shells) topped with cheese, vegetables, meat, or beans with salsa rioja and peppers, I was sold.
I ordered my tacos right after another American in line, which prompted a funny look from Oli; before we left he assured me this was proof that the British do NOT like Mexican food. I'm convinced this is not the case as there were at least 3 authentic brits amongst the American spice fiends.

Mexico City Tacos from Nanna Mexico in Cambridge


Oli's Chicken Fajita burrito.
My only gripe was that there were no Margaritas, though they did have the Mexican beers Corona and Negro Modelo, and Ash, Diane, and Stephen weren't there to share some trash talk; but I'll take what I can get.

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