El Grito a great Mexican Taqueria in Dublin
During the current pandemic, I have noticed more and more restaurants are pivoting into takeaways. With all this choice, it looks like running out of restaurants to review won’t be an issue and lots of fun.
This week’s restaurant is?
A restaurant rated as probably the best Mexican restaurant in Dublin. A restaurant where Mexicans in Dublin go to eat as it is a home away from home. Offering food as good as any street food found in Mexico. El Grito Mexican Taqueria. Founded in 2015 by husband and wife Tomasz and Lucia Olesky. Tomasz is Polish and Lucia is Mexican, and they met in Dublin. It used to be based in Temple Bar. Specifically in a small spot in Merchant’s Arch that it shared with Hanley’s Cornish Pasty. With barely enough room to swing a cat in, El Grito’s future lay elsewhere, and so it came to pass. In March 2019, they moved to Mountjoy Square in the premises that used to be home to Sopot Ireland’s only Polish restaurant.
El Grito is named after El Grito de Dolores, the cry that Father Miguel Hidalgo delivered to his parish. This was delivered on September 16th 1810, in the small town of Dolores in central Mexico. The cry was like a call to arms asking the Mexican people to rise up against the Spanish who had ruled Mexico for three centuries.
In the summer of 1994, I spent six happy weeks in Mexico visiting my father who worked there. When I was there I ate and drank local cuisine and had not eaten any Mexican food as good as that since. The burrito restaurants in Dublin tend to be based on the burrito joints found in San Francisco. Other Mexican restaurants play it safe and offer Tex Mex food, a mixture of Texan and Mexican cuisine. The only restaurant that I thought did a pretty good job is The Hungry Mexican who do great nachos. In fact, they used to supply Riot Bar with their nachos which LovinDublin highly praised.
So what did I order?
Opening up the Deliveroo app on my phone I soon found El Grito and I started viewing the menu. My eyes light up when I saw the Holy Grail, something I have not had since I was in Mexico. Something that I have seen on the menu of various restaurants in London and Dublin but was no longer available. That something is the Mexican beer Dos Equis XX which pairs very well with Mexican food.
Does Equis XX in brewed in five simple steps, malting, brewing, fermentation, lagering and filtration, and has an ABV of 4.7%. It has a balanced, sweet crisp flavour that is great on a summer’s day. It is also very similar to German Oktoberfest-style beers, and you can thank its creator Wilhelm Hasse, a German Expat. A majority of the Mexican beer industry was founded by European expats.
Being a fussy eater I am not fond of avocado, guacamole, onions, and sour cream, which limited my choices. When I order in person I can ask for these to be removed from whatever I order. But as I was ordering online, I wanted to order something that I knew would not cause me issues.
The potato dish seen below was the obvious choice. This consisted of rustic buttered potatoes, cheese, a choice of nine different fillings, a choice of four different salsa’s, and seven soft corn tortillas. The filling and salsa chosen were Chicken Chipolte and Ay Wey which is medium spicy.
So how was my Meal?
When one of the owners of El Grito is Mexican you know you are going to get a great meal. What I got was a revelation as I did not know what to expect, with cheesy fries coming to mind. The potatoes and cheese were a great combination and did not taste too cheesy. The Chicken Chipolte had a nice slight kick to it which matched well with the Ay Wey medium salsa. I left nothing behind, which as I have said before is a sign that I had a good meal.
The freshly made soft corn tortillas were lovely and hot. A great place to put my potato dish into. Tasting great, you could easily tell they are freshly made.
The Dos Equis XX, which I finally managed to get my hands on after many years of searching had me smiling. It was the perfect accompaniment to my meal and tasted crisp and refreshing. If you are ordering a meal from El Grito. Dos Equis XX is a must-have. Made for summer days and great food.
So what did my meal cost?
The Potato Chicken Chipolte dish with Ay Wey Sala was €12.50. The Dos Equis XX was €5.00 With a service fee of €0.49, a delivery charge of €3.49, and a restaurant tip of €0.52. The final cost was €22.00 before my rider’s tip.
El Grito Mexican Taqueria, 20 Mountjoy Square E, Mountjoy, Dublin 1.