Mexican and para-Mexican fast food, just a short walk from Rundle Mall.
WebsiteOur potatoes today came in the form of spicy queso - no, you know what, I am white as hell. Spicy cheese chips.
The nature of the cheese chip, or any loaded chip, for that matter, is one of paradox, of contradiction, of trying for greatness and being held back by your very nature. Some of the most vital qualities of a great chip - the golden colour, the crisp shell of fried potato around a soft interior, the sharp crunch of biting into it - are sabotaged as the chip is smothered, saturated in sauce or juices and left to stand while being served, carried, or eaten. It is harsh, then, to expect a perfect chip under such circumstances. Nevertheless, it is possible to ask for a good chip, a valiant chip, a chip that has tried its best and suffered under the weight of incorporation into the greater meal.
These chips, in my humble opinion, fell a little short of that lofty goal. They were a touch underdone; slightly too pale, limp and flimsy when touched. Nevertheless, they tasted good; whatever particular blend of salts and spices Guzman y Gomez claims to use for their chips I do not know, but it serves its purpose well even without other accompaniments.
The acccompaniments themselves are another matter. The cheese sauce is... well, as expected. It is a sauce, it tastes like cheese (in a positive way), it looks more like adhesive than food but we eat it anyway. It is not extraordinary, by any means, but it is tasty and satisfies that primal urge for food high in fat and salt to which I am oh so vulnerable on this day and many others. Plopped on top is a tomato based salsa, which I find plain by itself but combines well with the other elements, and a generous sprinkling of sliced green chilli, intended to provide the spicy portion of the order title. This chilli risks overpowering at times; the other flavours of the meal are subtle, in comparison, and it tends to stick in large chunks. As long as this is avoided, though, the tomato and chilli add a sweet heat to the meal, creating a whole that is decently balanced, if simple.
Accessories, today, included a 2 litre bottle of Charlie's old fashioned Lemonade Quencher. Much to my deep regret, the chocolates in my bag went forgotten in the face of... external distractions.
This fruit drink is, in my personal opinion, one of the best offerings in its section of the Woolworths shelf. It tastes fresh, strongly of lemon, without being overly sweetened. It retains much of the sour tang that brings one to pick up a lemon juice bottle rather than the orange next to it, without having any of the common bitter aftertaste that might warn one away. It promises refreshment and it certainly delivers, as long as you drink it - which here means to consume the liquid by swallowing it down your throat, for any readers who may be confused as to how drinking works. Unfortunately, even when chilled this product is not effective at soothing insect stings in any identifiable way.
Could potentially have been better, but still tasty, and a solid meal for the price. I hold high standards but note that these are not, by any means, bad chips, merely lazy ones. And really, is it reasonable to expect more, from fast food Mexican?
