Friday, October 14, 2005

mexican: AMIGO

AMIGO Around-Mexico
(02) 2515-6633
台北市復興北路202號
pricing: $$
review ordered: 10.14.05

For awhile, I had been craving enchiladas. The closest one I could find from home were the ones from La Casita, but since our last experience there, no one wanted to join me. I decided to order to-go from Amigo, since it was one of the last Mexican places I hadn't tried yet in Taipei. I ordered the chicken enchilada set which came with rice, fries, sour cream and guacamole. I asked the restaurant if they could recommend anything else, and he said, you should come into the restaurant next time, we have a lot to choose from. I wish when you ask people to recommend something that they would offer up a few suggestions.

chicken enchiladas?


When I got my to-go dinner, the box was cute and colorful. The weird thing is that my enchiladas were not really enchiladas- you can see in the picture. Instead of a corn tortilla it was a flour one; the sauce was in a separate foam container rather than poured on; the chicken inside resembled fajitas grilled chicken rather than shredded; the whole thing seemed recently assembled rather than baked with the sauce and cheese on top. It looked like a reject hybrid of a chimichanga and a fajita that couldn't make up its mind what to be. I was VERY disappointed. If I wanted to eat a fajita, I would have gone to Chili's. If I wanted to eat a chimichanga, I would have ordered one.

I gave it try. Overall, the flavor was not bad, if you ignored that it was supposed to be an enchilada. Interestingly, there was corn kernels inside with the chicken, and there was only a little bit of cheese. The fries that came on the side tasted good. The rice tasted like rice I had eaten at other Taipei Mexican restaurants, not spicy or red, but a yellow sticky rice that has an indistinguishable flavor. The guacamole was really sour, it almost tasted as if it was on the verge of going bad. The bottom line is that it just didn't hit the spot because it just WAS NOT an enchilada.

I will have to go another day to try something else and see what the restaurant is like in person. I hear the tortilla soup is not bad and that their beef dishes are better than the other meats. But if you ever want to eat an enchilada, do not go to Amigo.

7 comments:

Jean said...

boo... i didn't get to try mexican food while i was in taiwan. too busy i guess. we had fake (chicken) gyros. hahah. but we did have the best enchiladas ever (in taiwan). haha

Unknown said...

well you are lucky if you have not tried mexican food in Taiwan, one big problem is no corn tortillas, if any one can find please let me know, xxaniaml97@yahoo.com, I have a restaraunt in Taipei and have made some good enchiladas, and taiwanese people did not like, so mabye thats a problem too, and of course they don't like refied beans, but to be a little positive jakes country kitchen has some decent huevos rancharos!

joanh said...

jean: hahah.. well next time i'll take you.

denny: hmm, i guess since i bring my own tortillas from LA i haven't really looked for corn tortillas in taipei. where is your restaurant?? i'd love to try the enchiladas.

Jake E. said...

Well, I was really in the mood for mexican food tonight - but my experience with Amigos has changed that and it will be a while before I go searching again. The food, as mentioned, wasn't terrible - if you could suspend your expectations of what is generally considered mexican food. The founding principles of mexican food (IMO) were lacking: cheese was sparse, salsa not spicy, burrito questionably mysterious... even the beer left a little something to be desired with the quality of lime. The prices seemed high for the quality and quantity served. Also, bizarrely, despite speaking to them in Chinese, they would always answer in English (I am white, though, so maybe that threw them off).

Anyhow - I would recommend Amigos only if you crave something only vaguely mexican. I will still go out in search of mexican food in Taipei, but it may be a while before I can again muster the courage. Cheers!

stella bakes said...

you guys should try out this new Mexican Restaurant in Tianmu called El Gallo... it's a little bit on the pricey side, but i think it's worth it :)
i had a beef quesadilla with salad and i was pleasantly surprised :)
there was salsa and beans on the side... the salsa was fresh and a little bit spicy.. the quesadilla was really good.. the ground beef in the quesadilla was not overly seasoned and they had just the right amount of cheese in the quesadilla...
anyways, you guys should check out their website for their menu: www.elgallotw.com

joanh said...

jake: depends on what you are looking for, but the results are slim- there is La Casita, El Gallo as Stella mentioned and Eddy Burrito in Danshui (which I haven't tried yet). or texmex fajitas at Chili's.

stella: thanks for the tip! I've actually been there already- a few weeks ago and still working on my review!

Free Credit Score said...

I wonder if you all know what Amigo means? It means "pengyou" in Mandarin!

:)