A Mexican Culinary Adventure!
Mexican
cuisine is so underrated in Asia. The cuisine has such wondrous flavours that
it should really be given more limelight here. Glad to say at least there are a
good handful of Mexican places to dine in our city. Fresca Mexican Kitchen & Bar has been serving scrumptious Mexican
food that borders Tex-Mex in the city for the last five years.
Fresca has two outlets currently in Gardens
Mall and Avenue-K Mall. Siblings Meng Lim and Jan Lim fell in love with the
cuisine and the country’s passion for Viva La Vida, translated to Live Life, while
seeking their adventures in Mexico and decided to open up their own Mexican
restaurant. The cuisine is hard to replicate here due to the distinctive ingredients
such as chilies, herbs and spices but that has not deterred the siblings from
going all out and importing these ingredients for their restaurant.
Fresca has such an inviting and warming décor
filled with lots of natural wood and iron steel. The country’s flamboyant
colours are also projected here through posters, Mexican Sombreros and other display of knick knacks. The restaurant has a
gorgeous bar and plenty of windows to allow lots of natural lighting. It’s a
great place to enjoy a bold flavours of Mexican cuisine.
Not
my first visit at Fresca, I am
always pleased to be back for their delicious menu filled with small plates,
dips and chips, main courses, desserts and of course lots of giggle juices.
This round was a little different and I was here for a Mexican cooking demo by
Chef BB together with Meng.
The
owners believe in making almost everything they can from scratch. It is crucial
to them in making their food from the freshest and finest ingredients available.
They import lots of Mexican chilies such as Ancho,
Pasilla, Poblano, Guajillo, Chipotle and Jalapeno as well as corn flour.
Today’s
lesson was the makings of Corn Tortilla,
Guacamole and Tacos Ensenada.
Fresh corn tortillas are made daily using the traditional cast iron tortilla
press and cooked on hot griddle. Its not hard to make these but one needs to
find corn flour or Masa. There are white corn or yellow corn flour and Fresca
uses both depending on the dishes.
Guacamole is another favorite Mexican dish of
mine. I practically make these for all my home parties simply because it is so
addictive and tasty with tortilla chips. Chef BB makes a really tasty guacamole
using ripe avocados, chopped onions, cilantro, lime, salt and pepper in a big
mortar with pestle. The trick is not to over mash the avocados, leaving bits of
small chunks for textures. One can also easily adjust the seasonings to your
likings. I like to add chopped jalapeno for extra bite.
Fresca
serves Tacos Ensenada, California
Baja style fish tacos. Using the freshly made white corn tortilla, he piles on
golden crispy fried fish strips along with coleslaw, pico de gallo and
cilantro.
After
our cooking demo, we headed over to our tables for lunch. Baskets of golden
crispy fried Tortilla Chips are
served with house made Pico de Gallo and
Guacamole. All salsas and dips are
made fresh daily in the kitchen. These were so addictive, one order may not be
enough, especially when you’re dining with a crowd of foodies and friends.
Tacos
time! Fresca offers six choices of tacos filled with chicken, beef, fish and
shrimp. We had their Tacos Ensenada
and Tacos Alambre served with
various salsa and sauces.
The
Baja style fish tacos or Tacos Ensenada
is such an easy dish to enjoy. Even my little one enjoys this a lot. Crispy beer-battered
butterfish fillet with creamy crunchy coleslaw on soft tortilla is made even
better when one piles on pico de gallo salsa, tomatillo sauce or chipotle sauce.
The
Tacos Alambre has chopped beef
sirloin cooked with Poblano chili, spices and onions and topped with crispy
turkey bacon. Expect bold and big flavours of deliciousness from these tacos,
especially when you piled on that spicy Chipotle sauce.
Pollo a la Parilla came sizzling on a hot plate. The
grilled chicken is marinated with house special coffee marinade and is served
with Mexican green rice along with sautéed onions and bell peppers. The flavours
are quite unique and the coffee presence is certainly noted with hints of subtle
sweetness. My little one actually enjoyed this dish a lot too, saying its yummy
chicken with rice.
There
are lots of other dishes to try at Fresca such as Enchiladas, Fajitas, Quesadillas, Burritos, Carne Asada and more.
We
ended with a classic Mexican dessert of Churros
con Chocolat y Cajeta. It’s definitely a crowd pleaser as these long crispy
strips of Mexican donut coated in cinnamon and sugar is served with sides of
chocolate dip and goat’s milk caramel. Such a drool worthy dessert!
Make
sure you order their Agua Frescas to
quench your thirsts. There’s Tamarindo,
Hibiscus, Limon, Mango and Horchata.
These are all perfect with the Mexican dishes as they are all somewhat tangy
and fruity.
FRESCA
MEXICAN KITCHEN & BAR
Lot G242-A, Ground
Floor, The Gardens Mall,
Midvalley City
59200 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2201 2893
Website: www.fresca.com.my
Facebook: www.facebook.com/frescabar
Business Hours:
Sunday to Thursday 11am to 11pm
Friday & Saturday 11am
to 12midnight
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