Casa Mexicana

The fourth Mexican restaurant to open in the Britain, Casa Mexicana has been going since 1986. Recently refurbished and with a full bar license, the restaurant has recently undergone something of a transformation and is now generally considered to be one of Bristol's foremost affordable fine dining venues.

Well researched menus, avoiding too much emphasis on the Tex Mex has meant the restaurant has been featured twice in The Sunday Times and rated by The Guardian amongst the top 5 Mexican restaurants in the UK.

The owners, Kevin and Lesley Duff, use their frequent trips to the Yucatan in Southern Mexico to build inspired menus that take advantage of the finest fresh ingredients such as diver caught scallops, corn fed chicken and fresh organic herbs and vegetables whenever possible. All of this is infused into a sublime meal experience by their Head Chef Dave Lawrence and his team, and co-coordinated by restaurant manager Grant Boughton (the near legendary cocktail master - who else?) and his enthusiastic waiting staff.

From amongst the diverse dishes on offer there are tapas ranging from king crevettes with smoked chilli butter and soft tortillas, seared fresh scallops with lime and coriander butter, to lightly crumbed calamari with habanero and horseradish crema. Ensaladas field griddled chicken, mixed leaves, anchovies and croutons, an exciting blend of flavours.

Entradas offer spiced prawns, tomato and fresh lime mayonnaise in a soft tortilla wrap. Main courses of fajitas, for two people (or more) come to table on a sizzling platter with guacamole, refried beans, salsa, sour cream, pickled chillies and warm soft flour, chosen from sliced marinated chicken or strips of griddled steak, a vegetarian version, or sweet chilli prawns. The Ultimate Fajita consists of a combination of all varieties.

Special platters pose further exciting and distracting choices with char grilled chicken breast and wild mushrooms with coriander cream sauce, Mexico's answer to the common burger as in flour tortilla stuffed with either shredded beef, chicken or vegetarian filling topped with salsa sour cream and cheese, and King prawns in a light sauce of sweet red peppers, almonds and coconut milk. For extra zip be sure to order some rajas, griddled peppers and onion, cream and cheese with your main dish.

It always seems to me that what the Mexicans call postres, or puddings, are a bit of an anti-climax after all that fire - all I long to do is to reach for more tequila, but it is my duty to tell you that amongst the best is capirotada, a sort of toasted buttery bread with apples, almonds and bananas infused in a spiced muscovada syrup. Let me assure you if you are suffering from secondary scorching, next to tequila this is the stuff to put you right.

They also have a full bar license so whether you just want to drop in for a glass of wine from a largely Hispanic list, a frosty margarita or sit down for a full on Mexican fiesta, they can offer you the best. Experience tells in this long established Mexican hot spot.

More details including full menu are on their Website.