Agave Restaurante Mexicano410 Crown St
Surry Hills, Sydney
Agave has been around for a while but it's now under new management and it seems to be going from strength to strength judging by the crowds there!
Peter and Rachel have only assumed control just over a month ago and the fresh tasty food and drinks are more popular than ever.
Agave has a warm happy Mexican Cantina feel to it with bright colours everywhere and a real buzz going on.
The Mexican posters on the wall add further to your escape to Mexico!
There's a small outside area, a street level area and the larger downstairs area where they have the bar.
It's almost impossible to go to a Mexican restaurant and not have guacamole. We love the stuff so it was always going to be on our hit list. The guacamole is made with avocado, lime, onion, chilli and coriander and it's served with totopos (basically these are flat round corn chips).
The guacamole was great - nice textures and plenty of flavour!
Then of course, if your having guacamole you need something to drink with it. The list here is extensive and we wanted to try so many drinks that all sounded great! In the end Mlady chose sangria and I grabbed a mojito.The sangria was very tasty. Originating from Spain, this version was made with red wine, infused fruit and orange liquor served over ice. The mojito - made with rum, muddled limes, fresh mint and soda water - was also delicious.
Next was - surprise surprise - more food! The quesadilla de chorizo was one of several quesadillas on the menu and they all looked so good.
This one was a great combination, described as quesadillas filled with chorizo and cheese (yes please), topped with guacamole (even better) and served with salsa (I love you).
It had it all!
The jalapeno certainly added some extra bite but it was still manageable.
This was a lovely quesadilla with full flavour and punch.
My main course was the molcajetes/fajitas. You have a choice with this dish - king prawns, beef, chicken or vegetables - I chose the king prawns. They are rubbed in a blend of Mexican spices and served with guacamole, rice, feta, salsa and tortillas.The molcajetes - or stone dish (a bit like a mortar) - weighed a ton and was so full of goodies it could almost have been for two people - but I still ate it all! This was a delicious meal - so tasty, so tender, so diverse and so much of it!
Mlady fancied a beef dish so the tacos asados grabbed her straight away - even though several other appealing dishes nearly won out. This was corn tortillas with beef strips, onion, lettuce and the always lovely pico de gallo - a mix of tomato, onion and chilli.
The meat was very tender and the dish had great flavour and colours. Again it was a huge serving - they certainly don't skimp here.
We'd devoured all the guacamole from our starter and our mains so we grabbed a side serving - yes we just can't get enough! It came with two sides of its own adding even more options to our meals.
I decided at this point that I couldn't finish without having an original margarita. I'm so glad I made this not so tough decision - it was excellent.
We decided to share two desserts to cap off the night. The chocolate tart sounded good - it's always nice to have some chocolate at the end of the evening. What we got was so much more though. It arrived at the table and then a decent shot of tequila was poured over it and lit! The flambee chocolate tart certainly drew attention from tables around us. The tequila and chocolate combined so well. This was a delicious and spectacular dessert!
But surely everyone these days also thinks of churros!
So without any hesitation we chose churros as our second shared dessert.
They arrived freshly made, steaming hot and with a bowl of dipping chocolate.
These were really great churros - and we've sampled quite a few over the years.
Agave is a great place for a fun night out. The atmosphere, big tasty servings of food and traditional Mexican drinks were all great and the service was cheerful and helpful - particularly if you want some advice on what to choose!Sir and Mlady dined as guests of Agave. Special thanks to Peter and Rachel. Thanks also to Olive and Marlenne for looking after us and helping us choose from so many lovely options that are available!
