Guess what! A Mexican restaurant opened very close to home! How close? Let’s say it’s just about a brisk 10 minute walk from my house.
Burritos & Tacos (called B&T for short) just opened at the Sekai Building along Ortigas Ave., right at the entrance to North Greenhills. It’s a short walk from Xavier School and ICA.
Thanks to a blogger friend, Karen, I was able to attend their grand launch.
The restaurant is pretty spacious — quite unlike my experience at another Mexican place in our area which is a pretty tight squeeze, with overflowing customers having to eat al fresco. The interiors were designed with Mexico’s flag colors as inspiration. Modern orange chairs against black tables provided an eye candy contrast and the orange and green walls added to the aesthetic beauty of the place.
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| View from the outside |
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| Front view |
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| Indoor view |
The ordering process was similar to the other Mexican place as well (the owner’s little sister who was talking to us sort of gave a hint that her brother had previously come from there. I did not bother to ask details though). Huge blackboards above walked you through Steps One through Five.
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Step One: Choose your meal
Step Two: Choose your meat |
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Step Three: Choose your sides
Step Four: Choose your drink |
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| Step Five: Choose your dessert |
Now on to the food….
The first thing we were served was Horchata, a rice drink that was pleasantly chilled and was a good complement to the spicy, garlicky food that would follow.
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| Horchata (P50) |
First food item that came to us was the quesadilla with 3 types of dips: salsa, hot sauce and sour cream. This became one of my favorites that day since I really love tortillas and anything wrapped in it.
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| Quesadilla (P290 to P350) |
Next, we tried their soft tacos, accompanied also by salsa, hot sauce and sour cream.
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| Soft Tacos (P290 to P350) |
The 9-Layer Dip Nachos were the most colorful of the entire lot served us, with nachos in neon green, yellow and magenta just like the Mexican flag colors. The dip, which comes in a round plastic container, has (as its name suggests) 9 layers: cheese, 2 kinds of beans, corn, tomatoes, cilantro, sour cream, pico de gallo and guacamole.
If I were a kid, this one would catch my eye as it explodes in all these 3 fascinating colors. As a Mom though, I wonder how much food coloring went into this production.
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| 9-Layer Dip Nachos (P220) |
The Mexican Burger with Potato Fries was brought next and at this point in time, my stomach was saying “FULL”. So much as I wanted to dig into it, we had to ask that it be wrapped.
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| Mexican Burger with Potato Fries (P310) |
I took home the Barbacoa and had it for lunch and dinner the next day. Despite the reheating, the Barbacoa still retained its texture and I could still taste the corn, beans, salsa, guacamole, cheese and other spices mixed in with the white rice. I think B&T can also experiment with brown rice, which I have began eating at home, to see if it will go well with their Barbacoa. It’s more healthy.
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| Barbacoa (P320) |
In terms of comfort, space and ambience, I now prefer B&T over the other Mexican restaurant. The other one is actually farther from us than B&T which I can even walk to if I wanted that exercise to whet my appetite before eating. But aside from just the ambience, I find that the quality of the food at B&T is not far from the more popular “other one” and the prices are actually lower. For me, that’s value for money.
I’m heading to B&T again with my kids in the near future.
B&T (Burritos & Tacos) Mexican Kitchen can be found at the ground floor of Sekai Bldg, Ortigas Ave. (near entrance to North Greenhills), San Juan City, Metro Manila, Philippines.
