0
It’s been a long time coming, but the slow cooking Mexican restaurant Lucha Libre has arrived as a conquistador to capture the hearts, minds and stomachs of Liverpool.
Purple Revolver visited mid-week and the place was bustling with a mix of well-heeled business types, families and young professionals.
The rustic, yet stylised decor gives the relaxed diner an extra air of authenticity with lots of detail and the soft wooden textures of the table embrace your senses, while you gear up your taste-buds.
To start, we cleansed our palates and sampled the mint and tamarind water and the full-flavoured mint mango lassi, a delicious Mexican twist on an Indian classic.
Our waitress Rosie was outstanding, with a sincere passion and sensual love of the food she delighted in serving and enlightening our party of authentic Mexican cuisine virgins.
She brought out a jiqua, a bulb-like root vegetable for us to touch, smell and feel before savouring it with hot sauce.
Its refreshing sweet and sour mouthfeel sensation and flavour was like dipping an ice-cold vanilla flavoured slice of watermelon in hot chilli.
Rosie also let us in on the secret of their music which is played via a Mexican satellite radio station, which the ‘Mexican hipsters tune into’ in Guadalajara.
We’ve sampled many guacamoles at T.G.I. Fridays and Mexican chains but look no further than Lucha Libre for the freshest and most delicious guacamole in the land. Its fresh, succulent green chunks and ripe Kermit shade left me longing for more, dreaming of a guacamole steak burger I devoured on a trip to a Carl Jnr burger chain in the States.
We felt right at home with the fresh popcorn and melted butter and sprinkled chilli on the side. Melted butter on fresh popcorn is an American staple in restaurants and cinemas, which is yet to catch on in England.
The chicken quesadilla was superb and the flour wrap super-light. I was impressed to learn that Lucha prides itself on preparing immaculate cuisine from start to finish, and you can taste and see the difference for yourself.
My partner had the Birria, a slow cooked lamb dish, served with spiced consume and fresh, warm tortillas, which fell apart was so tender it fell apart in the dish and left him craving more.
To top off the meal we opted for a traditional Spiced Mexican coffee, served in red mugs with cinnamon palm sugar and orange peel to give it zest and authenticity, balanced with dark chocolate undertones. This is a must-try (with the beans supplied by the best in the business Bold Street Coffee).
Despite eating a feast, we left without feeling bloated as you’d expect from a carb overload or from previous Mexican fajita overload experiences.
This is attributed to the fact that the kitchen use minimal amounts of oil in cooking and the flour is so light it’s a wonder it doesn’t float up from the table.
Lucha Libre director Alex Hannah explained their ethos is to use entirely healthy ingredients and the clean tastes from the kitchen entail a meticulous attention to detail.
Chef Luis Michel, who hails from Guadalajara, emerged to speak briefly with us and insisted we try dessert, a Cajeta crepe covered in a goat’s milk, sugar and cinnamon syrup, which is also another delicious, unique sweet.
The passion and knowledge of Alex and his staff is infectious and they are light years ahead in bringing Mexican cuisine to England. We will be returning to work our way through the menu again shortly. The pre-cinema Tacos from the window bar are calling us too.
Long live Lucha Libre!