La Cantina Mexicana

This Mexican taqueria-restaurant in the Sagrada Família district trades in the mariachis and sombreros for high-quality cuisine. Mexican chef Víctor Berkelaar has been working in Barcelona for years, and joined the Nass group to create just this place where the guacamole and the aguachile alone are enough reason to stop by.

There’s a type of pub atmosphere in the soberly decorated taqueria, but what it lacks in ambient colour and warmth it makes up for in the exquisite flavours of one of the world’s most attractive and richest cuisines. Nachos, soups, Mexican appetizers, ceviches, traditional dishes and omelettes make up the menu. We put the quality ingredients and the young chef’s talent to the test with the basics: nacho chips with an excellent guacamole – perfectly seasoned and with just the right bite – along with a variety of salsas.

Aguachile is the spicy lime sauce that makes the concept of ceviche much more enticing, and La Cantina serves it with prawns marinated in quality lime, with red onions and a touch of serrano chile and cilantro.

There are plenty of enchiladas and red or green chilaquiles to go around, and of course, quesadillas. The cochinita pibil, a traditional dish with achiote-marinated pork, and chamorro (beef cooked slowly in its own juices) on a tortilla, traditional complete the traditional platter.

Other noteworthy dishes include capeados de camarón (breaded shrimp), alambres (beef or chicken tacos with peppers, bacon, onions and a special sauce) and the gringa al pastor (a quesadilla stuffed with beef). The special nachos (beef or chicken with cheese) completed our meal. As for dessert, the dulce de leche (caramel) and tres leches puddings are sublime and unique in the city, although not recommended for diabetics. Mexican beers rounded out the meal, and we saved the variety of tequilas on offer for another occasion, preferably later at night, when cocktails shine in this new old-style DF cantina.