Mexican Food Worthy of the Name 'Food'

You can get outsplending Thai, French, Indian, Japanese, Turkish, and Italian cuisine in Germany, but every Mexican restaurant I've been to here has been deeply regrettable. An odd cultural gap. I would say it stemmed from Germans' pathological aversion to anything spicier than a Weisswurst spicy food, as witnessed by the fact that you can buy 'mild' yogurt here. As opposed to the five-alarm, anus-melting kind so beloved of the Tadjiks.

But that would be unfair. Probably a better explanation is Germany's lack of Mexican expats. 

Fortunately, things appear to be changing -- at least in Berlin (h/t CJW):

Berlin has never offered much in the way of authentic Mexican food. Indeed, as of a couple of years ago, Viva Mexico (Chausseestrasse 36; no phone), a cozy hole in the wall in Mitte, may have held the distinction of being the city’s only Mexican restaurant actually run by a Mexican cook. But things are changing: In the past nine months, no fewer than five authentic Mexican restaurants serving quality fare have opened in Berlin. “There’s a boom,” said Daniel Tamayo Astie, the Mexican Embassy’s cultural attaché, “both in Mexican restaurants in Berlin, and Mexican gastronomy in Germany.”

Comments

[James Rytting]

There's a boom in Mexican food alright, wherever it's eaten. Take it from a connoisseur.

[Ligia]

I have an german friend, married with a mexican. Both know and experienced a lot about both cultures and the german husband could guarantee me that you cannot find a single decent Mexican Restaurant in Germany. Since he´s an executive that travels a lot abroad, he could confirm that the only real and tasty mexican food that he has ever found outside Mexico was in the U.S... maybe even his wife gave up cooking mexican at home in Bavaria... ;-)

[Hepkat]

Funny that you just wrote about Mexican food, I was saying the same thing last night! Me and some friends went to a Mexican restaurant last night, pretty decent (they make a killer Long Island Iced Tea!), just that except for Spanish names, the food had absolutely nothing to do with Mexico. My chicken burrito turned out to be soft tortilla stuffed with a mixture of a ground meat and emmentaler cheese, with feta cheese and sour cream baked over the burrito. The whole contraption had to be eaten with a knife and fork and there was no lettuce, no tomato, no beans, no rice at all in the burrito. And for all this, I was afforded the great privilege of parting with 15 hard earned Euros.

My Austrian friends thought this was the best Mexican food they've ever had (truth be told, it was the ONLY Mexican food they've ever had) and I felt so embarrassed (the Mexican restaurant was my bright idea) that I invited them over next week for more authentic tasting burritos. Now, where the hell do they sell bean paste in Vienna?

[MM]

Not common in London either!
http://helengraves.co.uk/2010/05/buen-provecho-seriously-good-mexican-street-food/

[Michele]

I hear you on this. Not only is the food bad, it's often a train wreck of mixed metaphors: Che Guevara, Havana Club, Cuba chic, Buena Vista Social Club, caipis, tapas, S. American steak, BBQ, sauerkraut in anything - what am I forgetting?

Maria Bonito/Maria Peligro mentioned in the article are the only decent places I've been to. Fairly small menu but a mole to die for. I had the impression the owners were mostly in it for the hot babes but that may have changed now.