Mexican Food in Berlin

A friend mentioned tortilla chips and salsa to me yesterday. This set off a major Mexican food craving. So I set out to see what Berlin had to offer. I had been mildly wary. I mean, I wouldn't eat Mexican food in Massachusetts, but I was going to eat it in Berlin?? But hey, I'm going to be here for a year, I thought I might as well see what Berlin has to offer.

I had passed multiple Mexican establishments in my general area (alright, two)- so I decided to try one. They had a nice lunch time special- some of their entrees were half off. Including enchiladas! This was looking alright. I thought, why not go for it? I even had a margarita with lunch, only 3€! Things were looking up.

I was eagerly anticipating my margarita. And it came. It was white. I have never seen a white margarita before. Did they forget the Rose's Lime Juice? I checked back to the menu, it seems their margaritas are made with white tequila, as opposed to our more common gold tequila. And as far as margarita mix goes, it seems some kind of "sour" additive was added, but it just wasn't the same. It was also very strong. And not green. Kind of disappointing.

But to the food! I ordered chicken enchiladas. They came with rice, a salad, and a bit of guacamole on a leaf of red cabbage. Interesting. The enchiladas were not drenched in sauce, kind of a disappointment, and seemed to have been baked- the cheese on them had that appearance. It wasn't that bad, the meat had been marinated. There were no beans. They were missed. The food didn't make me want to cry, unlike a chile relleno I once had in Coeur d'Alene (oh, how could they ever call THAT a chile relleno!!). There wasn't any salsa- but had I been motivated to spend an extra 3€, I could have procured some. My experience with salsa in Germany, and spicy food in general, has however not been inspiring. I bought some salsa at a grocery store, labeled hot- it was somewhere between mild and medium. I asked for spicy sauce on my Döner, it was no where near. I have found Sriracha- and it is amazing. However, I don't think I can carry Sriracha around with me everywhere.

Lunch was okay. Not inspiring. When I came home I did some research, and discovered a Latino grocery store. I plan to travel there this weekend and see if I can procure tortillas! Then maybe I can do some home Mexican cooking to satisfy. A funny side note- Germans pronounce the ll's in tortilla like l's, it seems they missed the part where ll's are y's in Spanish. Or maybe they got their cues from Napoleon Dynamite.