A Taste of Mexico at Cafe Iguana

Café Iguana, located at Riverside Point on the banks of the Singapore River, is a quaint restaurant/bar serving authentic Mexican cuisine. Though it has been serving its tasty Mexican fare in Singapore since 2000, I have not had the pleasure of dining there until recently. I guess it’s because Mexican food is not on the top of Singaporean’s list as cuisine of choice when it comes to dining out.

Café Iguana’s menu is extensive, offering everything from chimichanga to burritos; margarita’s to mocktails. Being part of the Brewerkz group, Café Iguana also offers a very comprehensive range of draft beer – some of which are specially created for Café Iguana.

We kicked dinner off with a serve of Chile Con Queso ($14). It was a hearty ground beef chilli served with corn chips. The corn chips were the perfect vessel for scooping up the smokey and mildly spicy beef chilli – tasty and a great way to kick off our Mexican food adventure.

Next up was the Puerco en Chile Verde – spicy pork stew over rice with flour tortillas and sour cream, guacamole and a tangy tomato salsa dip. All three sauces complimented the pork stew but my favourite was the sour cream dip which balanced out the slightly sweet spiciness of the stew very well.

Puerco en Chile Verde

The Mulato Rib-eye (S44) is chargrilled beef rib-eye specially flown in from Australia. Served with the barbeque-flavoured mulato sauce, the beef was a little overdone for my taste, which resulted in it being slightly dry and chewy.

Mulato Rib-eye

The Red Snapper Enchilada ($25) and the Prawn Brochette ($35) were definitely the highlight of our dinner. The fish was perfectly cooked – moist and flaky – while the ancho chili marinade and the tomatillo sauce with melted cheese combined with the fish to give a slightly spicy and savoury taste on the palate.

Red Snapper Enchilada

The Prawn Brochette was marinated with a lime and spicy tequila glaze and chargrilled to succulent perfection. Grilled prawns usually turn out dry and almost flavourless save for the slightly burnt taste, but it is a testament to the skill of the chef that the delicious marinade is not lost in the chargrilling process. The poblano-scalloped potatoes is a delicious compliment to the otherwise protein-rich dish.

Prawn Brochette

No Mexican meal is complete without a taco. So, to round off the meal and ensure that we had our serving of vegetables for the day, we had a Mixed Vegetable Taco ($21) served with a lime cream and a mix of spicy and Jicama salsa. The tacos had a nice crunch and the vegetables were fresh and crispy.

Mixed Vegetable Taco

We were served a pint of beer specially crafted to commemorate SG50. The beer was brewed with mandarins. The slight citrusy hint in the beer helped to counter-balance the somewhat ‘heavier’ flavours of the food.

The authentic Mexican cuisine served by Café Iguana has certainly hit the mark and with an extensive drinks and food menu, there is surely something to suit every taste. Be it for after-work drinks or dinner, the hearty and appetising fare served by Café Iguana, complimented by their wide variety of beverages will have you coming back for more. Arriba!