It has been a long time since I enjoyed every single dish in a Singapore restaurant but at stalwart and long-time Mexican establishment, Cafe Iguana, every dish was unforgettable. Café Iguana has been around forever! Maybe because its an “old” place that deterred me from visiting. I had pegged it as a just drinking hole specializing in sweet frozen Margaritas. How wrong I have been! Armed with five girlfriends, we cleanly polished off five dishes (including four corn sticks). In every dish, there were varying flavours and textural components that were on-point. Incredible. I want so badly to return to Cafe Iguana and relish the Chimichanga and Nachos again.
I zeroed in on the Shredded Beef Chimichanga (top left in picture below) when our spread arrived and never left its side for the rest of the night.
Iguana’s deep-fried burrito was served exactly as the description on the Tex-Mex dish’s Wikipedia page: deep fried flour tortilla filled with vegetables, onions, cheese, sour cream, guacamole, and served with Mexican rice. The golden crispy flour tortilla was deep-fried to perfection and displayed resilience against any sogginess. That was some finely executed burrito. The shredded beef was tender and every bite of was full of flavour! And the generous sour cream and guac cut the oiliness of the burrito. So good. I want to return just for this.
The deconstructed tacos or Grilled Prawns Fajitas (right in the above picture) was a sizzling platter with prawns on skewer served with flour tortillas, sautéed onions, pico de gallo and peppers, sour cream, and guacamole. None of us touched the soft flour tortillas to minimize the carbohydrates but you bet we polished off the sour cream and guac.
Another remarkable dish was the Nachos ($20 for the smaller portion below). Supremely crispy tortilla chips layered with lettuce, black beans, rice, roasted jalapeños, sour cream, guacamole and melted cheese. We requested for additional salsa which heightened the overall sensory feeling of the dish. I love a nachos when the carb ain’t tortilla chips. So good.
We were all over the huge Cream Corn that was grilled to perfection and flavoured with mayo, bonito and radish flakes. Man oh man, did us girls lap this up like no tomorrow!!!! We would easily have one for ourselves if not for the waist-watching.
To amp up our protein intake, we too got the 1/2 Chicken ($28). A lime-marinated half chicken finished with a smokey and spicy tequila glaze. The juicy, well-coated with a sweet sticky glaze bird was served with poblano-scalloped potatoes and grilled vegetables. Those were some delicious scalloped potatoes packed with more veg.!
And of course, we can’t go to Café Iguana without their classic frozen Margaritas. Guava and Lime were the choices of our evening. But a bigger reason I will return to Cafe Iguana is the amazing service!!!! Every single waiter was warm and attentive. All our orders, when ordered at different points, were efficiently sent to the kitchen, water topped up generously. There was a notable casual and genuine vibe to them. To not acknowledge them would be most unkind. Let the planning to return to Café Iguana begin…
Miss YYC 