THE majority of Fijians who dine out usually go for the traditional barbeque, pizza or Asian dish.
For the adventurous, however, the Mamacita Mexican Restaurant and Bar at Wyndham Resort in Nadi has a lot to offer.
Specialising in authentic Mexican cuisine, the restaurant offers patrons a taste of Spanish dishes, enriched by the generous use of spice, tacos and a variety of dips. For alcohol lovers there’s the magarita.
Boasting the country’s largest collection of magaritas, the restaurant has proven since its inception late last year that it is a crowd favourite amongst local and overseas guests.
The house speciality — the Mexican Chefs Platter — is a must try with its different dips of tomatoes, black spicy beans, guacamole and cheese infused jalapeno’s.
Jacks Restaurant general manager and executive chef Brendon Coffey said the restaurant’s unique taste brought people to their doorstep.
“One of the great things about Denarau and Mamacita is that is offers variety,” he said.
“For Mamacita we want to offer our customers a different experience from what they are usually accustomed to.
“It’s completely focused on offering Mexican dishes but we do incorporate some different dishes for those who might not be that adventurous.
“The Mexican cuisine to me is something that is very different and a personal favourite.
“It can be spicy but also light at the same time and its very different to what you might find in a place like Fiji.”
A former head chef at Sofitel Resort and Spa, Mr Coffey is an expert in different cuisines on offer in Denarau.
He said with Jacks Restaurants, establishing a brand of speciailised menus was their core focus.
“We like to cater for a whole different and very specific market,” he says.
“Obviously in Port Denarau, we have four different brands.
“We have Mamacita at Wyndham which generally focuses on Mexican.
“We have Bone Fish Seafood Restaurant where we like to highlight the local seafood delicacies. Then we have the Indigo Restaurant which focuses mainly on our Fijian curries and vegetable dishes.
“And lastly we have our very popular Hard Rock Café which offers full American restaurant experience with a Rock concert feel to it.”
Mr Coffey says for the future of Jacks Restaurants’, expansion was key.
“We want to expand and by that we mean opening new branches.
“We have plans to open a Mamacita and a Indigo restaurant at Damodar City very soon.
“These restaurants will offer the people of Suva a taste of what we have introduced in Denarau. We also want to vamp up some of the images of these restaurants. “So if it takes having a Fijian guy wearing a sombrero with a moustache and a guitar then that is what we will do just to make our Mamacita restaurant a little livelier and more attractive to all our customers.”
Mamacita caters for up to 250 guests. Each week, the restaurant offers a Fijian flavour night, an International Day with a Polynesian show, barbeque buffet every Sunday, a kids menu, pizza menu and happy hour daily from 3pm to 6pm. Mexican theme events are organised throughout the year.
