Celebrating National Margarita Day with MEXIco

Last week I was invited along to MEXIco in Intu Derby to celebrate National Margarita Day along with Johnny Hernandez himself!

I met up with some of my blogger besties beforehand and then the select few of us were show to the blogger table where we handed Strawberry Margaritas within minutes – that’s my kinda night!

They were delicious and were not stingy on the tequila AT ALL. Of course a night full of these cocktails took it’s toll on me the next morning, hangover central!

The table was laid with tonnes of cutlery, jugs of water (came in handy later on) and some of their famous stone ground corn chips served with two salsas, the Roja and Verde.

These went down a treat as an appetiser for us lot to share, dipping in salsa as we were sipping our cocktails and mocktails.

The night was set up where meals and their accompanying tequilas, margaritas and mocktails came out together as Johnny talked through the dishes.

He spoke about where they came from, how they make them and all sorts of fun facts!

The first dishes served were corn chips topped with either beef chilli or their special Chicken Tinga with melted cheese, guacamole and jalapenos.

Being the wuss that I am, I popped the jalepenos straight off and shoved each chip in one. This allowed a mouthful of flavour with the spicy meats, the cooling guac and the gooey cheese along with the crunch of the chip – delic!

I found them both to be yummy, different but both very edible.

Once we’d all finished this course, it was time for the next which was something I had never heard of… Prawn Ceviche.

The prawns were raw but they were marinated in a lime juice concoction which sort of cooks them – weird huh?

They were sided with avocado, corn chip shards and a lime juice sauce.

I tried the avocado and a bite of the prawns but I’m really not good with seafood so I decided to give this a miss. The marinade was zingy and fresh though which I would try with chicken or something haha!

The next course was something I was looking forward to! We were also brought out a classic margarita to sample with a chilli sherbet rim – surprisingly tasty.

Although this was similar to the first dish, it was still wonderful. The tostada bases were topped with the richest flavours.

One was made up of pulled pork, pickled onion and feta which I enjoyed very much. I’m not usually a fan of feta bit it complimented this very well.

The other was Chicken Tinga with shredded lettuce and a teeny bit of sauce and feta. I shoved this all in one mouthful (not very classy I know) because I knew I’d just love it.

The Margaritas were being slurped down by this point and the tequila was getting to our heads which was not a bad thing!

The next dish was a stuffed field pepper…

So it’s a pepper cut in half and stuffed with beef chilli which was so juicy and flavourful! The pepper however was a tad too spicy after a few bites.

The tomato based sauce was perfect, I even dipped a few of the corn chips in it after I’d finished.

Next up it was time for a Chilli Margarita which I was rather apprehensive about but after a slurp, it surprised me how good it was.

This one had a Grapefruit sherbet rim which was my favourite of the lot!

Emmie and I made the mistake of asking what they use to make it taste of chilli… They poured us a shot of their five chilli tequila to try in the cutest skull shot glass.

I made a deal with the bartender that if I did the whole shot without making a face, I could keep the shot glass. IT WAS ON.

I did the shot, and it was fine… for about two seconds. Then the heat started burning my throat like no one’s business. This is where the water came in handy – I downed like three glasses.

My throat was burning for about 10 minutes.

At least it was time for something sweet then, my favourite, CHURROS!

These two fried beauties were coated in cinnamon sugar and drizzled with chocolate sauce and dulce de leche.

They were perfectly crispy and were gone within seconds. I always have these when I go to a Mexican restaurant, just because they’re such a treat.

At this point we were all full, slightly tipsy and Johnny had told us everything we could possibly know about Mexican food and culture. V interesting by the way, it’s such a different way of life!

We had thoroughly celebrated National Margarita Day with probably a bottle of tequila or two gone between us all.

They even gave us the cutest goodie bags!

I definitely cannot wait to start adding these hot sauces to my dishes in the future. Look at the little shot glass that the evil chilli tequila came in!

Thank you to the lovely team at MEXIco for looking after us bunch and providing a cute good bag and Johnny for sharing so many secrets with us about his food.

MEXIco do a lunch menu which has two courses for under a tenner, which is just ridiculous! Three courses are only £12.99 too which is such a steal. You can find them on Level 2 in the Intu Derby Food Court and in upcoming locations around the country soon.