El Macho — Restaurant in Hong Kong Island

The prawn tacos (close to $90 for two medium-sized ones) were mystifyingly bad. Literally the most rubbery, mummified and horrible-tasting prawns I've had in my life. They tasted like they were cooked a fortnight ago and had since been left out in the sun. I was almost tempted to ask the chef to try it herself but then again I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy.

I asked the waitress if she could put salsa on the side instead in my tacos because my tolerance for spiciness was pretty low. She said "It's Mexican food so it's going to spicy." -- which didn't answer my question (but hey thanks for explaining to me that I'm at a Mexican restaurant.). So I asked her, again, if she could just not put salsa directly into my tacos. She answered: "I'll ask the chef to try to make it non-spicy." -- which again wasn't what I was asking about. So, is it going to be spicy or are you going to make it non-spicy? How could I ask the same yes-or-no question twice and get two contradicting and irrelevant answers? Anyway, the tacos arrived and the chef DID put salsa in them. What a twist.

The fajitas came with one tortilla that's been CUT IN TWO (?!) so we were left to try to solve the puzzle of wrapping food in a half-moon tortilla. We didn't try to complete the challenge but we imagine it'd fun if you like spilling food all over yourself. Oh and the waitress didn't know how to operate the till system, thus completing our abysmal experience...

I ordered the Full Pulled Pork Quesadilla. It was the perfect combination of crunchy tortilla with flavoursome pork, veg and cheese.

The Fish Taco was fresh, but a bit bland in my opinion. It definitely needed hot sauce to liven it up a bit.

The Breakfast Burrito (from the Weekend Brunch Menu) was a decent breakfast dish as eggs and cheese and tortilla go very well together. It had a nice comforting oozy texture and a nice bit of crunch with the vegetables. Portion size was decent so my friend couldn’t finish it.

The Chilaquiles Verdes (from the Weekend Brunch Menu) was good. It was like a hybrid between nachos and lasagna. Hearty, rich and with a bit of a kick to it.

The portions of the sour cream, guacamole and salsa were quite small but we enjoyed the selection of hot sauces available.

The Mexican Bloody Merry was delicious- spicy and fragrant with a nice kick to it. There was a lot of pepper in it so it did get quite spicy towards the end! The Michaelada was an interesting fusion of a classic spicy Bloody Mary with beer. I really loved this one.

Overall I think the ambiance of the place was nice and the price was ok for the quality of the food, but I think the drinks were definitely the main highlight.

The bill came to just under $1k for 4 mains, 3 cocktails and one beer.

Will probably return at some...

This pretty much summarizes my visit to El Macho.

I had their avocado margarita. They used fresh avocados and it was a very creamy, smooth yoghurt textured spiked beverage. But only subtly spiked. Very subtly spiked. I didn't feel any hit.

At HKD 98, umm, I think a tad bit more alcohol would've been appreciated.My server was very warm and welcoming. When my tacos arrived, I just stared at them for a good two minutes thinking in my head - why hard shell tacos? Why didn't they ask if I wanted soft ones? Should I send it back? Nope, nothing. I said nothing.

I ate a couple of bites. Asked them where my refried beans were, as noted in the description. She got me some in a bowl, apologized and mentioned that this was a newer menu and they still referred to the old menu to make the tacos. No sweat.

I was still fretting over the hard shell tacos. Crushed and crumbled them, like my hopes of getting good Mexican food here in Hong Kong (?), doused them with the spicy habanero salsa and ate them.

And turned that glass of margarita upside down to get those last sips of my less spiked cocktail in my belly.

The place was colourful and vibrant, accessorized with sombreros all around.  And some for you to take a pic in, if you fancied.

More photos and details on the website -...