Downtown Burlington has so many interesting and unique restaurants; I don’t think I’ve even been to half of them in all the years I’ve lived here. Jersey and I were out walking along the lake one night and decided to try out Adobo for some Mexican food.
On John St., Adobo is a small restaurant with a small patio and bright, inviting lights. We were greeted warmly when we arrived and ordered a carafe of sangria to cool off while we browsed the menu. Fresh fruit, plenty of ice and a generous portion of wine made it a delicious and sweet drink on a warm summer night.
The menu is by no means long, but the options are all made fresh in-house. We decided to share a couple of appetizers before dinner, so we opted for the Guacamole ($4.49) with fresh corn chips as one of our starters. The portion wasn’t big, but it tasted fresh and had large chunks of avocado and tomato in it. The creaminess of the guacamole was a perfect way to cut the saltiness of the crunchy corn chips. There were no preservatives, and the guacamole started to turn brown when we were nearing the end.
Ceviche ($7.49) is a dish of fresh fish that is “cooked” with the use of lemon juice (and in this case, lemon juice mixed with olive oil). Big cubes of fresh white fish and tomato were simply tossed in the lemon/oil mixture with a dash of cilantro. The fish itself was delicious. Extremely fresh (no “fishy” smell at all) and meaty without being tough or chewy, the flavour was phenomenal. Served with fresh chips, it too was a small portion but a neat dish to share.
After our appetizers I wasn’t overly hungry so I opted for the Tacos with shredded pork ($7.79). When they brought it to the table, it wasn’t exactly what I was expecting because it looked like a small salad served with a basket of tortilla shells. The idea is to use the shells to wrap the salad mixture into a soft taco/fajita. The shells were warm, fresh and delicious. They were corn shells, so there was a slight grittiness to the texture, but they didn’t taste like the shells you buy from the grocery store. The mixture included lettuce, cheese, pork, sour cream, salsa and diced jalapeno. The pork was tender and flavourful when eaten on its own, but I found that the taste got lost under the salsa and cheese when I ate everything together. The menu said that it came with two flour shells or three corn shells, and I found three corn shells perfect for the amount of meat/salad mixture they gave me.
Jersey wanted something different, and the owner recommended the Pork Mole ($14.99) as one of his most popular dishes. A homemade mole sauce covers a portion of pork so tender it can be shredded with your fork when it comes to the table, served with a side of rice and baked beans. The sauce was delicious. With each bite we tried we could pick out a different spice or flavour, and there was such depth to the dish it kept us wanting more. The pork was tender without being dry and soaked up the sauce beautifully. The rice was rice, and the beans had an odd taste that we didn’t quite enjoy, so we just focused on the pork and sauce.
Overall, it was a great dinner with personalised, friendly service. It was nice to sit in a place that isn’t a chain restaurant, and really enjoy our experience. The prices are reasonable, the food was fresh and tasty, and we had a really nice dinner without feeling rushed or crowded. We will definitely be coming back when we’re in the mood for Mexican. Ole!
1 comments:
i'm really glad i stumbled upon your blog as i am a recent newcomer to burlington (the downtown area, specifically). i hope to see more reviews from you on some of the other restaurants in the downtown area. thanks for your blog, keep it up!
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