The cantina serving unbeatable value for money Mexican

Inside the cosy restaurant serving a multi-course Mexican feast for just $44 per person.

As a restaurant reviewer, deciding what dishes to order can be as stressful as taking a learner driver on the road for the first time in peak hour traffic in the centre of the city.

There’s the issue of determining which dishes best represent the venue and ensuring you have a cross-section of the menu so you can measure strengths and weaknesses; picking plates that showcase the true creativity of the kitchen, and making sure whatever you do choose, your dining partner will actually want to eat so you’re not faced with an entire plate of pickled herring in a smoked yoghurt cream alone.

So when I spy the “Feed me” set menu at Clay Cantina at Coolangatta, on the southern Gold Coast, for just $44 a person, I’m instantly enticed.

The dining room and open kitchen inside Clay Cantina, Coolangatta. Picture: Nigel Hallett

There are two set menus in fact (another larger version for $58pp), at this tiny, authentic Mexican restaurant hidden down a dark alleyway that you could easily blink and miss.

It’s the work of Kristal Smith, who spent years living in Mexico, learning traditional recipes passed down through generations before returning home to Australia to open the terracotta-tiled cantina last year.

Just like you would find in a backstreet in perhaps Mexico City, the venue is humble but enchanting.

The laneway outside Clay Cantina, Coolangatta. Picture: Nigel Hallett

Almost all seats are crammed up against the walls in the narrow, green-painted laneway off the main street, while the inside boasts the large, red-tiled, open kitchen, a round wooden table that seems to be where dishes are finished with sauces and salsas and a handful of dining tables. It’s an odd fit-out, but it kind of adds to the authenticity of it all.

What truly sells the experience, though, is the staff, with Smith on the floor alongside a waitress who exudes old-school hospitality and happily takes charge when we say we want the “feed me” menu, working in our preferences.

Almost just as quickly as she leaves with our order, the food arrives, with the esquites kicking things off.

Lamb tacos at Clay Cantina, Coolangatta. Picture: Nigel Hallett

The street-style dish of corn cooked in a broth before being stripped from its cob, then showered in crumbled queso fresco, is one of the best examples of this I have had Down Under, with the semi-sour cheese playing against the sweet corn and sharp lime juice dressing.

It’s the ideal snack to munch on alongside one of the venue’s signature margaritas, rimmed with a chilli and salt blend, from a super tight drinks list featuring just five cocktails, a handful of beers, some specially crafted agave spirits and various non-alcoholic options, including a house-made horchata (rice and cinnamon drink) that my dining companion develops an arguably unhealthy obsession with.

There is also a clutch of mostly low-fi wines written on a chalk board at the doorway.

Flautas at Clay Cantina, Coolangatta. Picture: Nigel Hallett

Next up are the flautus, also known as taquitos. These cigarette-shaped rolls of crispy corn tortillas are stuffed with potato and Mexican chorizo before a garnishing of crema, queso fresco and a tomato and onion salsa – it’s worth getting your hands and wrists messy.

Keeping the good times and tastes going are the sopes – similar to tostadas, with our version featuring chicken in chipotle, crowned with chorizo, black beans, crema, lettuce and pico de gallo.

The lamb tacos echo that freshness thanks to a garden of coriander and a dice of onion atop uber tender, slow-cooked lamb. A duo of enchiladas finish us off, the soft tortilla-wrapped tunnels loaded with chicken and engulfed in a bitey yet balanced tomatillo verde sauce that will leave you scraping the bowl.

For $44 each, this is an absolute bargain. My only regret: not ordering the tres leches cake ($12) to finish with – not only soaked in a trio of milks but also tequila.

Oh well, I guess I have another reason to return.

CLAY CANTINA

2/16 Griffith St, Coolangatta

0477 715 275

claycantina.com

Must eat

Chicken sopes

Verdict – Scores out of 5

Food 3.5

Service 4

Ambience 3

Value 5

Overall 3.5