Cha Cha Cha

Holland Village has seen better days. Back in JC and SMU Bukit Timah campus days, I had sought solace in its mishmash of cafes and coffee chains. I even had my first Subway encounter there- hated it on sight and smell but am a convert -heart and soul-. Unfortunately, these days the ever-ongoing renovation works and hellish parking experiences have quelched any incentive for me to visit. Furthermore, its position as Bohemian Central "place to hang" has since been ursped by the likes of Dempsey and to a lesser extent, Rochester. On account of old time's sake, some friends and I decided to head there for dinner last Friday.

Waddling past the usual suspects Crystal Jade and Sushi Tei, I was tickled by the thought of Mexican food. I'm embarrassed to say much of my Mexican food experiences have been largely restricted to Dorito Nachos and Taco Bell. Me like-ko Nacho-deo.

Yes, I deserve to be stoned but Your Honour, I plead second degree ignorance. I ALSO hope you would grant me pardon and 3 months supervised probation at a Mexican restaurant where I hopefully learn to tell the difference between fajitas, tacos and burritos



There was a lot going for the menu but it might as well have been written in Hebrew. As we were flipping through the menu, a basket of nachos and salsa appeared ala Speedy Gonzales disrupting my thoughts, distracting me from more important things in life- fajitas, chicken or beef?

Hmm, shall we have (ooo nachos) quesdailas? The fajitas (mmm finely chopped salsa) sound good too... Waiter, we'll have the (dang no more chips) chili con carne, quesadilas (could we ask for more chips) and fajitas (well, maybe not), chicken please?



My first experience with chili con carne ("chili" for short) was in Copenhagen, prepared by a German who read the recipe as Chili CORN Carne and added well, corn kernels. Not complaining, loved her for her efforts. Here at Cha Cha Cha, their chili was essentially comfort stew made with ground beef and beans, dash of melted cheese. Within the context of "first time trying", this was easily my favourite dish of the evening.



Any GourmetMexican101 professor would tell us to order quesadillas, flour tortilla with cheese, served with finely sliced lettuce, guacamole, sour cream and salsa.



I don't know how authentic the Tapa is for when I googled "Mexican Tapa", all I got was a bunch of listings for Mexican Tapas Bars. The tapa, according to Cha Cha Cha, consists of deep fried rolls stuffed with shredded chicken, served with [copy and paste] served with finely sliced lettuce, guacamole, sour cream and salsa. Though it was supposedly a hit with the regulars, I found the over-fried dry chicken shreds just passable.



Following the trail of Les Familairs, we had the chicken fajitas, served on a hot plate for that oo-hot-hot effect, served with the usual da-das. The fajitas sans green chili reminded me of American-Chinese stir fry and I meant that in the nicest possible way- like a good stir fry that you are probably too embarrassed to admit liking.



I'll be the first one to admit I no more of an expert on Mexican cuisine than say, a Mexican mule.Throughout dinner, images of supermarket lanes and bottled sauces filled my mind and while tasty, Cha Cha Cha left me with the impression that everything could easily be bought from Cold Storage. Perhaps what we ordered barely scratched the surface of what Mexican food had to offer. Secondary research reveals that Cha Cha Cha has been around for more than a decade, well they must be doing something right then.

This article is featured in Wine Dine & Unwind

I'm off to finish reading Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee. Got to admit I was attracted by the words "food", "Princeton" and "Korean dry cleaner parents". I feel like I've just chanced upon a new stereotype- Are the Chinese and their faux dim sum takeways so 1990s? Are the Koreans and their dry cleaning services are the new "immigrants made good in America" (think designer Doo Ri)? I spent my Friday evening with this page-turner ("Hermit" mode activated) though I better ration my reading for I'm already on Page 316 of this 560 page novel.

fLOGGERS dINNER tOMORROW nIGHT.
Can't Hardly Wait!