Oh Mexican food. Why why why are you so bloody expensive in Korea? Growing up in San Diego I was fortunate to be able to gorge on authentic and reasonably priced Mexican food any time I wanted. Sometimes I’d even drive an hour to cross the border just to get some real Mexican street tacos. In San Diego, real Mexican food was never found somewhere with clean walls and regularly cleaned bathrooms. Nooo, it was always the gritty spots that served the best stuff. But in Korea, most of the Mexican food is corporatized, sanitized, and upsold as a premium product. Damit that’s just not the Mexican way. Mexicans are the most down to Earth, comfortable, casual, and hard working people. I honestly think they’d be sad to see it so corporatized in Korea. Actually, fitting with the Mexican disposition, they probably wouldn’t give a shit.
Anyway, the search continues for great Mexican food, and while I’ll never go back to Cirilo, I’m writing about it because the food is actually damn good. And it’s an option to consider if you don’t want to feed the Vatos machine. To be very clear, the only reason I won’t be going back is because of the price. 11,000 is just too much for a burrito for this to be a regular thing.
The place looks nice on the inside and features a nice balcony on the outside. As this was a beautiful day and the weather is finally starting to cool down Mike and I took a seat outside.
After a short, 5 minute wait or so our food was ready!
Al Pastor Fries 13,500w
Al Pastor Burrito 10,500w
Carne Asada Burrito 11,000w
TOTAL: 35,000w
So everything tasted great. The fries and toppings were great and reminded me a lot of the Kimchi Fries from vatos, minus the kimchi. But that’s okay, frankly I don’t even like the kimchi with those fries. But, as has been my gripe, the plate is extremely small for 13,500w. I’d pay 7,000w for it.
I had the Al Pastor Burrito and Mike had the Carne Asada. We both found the flavors to be balanced, the meat to be juicy, and the portion size to be good. After the meal and despite the fries being really small, we were both full and satisfied. Also I really like the hot sauce. Mike is convinced it’s tomatillo or tomatillo based but I wasn’t as sure. Anyway, it’s good stuff though and I ate more than I should have. I’m sure I’ll regret it later tonight.
Full and happy!
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서울시 용산구 동빙고동 10-8
02.793.3358
11:00-23:00
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Great recs on the blog, and amazing pictures! I checked out Hanchu fried chicken at Garosu-gil while in Seoul last week, and it was pretty good :) Keep the reviews coming!
Hey nice dude you went back!
I agree with most of what you said, though I still thought the burrito was a little small compared to other places and of course California. I much prefer Taco Amigos (Do I assume you have been there?).
I googled the exchange rate and 10 dollars doesn’t seem like too much to pay for a great tasting Mexican burrito made by a LA chef in South Korea. In London, I would pay twice that amount for a shitty burrito.