Gringos Chilangos is a welcome addition to one of our favorite downtown streets, Bo Aung Kyaw, and to Yangon’s growing Mexican restaurant scene.
On the same block as that new bar Father’s Office, it also faces the colonial-era Secretariat across the street.
“Chilangos” (we had to look this up) is Spanish slang for someone from Mexico city. “Gringos” is, of course, slang for white people. So the restaurant’s translation might be rendered as “white people from Mexico City,” or “white people with people from Mexico City.” The chefs are from Mexico, so maybe that’s the best one?
Amusing name. Anyway, how’s the food?
In a word, tasty! In a few words, tasty with some room for improvement.
Let’s start with the good stuff.
Besides the location, which is perfect, the set-up inside is artfully designed and comfortable, with wooden tables and a bar seating area. Yoma beer is on tap. So far so good.
The place takes reservations, but we walked in at lunchtime and it was not crowded.
The meal started off with some sort of seafood-based hot soup served in a glass with lime. Stay away from this if you have an aversion to fishy-tasting broths.
For the main, we had a lunch set of three tacos – pork, veggie and beef – for for K6,500 (about $5).
The portions were small, but the meat was, as they say, off the chain. Would like to have ordered another set, but journalists don’t make enough money for that kind of extravagance!
Instead, we settled for the tasty gorditas carnitas, little pork-filled pancakes, a trio for K3,500 (about $3). Also small, but the flavor compensates for the portion.
The “room for improvement” referred to earlier boils down to the small dish sizes (make ‘em bigger, if possible) and the starter soup-drink, which is an acquired taste that many will not acquire.
All in all a nice place to enjoy a meal. Important final note: the owner is friendly and open to suggestions. We suspect that the Mexico City gringos have a bright future in Yangon.
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