Located in Pärnu city centre, this "modern tex-mex" restaurant offers Mexican-American dishes, seafood, and it also offers the biggest selection of tequilas in Estonia. I visited the place for an early dinner/late lunch.
I started off with a non-alcoholic cocktail, the "icy mango (jäine mango)". That's literally all it was, blitzed up ice and mango. There was a wedge of lime on the side, and drowning it at the bottom of the glass and letting it sit for a while seemed to help the flavour a lot. Not really impressed with that. It cost 2,50€.
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| Accidentally ate the ceviché before taking the picture |
For starters, I chose the perfect platter of seafood and fish (täiuslik kala ja mereandide valik). It was meant to have pike-perch ceviché (koha ceviché), salmon sashimi (lõhe sashimi), soot-salmon (tahma-lõhe), tijuana deep-fried Baltic herring (friteeritud räimed), shrimp cocktail (krevetikokteil), and a grilled scallop with guacamole mousse (grillitud kammkarp guacamolevahuga) which I couldn't find from the plate. The pieces of seafood and fish were nice individually, the taste of them shone through the seasoning and they were well- cooked. However, together they didn't make much sense. I was also sad for the fact there was no guacamole with the scallop, as it didn't have much taste to it. Overall, a good way to start off a meal and quench my initial hunger. Also, it only cost 10€.
I continued with a beef fillet burger (veisefileeburger), and before you think anything like, "how can you order a burger at a Mexican place??!!", hear me out. Or read this description from the menu: "Grilled boeuf à la tartar (pick your own cooking level) rubbed with dijon mustard. Great bread, obviously. Served with cumin-seasoned beets, honey-glazed goat cheese, guacamole mousse, tomato-basil marmalade, horseradish Caesar dressing, lettuce, pickled red onions". I was sold. When I got the plate, the visuals weren't as impressive. There was a choice of ordering fries on the side, so maybe that's why it looked this mismatched, but I decided to enjoy it nevertheless. Thinking it would be smart, I ate the top bun with half the beet, marmalade, onions, and goat cheese, and the rest of the burger as it was, with the remaining sides. The cheese had occasional hits of sweet honey and I couldn't figure out whether the whole flavour combination of the burger was the stupidest or the most brilliant thing ever, even though goat cheese, beetroot, and honey together are a classic. The beetroot didn't taste much of cumin. The bottom bun was practically soaked. The beef patty was on the edge of underseasoned and displaying authentic beef flavour. Together it all worked out miraculously. This burger came in at 9€.
Final verdict: 7 out of 10. My expectations seem to be getting higher, but there could be some improvements to an overall tasty and satisfying selection of dishes. Burger was nice, seafood okay, smoothie way below my expectations. I would love to go back to try some of their Mexican dishes.
Info at www.margarita.ee.
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