Last Friday, we had a dinner with some colleagues at Maya, a six month pop up located at Eleven Rooftop Bar. Having been to Eleven previously, I was keen to get a seat and enjoy the views again. Unfortunately for us, it was raining quite heavily and we were unable to get a seat with a view, so our main focus for the night reverted to food.
As a Mexican Restaurant, the menu was undoubtedly Mexican, with dishes sorted into snacks, smalls, larger dishes, sides and desserts. As a bar, there was an abundance of drinks as well.
Our first round of cocktails included the El Jefe and Classic Margarita. The El Jefe was a coffee infused drink which was considerably different from my usual Espresso Martini, it was sharp, smokey and tangy with its lemon wedge. Iron Fist really enjoyed his Classic Margarita too.
We ordered quite a few share plates and thought we would have too much food, but this turned out not to be the case. This was the Illegal Short Rib which was slow cooked in chipotle bbq and illegal mezcal glaze and chimichurri. Even though it was classed as a smaller dish, this was far smaller than we had expected for a share plate. The beef was very tender and flavoursome, however even for a single rib, it was surprisingly lacking in meat.
Another small we shared was the Ceviche, with its signature kingfish served with tamarind lime water, avocado, tomatillo, radish and coconut. Whilst the dish was also quite small, it had a fair amount of fish which was very fresh, doused with citrus and a light amount of spice, which we enjoyed. I did enjoy the additionn of avocado which is often not found served with ceviche, but added an element of creaminess to the dish.
Some starter dips we ordered came after, we had the Guacamole and Cauliflower Queso, both were very delicious and served with corn chips as well as dried banana chips. I found the Banana to be surprisingly tasty and not sweet at all. The guacamole was creamy and tangy wen coupled with salsa as expected but the cauliflower was definitely a highlight, served warm, it was wholesome and delicious.
Prior to our large dishes, we had a second round of drinks including the Margarita De Mezcal and Watermelon Margarita. These were fresh and my watermelon was very sweet and fruity.
At the recommendation of our friendly waitress, we had two large dishes to share between the three of us. The first to arrive was the Spiced Chicken, with achiote rub, roasted baby peppers, sesame pipian and warm tortillas. As a large dish, it comprised of barely a quarter of a chicken and three tortillas, which was a little disappointing given it was classed as a large. I did enjoy the chicken which was very moist and tender. It was spicy almost reminiscent of butter chicken and the Tortillas were warm and thick, but sadly there was only one piece per person.
Our final large was the Pork Belly, this was twice cooked and served with spiced arbol corn puree, pickled radish, apple and fennel. Again, four pieces of pork belly hardly warrant a large dish. The twice cooked pork belly did not have much by way of crispy skin at all albeit the meat was quite well seasoned. As for texture, parts were moisty and fatty whilst the meat portions were quite dry. Given how much we had spent on this dinner, it was disappointing that I had to pick up more food on the way home so as to not be hungry later that night.
Value: 4/10
Service: 7/10
Environment: 7/10
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