El Inka

I will be honest, if it wasn't a friend who drove me and the coupon we came across on tastygo, I would have never set foot at El Inka.  It is not a place that I can go by public transport.  The restaurant was really a normal restaurant - nothing fancy.  It is probably run by a small family too.  The menu was just print outs. Ouch!  None of us who was there is familiar with Mexican food so we were relying on the pictures on the menu to decide what to order.

While we were waiting for our food, we saw other diners had different types of drinks.  Drinks that we have not seen before so we were curious and asked the little waitress to surprise us.  She brought us three different drinks: Sangria, Mexican apple soda and Colombian.  The tastes were exotic except I felt that the apple soda tasted like bubble gum to me.

   

The appetizer - Yuquitas - caught my eye because the menu said, "If you have never had this before, try it and you will be hooked for life."  Big words! But so true.  The outer layer of the cassava slices were extremely crispy but the inner bits were soft.  I like it a lot and it tasted better than french fries! It was served with a spicy sauce on the side, even though the little girl warned us that the sauce is very spicy, I can still eat dip the cassava slices into the sauce so I doubt it is too spicy for spice lovers. 

I am not very sure what dish is this but we think it is called Bandeja Paisa.  It is sort of a combo meal in our opinion with an egg, some black beans, deep fried pork belly, deep fried banana, sausage, taco and avocado.  Too much deep fried goodness.  I love the crispiness of the deep fried pork belly.  I actually finished the fat part of it without complaining.   

I wasn't sure why we ordered this unfamiliar dish.  I still cannot remember the name of the dish :(  As shown in the picture, it comes with rice and beans and deep fried fish.  The bean has a different sauce and I like it much better than the previous beans because it is more flavourful.  However, what blows me away is the fish.  Despite the crispiness on the outside, the meat inside was soft and completely cooked.  I do not sense a single bit of overcooked at all.  As I said to my friends, "This is the second fish that pass."  I love it! 

After we ordered the other two entrees, we figured we need to buy another entree that is more familiar to us and hence, the chicken taco.  The chicken was very nicely done.  The onion and parsley make me felt like the dish was pretty well balanced in terms of dietary concern.  I get my protein and my veggie! I couldn't tell what sauce that came with it but I love the combination. My friend said it is the biggest taco she has ever had and it's pretty true.   Thumbs up again!