Cha Cha Cha Mexican Restaurant and Bar

Cha Cha Cha Mexican Restaurant and Bar

A mission to satisfy our craving for authentic Mexican cuisine, we headed over to Cha Cha Cha Mexican Restaurant and Bar nestled within Holland V.

Complimentary Nachos and Salsa

Our meal began with a serving of Cha Cha Cha’s Nachos and Salsa. The nachos were mediocre, nothing different from those off the shelf nachos chips. The salsa sauce was slightly watery, with tiny bits of tomatoes, and had a slight spicy after taste.

Burritos de Champignons y Queso

Burritos de Champignons y Queso ($16) – Fresh mushrooms stuff this innovative burrito, topped with melted cheese and served with refried beans, Mexican rice, sour cream and guacamole. The server recommended the Burritos de Champignons y Queso upon our request for a cheesy dish. There was a decent serving of cheese, but it remained far from our expectations. In terms of flavour, this dish was slightly one-dimensional. The sauteed mushrooms did shine in the background with its earthly taste and aroma but the stronger saltiness came from the melted cheese. The refried beans were too mushy and resembled more of a bean paste. We would prefer the beans to be a bit more chunky, giving more bite and chew. The Mexican rice was a slight disappointment as they tasted just like the rice in Nasi Briyani, which wasn’t all that expected from Mexican rice. We did enjoy the rich creamy guacamole.

Enchiladas de Pollo

Enchiladas de Pollo ($14) – Seasoned shredded chicken rolled in corn tortillas, topped with melted cheese and spicy enchiladas sauce. Once again, our hopes of the cheesiness level fell short. Nevertheless, in terms of flavours, the Enchiladas de Pollo was more colourful and multi dimensional. The sour and spicy enchiladas sauce, coupled with the saltiness from the cheese, tied the entire dish together. What was disappointing in this dish was the shredded chicken. Though Cha Cha Cha was generous with the amount of chicken stuffed in the Enchiladas de Pollo, the shredded chicken was tough, dry and bland. It was hardly seasoned at all. We could imagine that chunks of chicken meat were being used to create a chicken stock, and after the chicken had given all its flavour to the stock, the remains of the meat were removed from the bone, shredded and stuffed into the Enchiladas de Pollo. It would be better if the chicken fillet was first grilled, thinly sliced and finally stuffed into the Enchiladas de Pollo.

Frozen Lime Margarita

Frozen Lime Margarita ($9) – This was no doubt the most popular drink in Cha Cha Cha as we witnessed the bartender churn out glasses and glasses of frozen Margaritas. Cha Cha Cha did not stinge on the amount of tequila inside the Margarita.  The Frozen Margarita created a temporary brain freeze in our heads. It was indeed worth every $9.

Cha Cha Cha Mexican Restaurant and Bar
32 Lorong Mambong
Holland Village

Casa Latina

We haven’t been to any Mexican restaurants. The closest one we’ve been to would be Chili’s, though technically speaking, Chili’s can hardly be classified as an authentic Mexican restaurant. That makes Casa Latina our first attempt at authentic Mexican cuisine!

Pollo Divorciado (Divorced Chicken)

Corn Tortillas

Pollo Divorciado (Divorced Chicken) $28 – Chicken thigh is cooked in two types of Mole – Pipian Verde and Poblano and served with Mexican rice, beans and corn tortillas. Mole is a generic name for the sauces used in Mexican cuisine. For the Divorced Chicken, a single chicken thigh was served with the green and red mole. Pipian Verde refers to the thick green mole and is essentially made from pumpkin seeds, green tomatoes, lettuce leaves and fresh herbs. The Poblano is the brown-red sauce made from various chilies and surprisingly, dark chocolate. Both sauces are rather thick and strong in flavours. The red Poblano is the spicier of the two. Well, we couldn’t detect any chocolate taste in the Poblano though. Both sauces were pretty good and in our opinion, win Chili’s hands down.

The accompaniments include mashed beans, Mexican rice and corn tortillas. The taste of the mashed beans are similar to those beans you can find in ice kachang and chendol. The Mexican rice can be a little bit on the salty side. The corn tortillas tasted very similar to corn chips/nachos. The flavours of the corn was almost too overpowering.

Enchiladas Cheese

Enchiladas ($20) – Tortillas filled with your choice of chicken or cheese or vegetables, and seasoned with either red sauce or green sauce, and served with beans, cheese and Mexican rice. The Enchiladas came with red and green sauces as well. However, the red sauce was different from that found in the Divorced Chicken. It was noticeably less viscous and less spicy. There were bits of solid cheese and melted cheese atop the tortillas. The tortillas were similar to those accompanying the Divorced Chicken. But having been soaked in the sauce, it was akin to soggy drenched nachos. The tortillas were filled with a generous amount of cheese as well.

Casa Latina
42 Waterloo Street