Guzman Y Gomez, Melbourne CBD by Bureaucrat

The launch of the Swanston Street outpost of Guzman Y Gomez sort of passed me by.  I did see the very long queue of diners hoping to get a free burrito and I also heard that they even had a mariachi band.  However, it took a few weeks before I made it in there to try the food.

The glow from its bright yellow sign beckoned to me.  I’m always keen to try out any new Mexican place (provided they’re not too pricey.... after all, it is street food, which some Melbourne Mexican eateries seem to forget).  The only thing that stopped me from trying it sooner was because it’s been so stinking hot and when it gets stinking hot, I prefer to stay in my climate controlled office.

However, as it wasn’t too stinking hot, one day après work, the Lawyer and I ventured out onto Swanston Street and into GYG.  I’m loving the yellow and black colour of the place it feels so vibrant. 

After perusing the menu, I went for the salad bowl with barramundi.  I really liked this dish.  A nice amount of rice (which was a tad soggy) lots of salsa, black beans, barra and a nice sprinkling of cheese on top.  The salsa was fresh.  The barra was nicely seasoned and a fair amount of it.  I loved especially that they also included the delightful crusty/crunchy bits from the barra being pan fried into the salad bowl.  I also really liked the cheese, which apparently was humble cheddar.  This cheddar wasn’t like anything that I had tasted before.  This was salty, savoury and a bit sharp in flavour which went well with the dish.  Loved it all.

The Lawyer was equally enthused about his salad bowl with beef guerrero (the mild, slow cooked beef).  The beef was melt in your mouth and had a yummy, beefy flavour from all the slow cooking.

Verdict

Food – 7.5

Ambience – 7.5

Service – 7

Price – 8

Overall

We love GYG.  Propz for the menu.  I really liked that it has fish on the menu (which its Mexican competitors of similar ilk do not have).  Not surprisingly, I’ve been back a few times now and have replaced my Mad Mex loyalty card with one from GYG. 

One time, I got the barra salad bowl again and noted that they used snapper instead (which I didn’t mind at all) and the quality was just as good.  I’ve also tried the chicken guerrero salad bowl.  That was tasty and the chicken had a very appetising smoky flavour to it.  The only downside with the chicken salad bowl was that I felt that the serve of chicken was a bit mingy...and it was served as these itty bitty square pieces of chicken... kinda like pellets.

When the day comes and I’m feeling the need to be nutritionally bad, I’ll definitely go for a quesadilla or soft shell taco...until then!

Address

Guzman Y Gozmez

289-299 Swanston St
Melbourne

Telephone: 9988 1402