Margarita's Dempsey Hill — Authentic Mexican Restaurant in Singapore (Food Review)
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
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| Margarita's: authentic Mexican restaurant located at Dempsey Hill |
Margarita's, tucked away along Singapore's famous insta-worthy Dempsey Hill, is a Mexican restaurant founded in 1988. Popular with both working crowd and families, Margarita's Dempsey Hill serves a mixture of authentic Mexican cuisine, desserts and of course, cocktails.
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| Waiting for our Grab |
Dempsey Hill was definitely slightly out of the way for Chelsea and me since we don't drive and we found ourselves frantically Googling "how to get to Dempsey Hill without driving". However, our worries were unfounded — you'd be surprise to know that cabbing there is actually pretty affordable with the taxi apps we have nowadays! Grab was having a $5 off promotion that day, so we got to Margarita's Dempsey Hill from Orchard CentrePoint for only $2 each. Pretty worth it, if you ask me.
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| Interior of Margarita's Dempsey Hill |
Walking in, I noticed that from furniture to decoration, every part of Margarita's Dempsey Hill was intricately decorated. The lighting at Margarita's Dempsey Hill also gave the Mexican restaurant a cosy vibe perfect for gatherings with your family or friends.
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| Paintings imported from Mexico for Margarita's Dempsey Hill |
Favian, manager of Margarita's Dempsey Hill, later shared with me that each painting is specially commissioned by Margarita's, so you'll never be able to find the exact set of paintings anywhere else in the world. With paintings imported from Mexico itself, Margarita's Dempsey Hill is as authentic as a Mexican restaurant can be in Singapore.
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| A peek at Margarita's Dempsey Hill's extensive menu. |
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| Margarita's Dempsey Hill's drinks menu |
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| Enjoying our Margarita cocktails at Margarita's Dempsey Hill |
Much to my delight, we were served Margarita De La Casa (House Margarita) and Grand Margarita upon being ushered to our seats. How can we forget the exact cocktails where the Mexican restaurant's name was derived from, am I right?
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| Margarita De La Casa (House Margarita) and Grand Margarita ($20 and $19 respectively) |
Lightly lined with salt along the glasses' rims, the frozen margaritas were a perfect blend that easily glided down our throats. It's not difficult to understand why their margaritas are so popular with patrons either — Andy Yap, owner of Margarita's, spent almost 20 years perfecting their margaritas. Talk about dedication!
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| Appetisers at Margarita's Dempsey Hill |
Our appetisers came shortly after, and I was so excited to begin!
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Bacon Rellenos (Bar Snack) ($20) at Margarita's Dempsey Hill |
Bacon! How can anything with bacon taste bad? Unsurprisingly, the Bacon Rellenos at Margarita's Dempsey Hill was pleasing to the mouth. The bacon provided a chewy texture to the otherwise boring dish and the green chile pepper makes Bacon Rellenos feel less sinful.
The Bacon Rellenos felt a little spicy for Chelsea and me so it might not be suitable for kids. Keeping in mind that I can't even take pepper without feeling the burn, it's safe to say that if you're a fan of spicy food — as most Singaporeans are — you'll probably enjoy this appetiser.
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| Nachos La Especial ($18) at Margarita's Dempsey Hill |
Raved by many netizens as a "must try", I was especially looking forward to trying Margarita's Nachos La Especial.
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| Layers of nachos chips and various ingredients of Nachos La Especial ($18) |
This hot favourite of many didn't disappoint! The chips were thin and crispy, even though we left it there for a while when we were busy chatting and taking photos. Initially I thought the cheese could get jelak after a while, as with most nachos dishes, but Margarita's Dempsey Hill does this Mexican dish justice — the ingredients mixed with cheese makes Nachos La Especial less jelak and we quickly wiped out the entire dish.
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| Quick service at Margarita's Dempsey Hill makes us smile |
One thing I have to commend Margarita's Dempsey Hill for is their service. Our dishes were served briskly and any questions we raised were swiftly answered. Even though customers were continuously streaming in the restaurant, the servers found time to patiently explain each dish to us and even joked with us, lightening the atmosphere. Good service is hard to come by and we thoroughly enjoyed our time there due to the staff of Margarita's Dempsey Hill.
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| Mains at Margarita's Dempsey Hill |
Once we finished our appetisers, Margarita's Dempsey Hill presented our mains: Fish Veracruz and Chicken Fajita.
Baked fish covered in tomato sauce, with onions, tomatoes, lemon and more garnishes, Fish Veracruz is a dish that's easy to cook but hard to perfect. Margarita's Dempsey Hill does it right — its sauce was light and baked fish tender, creating a glorious balance after the strong-tasting nachos cheese.
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| Fish Veracruz at Margarita's Dempsey Hill ($34) |
Baked fish covered in tomato sauce, with onions, tomatoes, lemon and more garnishes, Fish Veracruz is a dish that's easy to cook but hard to perfect. Margarita's Dempsey Hill does it right — its sauce was light and baked fish tender, creating a glorious balance after the strong-tasting nachos cheese.
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| Mexican rice, black beans and salad as sides of Fish Veracruz ($34) |
A side dish that came along with Fish Veracruz, piping hot Mexican rice paired with black beans and salad. As you can tell, each dish is insanely filling, so it's recommended that you indulge in the mains with a few friends to enjoy the full experience of Mexican's sharing platters culture.
Time for our second main at Margarita's Dempsey Hill!
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| Taking a break in between our mains at Margarita's Dempsey Hill |
Time for our second main at Margarita's Dempsey Hill!
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| Chicken Fajita ($32) at Margarita's Dempsey Hill |
Fajita (pronounced fa-hee-ta) is a classic Mexican dish that consists of grilled meat served on tortilla. Other than Chicken Fajita, Margarita's Dempsey Hill serve beef, mixed (chicken and beef), shrimps and vegetables fajitas as well.
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| Homemade dips for Margarita's Dempsey Hill's Chicken Fajita ($32) |
The Chicken Fajita came with five tortilla wraps and four homemade dips — guacamole, salsa, sour cream onion and cheese — to go with our wraps. Chelsea's favourite was cheese while I found myself continuously going for sour cream onion and salsa.
By this point, Chelsea and I were full to bursting and extremely satisfied but who could say no to desserts? I have to admit we were slightly disappointed to learn that we'd be served coffee-based desserts because we're both not fans of coffee. Yeah, we're that annoying customer that order non-coffee drinks at Starbucks or Coffee Bean. We went ahead with it anyway because what could go wrong?
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| Kahlua Tiramisu at Margarita's Dempsey Hill ($16) |
While Chelsea was busy taking selfies, I took a spoonful of Margarita's Kahlua Tiramisu then paused for what seemed like minutes. It was THAT amazing! I wish I was exaggerating when I say I still think about Margarita's Kahlua Tiramisu from time to time *dreamy look*
"Eh, Chelsea! Faster try this!" I exclaimed, insisting that she put down her phone to have a taste of this yummy goodness.
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| Coffee-based dessert, Kahlua Tiramisu, at Margarita's Dempsey Hill ($16) |
And her eyes lit up as soon as she tasted this delicious dessert too.
Covered with cocoa powder and flavoured with a tinge of Mexican coffee, Kahlua Tiramisu is a yummy mousse dessert that literally melts in your mouth. It was strong in flavour yet it, interestingly, appealed to non-coffee drinkers like us.
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| Kahbrita ($15) at Margarita's Dempsey Hill |
Next up: Kahbrita. By then, Margarita's Dempsey Hill had heightened my expectations but how amazing can good ol' vanilla ice cream get?
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| Coffee based ice cream dessert, Kahbrita ($15), at Margarita's Dempsey Hill |
Maybe vanilla ice cream coated with cocoa powder sounds typical but Margarita's Dempsey Hill never fail to surprise.
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| Kahlua under Kahbrita ($15) at Margarita's Dempsey Hill |
Below this underrated dessert lies Kahlua, a coffee-flavored sugar-based liqueur imported from Mexico.
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| A shot of espresso for our Kahbrita at Margarita's Dempsey Hill |
A shot of espresso to go with the Kahbrita dessert.
Being non-coffee drinkers, we were initially worried about the espresso ruining our ice cream dessert but we were given special instructions to pour the espresso in our dessert.
"The espresso will complete your the dessert so you must must must do it!"
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| Pouring the espresso for Kahbrita |
He was right. There's something about Mexican coffee that's turning me into a fan! The bitterness of the coffee was in perfect harmonised with the vanilla ice cream coated in cocoa powder that, on hindsight, would have been too sweet if taken on its own.
Needless to say, Chelsea and I, being sweet tooth, polished our dessert plates clean.
Of course, how can we leave Dempsey Hill without some photos? We propped my camera against a shop nearby (you can spot Margarita's prominent red signboard in the background) and snapped away while waiting for our Uber to arrive. Pardon our food babies, we enjoyed ourselves at Margarita's Dempsey Hill a little too much :P
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| Thank you for having us, Margarita's! |
Margarita's
Facebook | Instagram | Website
Margarita's Outlets
Dempsey Hill
11 Dempsey Road, Singapore 249673
TEL: 6471 3228
East Coast Road
404 E Coast Rd, Singapore 428998
TEL: 6440 8030
As Margarita's is a popular Mexican restaurant in Singapore that's usually packed, it's recommended that you call to make a booking before heading down to avoid any disappointment.
Tip: Download Fave app for exclusive deals at Margarita's Dempsey Hill!
