Los Vida
Westfield Shopping Centre
118 Pitt St
Sydney CBD
This colourful, cheery restaurant is on level 6 right under Centrepoint Tower in Westfield. It’s not what we were expecting, but in a good way! The décor and the staff are bright and inviting and the food is quite a step up from the usual Mexican fare. The menu features small and large share plates, tacos and salads. The dishes look interesting and tempting – not your usual type of Mexican offerings.
The drinks menu is enticing with several flavours of Margaritas, Mexican beers and Australian wines on offer. Dame M loves a Margarita and the Salted Watermelon Margarita was lovely. Dame T had a traditional Sangria which was very refreshing and well balanced.
We started with the Tuna Ceviche, a fresh and delicious mix of diced raw tuna. The citrus cure, chives, avocado and clamato infused tapioca (a tomato clam broth) worked magically with the tender tuna. It was served on chipotle mayo and sprinkled with pistachio crumbs. Such wonderful flavours, this was an “eye-roller” dish. Full of flavour. Full marks!
Mackerel Pescadillas followed. Corn pastry parcels of fish and capers with ancho sauce, served with a chipotle crema. The pastry was thin and crispy and the mildly spicy dipping sauce went so well with the fishy filling. This was a tasty dish which we really enjoyed.
Our third small share plate was Chipotle Chicken Wings. The 4 huge wings were glazed with amazing cherry chipotle and sesame. This was similar to a sweet chilli, but deliciously different. You could really taste the cherry. Slightly spicy and extremely moreish, this dish was devoured and Dame T polished off the remaining glaze on the plate!
Our next two dishes were recommended by our lovely hostess Gemma as they were popular with both staff and customers. She really hit the nail on the head – they were both outstanding! Seared Tuna and Pasilla Relish (a kind of mild chilli) was served on a bed of well-chosen vegetables: roasted capsicum, onions, zucchini, fresh avocado, jalapenos, lime and coriander. Sounds good? It was! But the seared tuna was outstanding. The char-grilled fillets were perfectly undercooked in the centre with a lovely barbecued taste on the outside. The fish was tender and super fresh-tasting.
A steaming dish of Chipotle Mexican Rice arrived. This was jammed full of vegetarian ingredients and flavour. Portobello mushrooms, capsicum, pumpkin, baby spinach, cherry tomatoes, pomegranate. pepita seeds and lime! It had deep, rich flavours and was incredibly tasty.
Mexican dessert? We’ve never thought about that before, but the Chocomole and Peanut Flan was as good as it looked! A crispy choc-peanut base was topped with a flourless almond and hazelnut cake and a vanilla cream (mousse). The cake was light, the base was outstanding and the dish was gone in a flash. Somehow, there was room for this!
Overall, we wish happy days for co-owner Octavio Gomez-Haro in his endeavours because we want more of this! It interestingly brings Mexican food to a new level. We had a great experience and will certainly be back to try other menu items. There are group set menus and “all you can eat” Sunday specials which would be excellent value. Los Vida is open 7 days from 11am until 10pm.
Those Dames, who review for Sir and Mlady Dine Out, dined as guests of Los Vida. Thanks to Gemma for taking such great care of us and big thanks to Octavio for arranging this visit.