Walking into Agave Grill is like strolling into a little Mexican cantina with its dark wood, brightly coloured walls and candles.
 
With seating for just 28, it is small and intimate and serves some of the best Mexican food on Island.
 
On a recent visit there for dinner, Chef Ervin Horvath prepared chicken taquitos for me and my dining companion. These look like Mexican spring rolls or mini tacos, and were served with two sauces and a side of sour cream and salsa. They were meaty and non-greasy and were the ideal way to start off the meal.
 
He also served us some sipping tequila to kick off our dinner. If you think tequila is meant to be downed in one quick gulp, accompanied by a lick of salt and a suck of lemon, think again. The Don Julio 1942 Ervin poured us had none of the burning sensation usually associated with tequila; it was smooth and warm and was reminiscent of caramel and vanilla. It is one of the many tequilas served at Agave.
 
Ervin occasionally runs tequila ‘flights’ where a course of different brands and ages of tequilas are served.
 
For our next course, we had wahoo cerviche which was piquant and tasty, with large chunks of the white meaty fish and avocado.
 
After that came the Chili Rellano – a jalapeño pepper stuffed with three types of cheese. This is fried briefly and then baked. It can also be served in a burrito. The tangy hint of heat from the pepper perfectly offset the cheese filling.
 
Ervin placed a bottle of Agave hot sauce on our table and advised us to give it a try. He plans to start selling bottles of the sauce, which have proven popular with his regular clientele.
 
Unlike many other Mexican hot sauces, it has a slow build, fooling the mouth into thinking it’s not hot at all initially, but take another bite of food and you feel the heat slowly grow. It never overpowers the flavour of the food, however.
 
We used the sauce to accompany our next dish – shrimp quesadillas. A crisp tortilla shell surrounded the plump juicy shrimp that popped when we bit into them. The shrimp is sautéed in olive oil, with garlic and black pepper and a splash of lime and then flambéed with tequila. It definitely got the thumbs up.
 
As Mexican food can sometimes be quite heavy, for the more health-conscious diner, the restaurant is launching a ‘vida sana’ or healthy life menu with lighter choices.
 
We thought about ordering the fried ice-cream for dessert but were too full, so opted instead for an after-dinner drink of Cafe Patron Cream, a blend of Cafe Patron tequila liquor and cream – a dreamy way to finish an exceptional meal.     WH