We review Mazorca, the Latin American restaurant in Kingston

Mazorca is a Latin American restaurant in Kingston serving up pupusas and paellas.

Bryan Martin

March 10, 2015

One half of the restaurant industry is all about investment, identity, the celebrity of it all and then more investment. Then there's the other half, the ones that sort of grow organically, sort of just happen: someone's mother is a great cook so they take her to the market, learn the business on the trot and from there anything seems possible.

You get that feeling, that this is that first stage, at Latin-American Mazorca in Kingston. It's been going only a few months, there's references to "Mum's" recipes and a certain, almost charming rawness to it all.

The owners have taken over a space that makes you feel like you are on the set of an old Clint Eastwood spaghetti western. There's a village theme and the kitchen and bar look like the saloon and the blacksmith shop. There's a blood-red pizza oven sticking out as a target for any bulls that may happen to roam through.

Ceviche in a martini glass.Melissa Adams

On the back wall is a mural of happy villagers picking corn. Large, heavy wooden tables are flanked by wine barrels that have been transformed into high tables. Maybe it's more like Disney's Frontierland. It smells good, of woodsmoke and corn husks.

The menu is filled with tapas, tamales and the popular pupusas, which are available only on Wednesdays and Thursdays. There's a pizza selection, too; when you have the oven then why not? Personally I'd rather have a crack at the pupusas the place is known for, but tonight is not my night.

A very citrussy ceviche ($15) in a martini glass starts things off. The marinated fish is full of coriander and lime with gingery notes. The fish is pleasant but a little too acidic, the homemade tortilla chips are great.

Sautéed mushrooms are another starter, served with garlic, chilli and parsley. It's intensely mushroomy and a bit much; it needs to be cut with something to tame the intensity.

The wine list is laced with a good range of South American and Spanish tipples: Altozano verdejo and Martin Codax albarino ($7.50 and $9.50 a glass respectively) are both pleasant, interesting and in tune with the food.

You know when you set your heart on a dish? At Mazorca for me that was churrasco. My every cell was gunning for a South American chargrilled steak. You can imagine the disappointment when, well after I had ordered, it was broken to me that they didn't have it. The heartbreak would have been lessened had the staff broken the news earlier.

The mural on the wall at MazorcaMelissa Adams

A pressed pork belly with red wine and orange sauce ($28) is the replacement, and it doesn't have that falling-apart, unctuous texture you want in belly. It is pleasant for sure - it's almost impossible to ruin pork belly - but the sauce is acidic and pretty hard on the palate. A seafood paella ($30) is much better, cooked to that lovely crispness underneath with a rich, tomatoey, saffron-laced sauce binding the bomba rice together fetchingly.

There's still a way to go here but there is an honesty to the food. They just need to keep the original idea going, show us real regional Latin American food. The service has still a way to go. It's quaint and all but you only get a short time to work it out in this cut-throat industry.