Chiquito, Belfast

After a week of feeling ill I was starting to get cabin fever. I woke up on Monday morning feeling a little but better and I knew I wanted to get out of the house for a bit. Chris had the day off work so we took a walk into town for lunch and settled on visiting Chiquito, a Tex-Mex restaurant in the heart of Belfast City Centre.

We had C with us and he usually gets a bit noisy and whiney as he gets bored easily so we were a little worried about how he would hold up. The atmosphere seemed to keep him settled though. I think the calm, Mexican music put him in a trance!

As soon as we entered Chiquito, we were brought to a table straight away. Our server told us his name, James, and asked if we'd been before. I told him that we had and he showed us the lunch menu (but told us that anything on the main menu was also available) and offered a highchair for C. He took our drinks ordered and left us to have a browse through the menu. 

Our drinks arrived promptly (along with a free plate of popcorn) and we ordered our meals. Chiquito have a kids menu so I selected chips & chicken bites for C, Chris had a burrito burger and I HAD to have a starter and main. I chose chilli poppers followed by chicken enchilada. I was so pleased that our waiter asked if we would like C's meal out with the starter as he does get a little tetchy if he sees me eating without him. 

Once my starter and C's meal had arrived, our waiter happily brought over some tomato ketchup for C (it's our new trick to get C to eat!). 

C's chips and chicken bites

The chilli poppers were DELICIOUS! There were four of them and they were served with a side of chilli jelly. I'd never tried the jelly before but it really complemented the spiciness of the popper (I was afraid both of them together would be too spicy). There was a perfect cheese to jalapeño ratio and I only managed to eat three as I wanted to be able to eat my main! 

Now onto the mains.  

WOW. My chicken enchilada was equally as delicious as my starter. The chicken pieces were the perfect size and were tender and succulent. The spiciness and Texan cheese really gave it a kick which went amazingly well with Chiquito's signature tomato sauce that was over the top of the enchilada. The tortillas weren't soggy at all and there was a nice crisp to the ends. I would say that if you just had this for a main (no starter or dessert) you probably would need a side order of something as it's not that big. It filled me perfectly after my starter though.

Chris went for the burrito burger simply because he liked the idea of a burger inside a tortilla instead of a bap. He tells me that the beef burger was cooked to perfection and the combination of meat, cheese and jalapeños was really flavoursome. It is definitely a meal he would eat again. This dish was served with a side of coleslaw and chips but you are able to replace the chips with either fresh house salad or Mexican spicy rice.

On paying for our meal, the server complimented how well behaved C was. I told him that I was surprised at how good he was. It's always nice to feel that other people think your child is an angel! We will definitely be visiting Chiquito in the future.

(Disclaimer: I did not received financial compensation for this post and I paid for these meals myself.)