Cantina de Mad Mex, the popular Mexican franchise’s new casual dining concept, is next week launching in Casuarina Square in the Northern Territory.
The concept first launched in Sydney’s Kotara late last year, serving Baja-Mexican food and cocktails.
The Northern Territory’s site, opening on 8 July, will be operated by Nirav Patel, ex-head chef at Voyages Ayers Rock Resort.
Menu items will include empanadas, jalapeno poppers (grilled capsicum filled with cream cheese and fried), as well as favourites from the Mad Mex menu.
The bar will offer freshly made cocktails including the Fresh Coconut Mojito, the ‘Margo’ House Margarita and the ‘El Santo’ Margarita with Don Julio tequila, fresh lime and orange juice with a chilli and lime salted rim.
Earlier this year, Hospitality spoke with Mad Mex’s founder, Clovis Young, who said the business plans open approximately five more Cantina’s throughout 2016-17.
The new concept, he said, delivers a more relaxed, upmarket dining atmosphere to Mad Mex customers, while also providing a welcome boost to alcohol sales, which on average are 500 percent greater in Cantina than they are at Mad Mex store
“Mad Mex is perfectly geared to doing $6,000 worth of burritos in a two and a half hour period in the middle of the CBD for lunch. It’s an amazingly well designed business that delivers a really fast, high quality convenient food. But it never really knew how to deliver a family dining experience,” he said.
