Happy Taco Tuesday! Who doesn’t love Mexican? I’ve been eating Mad Mex since 2012. I was a neurosurgery resident at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne at the time, and we were all obsessed with their burritos… and their brown paper bags. They had the Lucha Libre mask printed on them so we would cut out the eyes and fool around wearing them (NB: children are not advised to put bags over their head)… and then we decorated our sad underground office with the masks and collected them over the year. Each time we felt like Mexican, each of us minions / residents would take turns going up to the Chapel Street Mad Mex to collect the team’s order (this was the olden days before UberEats existed).
Since turning plant-based this year, I’ve mainly been cooking at home but I’ve recently ventured outside my little kitchen to see what vegan cafes and restaurants are out there. I was excited to hear that Mad Mex had a vegan range, and attended their vegan night. They were gracious hosts and allowed me to bring my friend Heather who was visiting me from California, and has been vegan for a long time. We were treated to the most AH-MA-ZING guacamole and corn chips.. it was like me eating popcorn at the cinema – most of it was gone before I ordered any food! Heather and I shared the tacos and the quesadillas. We were keen to try out their melted vegan cheese. Did you know that they trialled 15 different vegan cheese before they handed out the final rose? (Sorry for the Bachelor reference.. #sorrynotsorry).
Cheese. I knew that when I started my plant-based journey, cow’s milk and cheese were going to be my greatest obstacles. Even if everything else in my meal were vegan, I just love a sprinkle of cheese on top. Okay fine, it’s a massive avalanche. Back to our order.. the tacos has three options – we went for the crispy shell, but you can also order soft tacos (corn or flour). We went for the spiciest salsa – the picante habanero – which had just the kick we wanted, and the tacos were delicious. I must say the quesadilla was my favourite. There’s an option of getting the tortilla in charcoal and chia seed (see photo below). Let’s be real, I just love it for the colour, but there are many benefits to activated charcoal. It’s detoxifying and has digestive benefits. The highlight of the quesadilla is undoubtedly the melted cheese. It’s melted beautifully, it was flavoursome and tasted like real cheese!
I had a few questions about Mad Mex’s vegan range and I had the privilege of speaking directly to Mad Mex CEO Clovis Young. He’s an energetic, humble and friendly guy, so I initially asked him if he was the area manager… cringe! (I’m so sorry Clovis!) I saved my faux-pas by telling him that he looked too young to be a CEO (he does). Here are my questions to Clovis:
Miko: What inspired Mad Mex to start a vegan range?
Clovis: The belief that everyone deserves to have a great meal regardless of their dietary philosophy. We know that there are many young people making the decision either for health or ethical reasons and we want to support their decision, which is making improvements to health and the environment.
Miko: What’ve been the most popular vegan items on the menu?
Clovis: The burrito and naked burrito. The naked burrito especially gives the health-conscious a no-carb option.
Miko: Many people are concerned about the protein intake for vegans. What’s the protein content like for these burritos?
Clovis: We have both brown rice and beans in our burritos, which is a complete protein. Brown rice has all but one amino acid (lysine), and beans have all but methionine, so together all the amino acids are covered.
Miko: Any exciting developments coming up for vegans and plant-based eaters?
Clovis: We have 4 animal proteins, and you should be able to see a vegan alternative for one of them soon…
We’ll be watching that space! Thanks Mad Mex for an informative, delicious and fun night for us planties to savour the range.
Miko xx
