Is this Peddar Road restaurant worth a visit? Find out

Loco Chino at Peddar Road aims to bring the East and West to your table. But the concept delivers a mixed bag of hits and misses

Peddar Road, even by the greatest stretch of imagination, does not say ‘casual’, with its fancy bylanes flanked by mansions  and sprawling showrooms. But Loco Chino, which opened in Peddar Road early last week, has ‘casual fast dining’ ingrained in its core concept of ‘East meets West’. This is evident right from the disposable bowls and plates that they serve their food in, to the walls decked in quirky shades of red and yellow. We like the contrast.

The Fiesta Nachos

There are also drawings of humans, Asian conical hats, long and droopy moustaches. The eatery also has a live, buzzing Tex-Mex station. Sipping on frizzy, refreshing drinks such as Iced Lemongrass Tea (Rs 59) and Mexican Twist (Rs 89), we first order an assortment of dimsums — the Four Mushroom dimsum (Rs 159), Thai Sambal Cottage Cheese (Rs 159), Spinach and Parmesan (Rs 159), Edamame & Truffle (both chicken and veg; Rs 249 and Rs 219 respectively), Spicey Smokey Chicken (Rs 179), Chicken Shui Mai (Rs 179) and Prawns Har Gow (Rs 179).

Vegetarian dimsums are flavoursome and delicious

The platter evokes mixed reactions. While my fellow diner loves the barbecue-y sauce the Spicey Smokey Chicken is lightly doused in, she isn’t really taken in by the Prawns Har Gow as the dumpling wrapper is too thick for her liking. The veg dimsums fare better — dipped in the accompanying lemongrass, chilli and soy chilli sauces, the dimsums are flavoursome and deliver a kick. We also order the Turnip cake (Rs 159), topped with fried garlic and chilli which taste a tad burnt Next, we order the Fiesta Veg Nachos (Rs 149), Chimichangas Veg (Rs 139), Veg Quesadilla (Rs 139), Veg Taco (hard) (Rs 79) and Chicken burrito bowl (Rs 189). The nachos, topped with fried beans, chilli corn, sour cream, guacamole, chipotle salsa, jalapeños and  black olives, are delicious and suitably crunchy — a perfect dish to dig into on a casual outing. The Chimichangas, too, impress. However, the Veg Quesadilla, Veg Taco and Chicken burrito bowl disappoint.

The interiors of the Peddar road outlet are modelled on the Bandra outlet at Carter Road

The Quesadilla fails to deliver a punch while the burrito bowl, despite many toppings and fillings such as the Mexican rice, refried beans, cheese, sour cream, iceberg lettuce and chipotle salsa, isn't appetising. We end the meal with Churros with chocolate sauce (Rs 129) which are crispy, but too greasy, sweet and not chocolate-y enough. If you are in the mood to try a new eatery, Loco Chino is worth a shot, provided the outlet improves its fare. And if you are not feeling experimental, you should stick to old favourites in the area.

We cannot rate this experience as it was on invitation.

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