Great food but what's with the flamingos?

My wife and I were driving around Mito one day. We just finished running an errand for my in laws when I asked "お腹すいた?" Translation, "are you hungry?" She replied that she was and that is when the big question popped up, "where should we eat?" We went back and fourth like all married couples do when it comes to where to eat. Finally, she asked "フラミンゴ見たい?" Translation, "want to see some flamingos?" I was very confused. Were we going to a zoo or something? Then she said "メヒコ行きましょう." Translation, "let's go to Mexico." More confusion. After our very perplexing conversation we finally pulled up to Mexico. The restaurant not the country.

Are there Flamingos in there?

I want to point out that Seafoods Restaurant Mexico is not exclusively in Ibaraki. In fact, it did not start off here. But this place is so bizarre and interesting that I thought it would be criminal not to share it with you all. One thing that surprised me about this place was that it doesn't use the usually katakana for Mexico which is メキシコ. Instead, they use the correct Spanish pronunciation メヒコor Mehico. There are three Mexicos in Ibaraki that I know of, Tsukuba, Mito and Moriya. As I said earlier, we were in Mito so that is the one we went to. While walking into the restaurant I heard a very loud bird honking sound. My wife looked at my surprised face and grinned. I didn't actually believe they had live flamingos in this restaurant but there they were.

I named it Salazar

The first thing you see in Mexico is a round, zoo like area, where they keep all their flamingos. Guests sit close by the flamingo zoo and watch them while they eat. There were a lot of flamingos in that zoo, I want to say there were about thirty of them. That day, Mexico was pretty crowded so we decided to get take out. I had to ask the staff working at the register, "what is with the flamingos?" The staff member answered me like she has probably answered this question a thousand times and presented me with a piece of paper that explains the restaurant's history.

The history of Mexico (the restaurant)

The paper explains that the owner of this fine restaurant was a fisherman. He traveled all around the world, especially to South America. He landed in Mexico (the country) and while on a beach he saw a flock of flamingos and was amazed by their beauty. After finding these flamingos, he thought about showing the children of Japan these beautiful birds while they ate something delicious. The owner decided to go back to Japan and open his own restaurant which he did in Fukushima. This was in Showa 45 (1970). He also brought some flamingos to his restaurant so people can check them out. He then created the crab pilaf and it became a major hit (it still is). The owner then opened an aquarium restaurant in Fukushima (it is closed now because of the 2011 earthquake) and opened other restaurants around Ibaraki. And that is Seafoods Restaurant Mexico's history in a nutshell.

Our take out

My wife explained that Mexico's famous dish was their seafood pilafs. From what I saw on the menu, the crab pilaf was Mexico's number one best seller. So we got an order of that plus the steak pilaf and the sea urchin pilaf. Mexico also has an oyster pilaf but I would have to try that next time. There are other menu items as well like seafood pasta, gratin, beef stew and tempura. But my wife said the pilaf is the best so we stuck with that. We decided to take our pilafs and drop some off to my in laws. We then proceeded home and got ready to try all our seafood delight.

Crab Pilaf

This is what the restaurant Mexico is all about. The first dish that started the whole Mexico flamingo empire. I was very curious to try it. From what I saw, all the pilafs come with thin slices of paprika and seafood. Mexico was pretty generous with the amount of crab in the pilaf and I was very happy about that. Before trying the crab pilaf I was afraid it would be dry but my fears were put to rest after my first spoon full. The pilaf was flavorful and the crab was fresh. The pilaf with the tasty crab meat is something everyone should try at least once. It was delicious.

Steak Pilaf

Next up came the steak pilaf. I decided to give Mexico's steak a chance even though it was a seafood restaurant. The pilaf was still very delicious but I got to say the steak was OK. Definitely not my favorite but it wasn't all bad. The problem was eating a piece of the steak was like playing the lottery. You might get a delicious soft juicy piece of steak or you might get a more chewy fat piece of steak which takes an hour to chew. So if you are a gambler, I would recommend this pilaf.

Sea Urchin Pilaf

Last but not least the uni pilaf. I don't know how you feel about uni or sea urchin. Some people love it and some people really don't like it. For me, it depends. I love uni pasta, it is creamy, delicious and it goes very well with almost any pasta. But I am not always a fan of uni sushi, I think the uni flavor is just way too strong and drowns out everything else in the sushi. That being said, I wasn't sure if I would like the uni pilaf. After my first spoon full, I have to say this pilaf blows all the other pilafs out of the water. The uni was so creamy and with the pilaf it was just the perfect mix. The uni was so fresh and delicious I am sure the fine folks at Mexico went diving for them that morning. I am definitely ordering this again the next time I go to Mexico and I recommend you give this fantastic pilaf a chance.

I hope you can experience this bizarre and delicious treat. If you can go to Seafoods Restaurant Mexico make sure to check out the flamingos while having a tasty plate of seafood pilaf, where ever the closet Mexico is to you. Who knows, you might see me there, eating my uni pilaf while looking for the flamingo I named Salazar.

Enjoy!

For more information on Seafoods Restaurant Mexico, check out their website in the link below:

http://www.mehico.com/index.html