AT Flirt Mexican Cocktail Bar, there are more than 30 margaritas on the menu – shaken or frozen – in every fruit flavour you can think of, and even one that is pickle-flavoured. What did I order? Yes kids, that’s right: classic lime. And I’m not even slightly sorry if anyone thinks that is boring. It was a delicious cocktail which tasted like must have a second, and I’ll show you more on Instagram as well as the smouldering-eyed bartender Levi.
It was a Sunday, lunchtime. Live jazz provided the soundtrack; other times DJs spin Latin and old-school R&B beats. The menu is big – not overwhelmingly so but big enough to make deciding difficult. A page of tacos, another of starters, burritos, tortilla bowls, grills and seafood. Thankfully only three desserts, one of which is churros. I always try the churros when I see them on a menu because I live in hope they will be as good as the ones I had in Spain. To be fair, I had mediocre churros there too, which was disappointing, but I also had from the oldest churros shop in Barcelona and a truck at a market in Rojales, a village in Alicante, and those are impossibly high bars. Flirt’s churros are acceptable, and I did not hate them. I ate them all so that’s everything you need to know.
We started with nachos which get two thumbs up. The tortilla chips are layered in a shallow bowl with cheese sauce (jalapeño or plain) all the way to the bottom. There is nothing worse than nachos that have all the good stuff but only on the top, leaving a wasteland of dry chips underneath. And the topping was generous – birria, salsa verde, pico de gallo, jalapeño, cilantro and chives. Add the protein of your choice; we had chicken and fried beans (beef and chilli con carne are other options). I don’t know why it never occurred to me before that one can choose more than one additional protein. Life-changing.
The portion was huge, more than two of us could manage knowing there was still more to come. We could have happily stopped there in fact but the Tex Platter was recommended, no, urged. Another monster dish, so quite a bit came home for later. Here we had: Barbacoa lamb chops marinated in birria sauce, “fiery” chicken wings (you can ask them to moderate the heat, which I did as I am still in chilli training), jalapeño toreados (a cheese-filled popper sliced in half and not to be confused with toreadors, that’s something else entirely), calamari (grilled or fried, we had the latter, very good), pollo espetada, and fajita beef with peppers. This came with a selection condiments like pico de gallo, guacamole, grated cheese and sour cream, and some soft tortillas. To call it a feast would not be an overstatement.
Fairly newly-opened, Flirt is at the top of Church Street in the city centre. The decor is bright and vibrant, the interior seating comfortable with intimate corners for secret assignations. There’s also a balcony (the restaurant is upstairs) which opens fully to take in the buzz below. It’s going to be a hit as Flirt goes into its first summer season. Prices are reasonable too. Check it out.
For more information, to book, and to find out about the daily specials, click here.
