52 Waterloo St
Surry Hills NSW 2010
Ph : (02) 9699 2518
Enough words have already been written about the “Latin American canteen”, comments about the name, the artwork on the walls with the guns, the roosters, the stacks of faux money, so let’s just do away with repetition of the same, shall we?
Apart from the obligatory shot of the stools, that is…Has anyone commented on their comfort levels? I found them unexpectedly comfortable, and ultimately, that's what is most important about chairs, is it not?
The middle in a row of three eating establishments, with Orto Trading and Izakaya Fujiyama on either side (Orto is probably my top pick of the three of them), during the day this is an attractive, well lit and welcoming place with the increasingly common combination of regular table-chair configurations with large communal ones. There are also a few tables outside, with heaters for what passes for Winter in Sydney.
The lunch menu (available as dine-in or takeaway) is a compact six items, with an additional salad ("Son of El Capo" – cabbage, rasins, hazelnut), corn bread, and dessert. Two visits, and all voila, all items tried.
My drink of choice on both occasions was the tamarind drink. New to me, not too sweet, and quite refreshing.
Condiments are a tomato salsa and habaneros saue. They come gratis on a tray with the ubiquitous fake bills.
First up, empanadas versus arepas - the latter are made from cornmeal. They are flat, unleavened, and grilled, baked or fried, and generally contain a filling. Empanadas, on the other hand, are a stuffed pastry which can be baked or fried. In this instance, fried. I’m more an empanada person than an arepa one, and so it was at El Capo. I think that it’s just that cornbread isn’t really something for which I’ve managed to acquire a taste.
That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy the arepa for what they were, it’s just that the empanadas (below), eaten with a liberal dose of the tomato salsa and with the salad, were quite addictive and snacky, and I’d have been happy to have ordered another serve, whilst I didn’t feel similarly about the arepas.
