Review: Bibi’s, Dumbarton Road
Despite having opened its doors in 2007, if you tell people you had dinner at Bibi’s Mexican Cantina, most of them will stare blankly back at you. Unfortunately, the reason that the restaurant is so unknown to most is because of its location. It is situated at bottom of Dumbarton Road, deep in the West End, where most city-goers just wouldn’t venture. Well, I took a trip there and I can honestly say, it’s worth the journey.
When we walked in the door at quarter past twelve on a Monday afternoon, we weren’t surprised to find ourselves to be the only people there. The staff greeted us and told us to take our pick of seats. We sat down and were brought menus and ordered drinks. We had two menu options: the lunch menu, featuring food that was more snack-like such as wraps, or the ‘Early Bird Menu’ which runs from 12pm to 6.45pm, and is priced at two courses for £11.50, or £14 for three. By my standards, this is pretty good value. We decided to have two courses, and for my starter I ordered the ‘Taquitos’ which are flour tortilla wraps, filled with spicy beef and deep fried. Pretty heavy for 12pm on a Monday, right? Wrong. The starters are perfectly portioned and are accompanied only by home made salsa and a salad. Usually, it would come with sour cream, but because I had asked for no sour cream with my main, the staff were thoughtful enough to remove it from my starter as well - a really lovely touch, I thought.
Delicious, crispy taquitos.
The Taquitos were really crispy and the home made salsa full of flavour from a slightly heavy use of both onion and coriander, and just enough spice. The spicy beef mixture inside could have had a bit more of a kick to it but was enjoyable none the less. As for the main, I am ashamed to admit that I ordered the Fajitas - but bear with me, these ones are really good! With fajitas there is an option of beef, chicken, or vegetarian. I went for the chicken, which is marinated in tequila, triple sec, and lime juice. The chicken is brought to you still sizzling on a hot skillet, along with peppers and onions, a few tortillas, and some cheese and salsa (you normally get guacamole and sour cream as well, but I’m just not a fan.) The chicken was juicy and flavoursome, the veg was chargrilled and amazing. I know they are just fajitas, but they are damn good. I think the main reason I went for them is because, having been to Bibi’s quite often, I know their menu, and have tried many things, and on this particular Monday, all I wanted were some tasty fajitas. I would encourage you to try their Mexican Stew, which is a mixture of beef, bacon, chicken AND potatoes - it is divine, but alas, was not on their Early Bird menu that day - it changes frequently so that you can sample most of their menu even on a budget.
By the time we had finished our meal and asked for the bill, the restaurant had gone from entirely empty to almost full in an hour. This was Monday afternoon and they were actually beginning to turn people away. That, to me, is a testimony to the greatness of this little Mexican restaurant. The food is hearty, full of flavour, and relatively cheap, and even if you don’t live in the West End, take a trip to Bibi’s Cantina and you’ll see what I mean.
You can read more from Amy, the author of this review, on her own website The Glasgow Diet.
