Enjoy Real Mexican at On the Border
By Han Sang-hee
Staff Reporter
Craving Mexican food? Not those dry and empty tortillas or greasy chips, but real, genuine Mexican food, complete with Mexican beers, tequilas and margaritas?
On the Border (OTB), is a United States based Mexican restaurant. The first Sinchon branch opened last Oct. 18, and since has been striving to reach the palates of Korean guests.
Like any other family restaurant that serves complimentary bread, OTB also offers free appetizers ― chips and salsa, not bread ― before you choose your dish. The hearty-sized chips are fresh, because they are made daily.
We ordered a bunch of dishes: the ``Guacamole Live,'' ``Border's Lunch CYO (Create Your Own) Combo'' ``The Big Bordurrito,'' ``Sizzling Apple Crisp'' for dessert, strawberry and peach non-alcoholic fruit margaritas.
The ``Guacamole Live'' (11,900 won) was impressive. The server joins the guests with a small portable table with two avocadoes, a lemon, some salt and cilantro, diced tomatoes and red onion. After asking the guests if there is anything they would like to exclude from the dish, the server then makes the guacamole in front of them to guarantee the freshness and individual taste. Unlike the rather plain guacamole served at other places, the ``Guacamole Live'' was fresh and chunky.
The ``Border's Lunch CYO Combo'' (20,900 won for steak, 18,900 won for chicken) is a dish that requires a lot of decision making. Guests must first choose a side dish of soup, rice, beans or a salad. Then comes the choice of various tacos, burritos and quesadillas. We chose the house salad with the Jalapeno vinaigrette dressing, the fish taco and also ordered the ``Chicken Tortilla soup.'' The fish taco was different from the others, which mainly contain beef or chicken with vegetables. It was soft, juicy and very tasty with extra cheese. The soup was unique, and it was more like a whole meal than just a side dish.
The ``Big Bordurritto'' (20,900 won for steak, 18,900 won for chicken) is a combo dish. You can choose between a fajita steak and fajita chicken, which is served with Mexican rice, black beans, caramelized onions and red peppers, with a side salad. The steak was very tender unlike the too-chewy-to-swallow beef that is served at other places. This dish is only served during lunch hours, which is until 4 p.m.
Last but not least, the ``Sizzling Apple Crisp'' (7,900 won) was served. A generous piece of apple cinnamon pie came out on a sizzling hot skillet with vanilla ice cream on top. The pie was soft with crispy crumbs, and the hot pie went well with the cold ice cream.
OTB is not aiming for a ``Koreanized'' version of the original restaurant, so you will not be able to find kimchi or other Korean side dishes. The service is nice, for the waiters are cheerful enough to greet everyone ``Hola!'' every time they pass.
There is only one branch of the restaurant, but it is planning to open one soon in Gangnam. OTB is located near exit 4 of Sinchon station on subway line 2. Walk straight up until you see the Pagoda Academy building. OTB is on the second floor. Visit www.ontheborder.co.kr or call (02) 3280- 5100.