Ancient Mexican Fare Near Chinatown

Food before the Spanish arrived in Mexico

There's a lot of buzz about Mexico these days, with many people traveling to the country for holidays as an alternative to the United States, and most recently many bars on the North America Best 50 Bars list were from there, in particular Mexico City.

On Saturday afternoon a foodie friend and I were in Chinatown and as we walked to his car, he suggested we have a snack in a Mexican restaurant.

Salad with pumpkin flower, lettuce and sour cream

Where was that? 

A place called Machete -- pronounced ma-chet-teh, unlike the sharp knifed weapon, and it serves Mexican food that was made before the Spanish arrived. So the ingredients are mostly corn, blue corn, cacao, and yucca to name a few. Apparently this is the only restaurant of its kind in Vancouver.

Cecilia Aguayo is the chef and owner, and she cooks up dishes inspired by her grandmother who ate a healthy diet.

We tried the itacates, which means food for a journey, which are usually packed into triangles of tortillas. But at Machete, it was like an open-faced salad, and the one we had was called flor de calabaza, featuring pumpkin flower, white onions, garlic, and epazote, or Mexican tea which is a leafy plant.

It was a refreshing, light salad that was topped with lettuce, sour cream, cheese, guacamole and pumpkin seeds.

Chocolate drink with hint of orange and vanilla

Then we had the machete, a long quesadilla in blue corn tortillas, filled with vegetables and Oaxaca cheese. It came with a long serrated knife for us to cut it! Inside was mostly roasted peppers, mushrooms, refried beans and the melted cheese. 

By this point I was getting full; it was after 3pm and I would be eating dinner in a few hours!

However besides our snacks, the drinks were very interesting. Machete has a cacao bar with various drinks made from chocolate. This is not like hot chocolate served elsewhere where it is thick and rich, quickly spiking your sugar levels and leaving you feeling full.

Instead these drinks are light and foamy with the drink emphasising the chocolate flavour without the heaviness.

A vegetarian machete, or quesadilla

I tried the recommendation of meztli ice latte, a concoction of cacao nibs, orange, vanilla, cinnamon, almond milk and ice, while my friend had the nahualli ice latte, mixing cacao with coffee, milk, vanilla and cinnamon panela sugar.

Both drinks were served in giant hollowed out coconut shells and balanced on a small ring. We had to hold the cups with both hands and sip from the coconut shell. 

What an interesting experience!

Machete

1007 Main Street

Vancouver, BC

778 302 4795