Frontera Bar and Grill @ Jaya One, PJ

Believe it or not, the inspiration for me to post MoaTTD's first restaurant review post comes from a blog, that was reviewing a restaurant that I originally wanted to go. Due to the fact that they (and everyone else who commented) gave ridiculously bad reviews on the place, I ended up stumbling to this restaurant instead. I would not mention the name of the restaurant that was reviewed badly out of professionalism, good character, gentlemanly conduct and most importantly, not wanting to be slapped with a defamation suit which seems to be the popular thing nowadays in Malaysia... so here goes.

It was Suwen's birthday that day so figured I wanted to bring her to a really nice place for dinner. Problem was that most places are usually too full, the same old food and quite frankly, expensive as anything. So I was browsing online and found this nice little Tex-Mex restaurant called Frontera in PJ and decided to check it out. The reason for which I wanted to go for a Mexican restaurant was because that I made a conclusion that Malaysia is really lacking authentic Mexican restaurants around town. We've seen our fair share of Italian, Japanese, Thai, and even Indonesian food being marketed widely here and its a shame that the same is not done for Mexican foods, apart from Chilli's of course.

Upon arriving and until the end of our meal, I managed to collect enough info for me to make this review, by which it would be best to view this restaurant from a proper marketing angle!

PRICE

One thing that I realized upon viewing the menu that majority of the food does not cost more than RM30 per plate. For dishes that are exceeding RM30, most notably the Frontera's Famous BBQ Beef Ribs (RM 49.95) and the Mesquite Rib Eye Steak (RM 42.95) where the portion of the food is ridiculously huge. I am guessing that not many would complain to that...

This is not my reaction when I saw the price, I can assure you that...

PLACE

Upon entering the place, the one thing that you would realize are their efforts of making the place look like a Mexican Canteena (no not the one from Star Wars...) as possible.

El Mexicano Canteena... all we need now is a Mexican Standoff...

Should have been a cactus rack here. Don't worry, told the owner that.

One thing that I would say that the place does lack space and "the posh factor" in comparison to other restaurants but it is still very comfortable for us to dine our foods with comfort. The ambiance of the restaurant is also fantastic, as majority of the music that was played was generally Spanish music which adds to the authenticity of the place itself. Decorations wise was kept to a simplistic, yet suitable for the theme of the restaurant itself. I couldn't help myself but to obviously get myself in the mood with the decorations of the place...

 Mr Potato's Mexican cousin, Senor Spud!

Peacock with a Sombrero!

zzz...

Its really great to know that the staff members were pretty much alright with us playing with the props and messing the place up for our photo ops!

PRODUCT

Naturally, the concern of every Malaysian would be the food of the place and of course, it was no different for us as well. Since I mentioned above that not many Mexican restaurants are available around town, we were not familiar with the food that they were offering. However, it did catch my attention some Mexican delicacies that I've tried before, particularly the Chimichanga (chee-mee-chang-ua!) and the Enchiladas (trust me, the first time I heard this, I thought it was a desert rat). And so, after the recommendation of our trusty, Myanmarese waiter, we decided on the following

Chili Con Carne with Nachos

For appetizers, we went for the Chili Con Carne with Nachos. Truth be told that I ordered this for memories sake, since I use to make this back when I was in Australia. This, tasted 100x better than what I used to make. The melted cheese and onions in a sauce of red beans and chili tasted great with the spiced up nachos. One thing for sure that this dish will get a messy ending and piece of advise if you were to order this, don't just dip but scoop the sauce with the nachos!

Country Fried Steak

My main meal was the Country Fried Steak, which on presentation does not really look that appealing but when I took a bite, it was amazing! What I can tell from the chicken is that they have the perfect balance of Mexican spices and breadcrumb batter on the meat which does not overpower the taste of the chicken, yet strong enough for you to identify the taste. Most importantly, the mash potatoes as well as the coleslaw are mixed with Jalapeño spices which makes them all the more tasty! For all of you who loves Chilli's mash potatoes, I think we have a winner here...

Chili Cheese Burger

This one right here is the house specialty, which surprisingly they do not have it on their menus. Piece of advice, DON'T MISS OUT ON TRYING THIS BURGER! They used the same chili con carne sauce on the  burger which in turns melts the cheese into the triple decker burger which seriously compliments the taste of the meat itself. An instant favorite, I can assure you, especially with the tenderness of the burger meat itself. Truth be told, after trying this burger, I had my own burgasm on the spot...

To top everything off, we tried their Famous Horny Margarita! Rated as the best margarita in town, this little sucker is made with the imported Hornistas Tequilla which gave it a perfect twist to the taste.

  Horny Margarita - The Perfect Horny Juice!

Unfortunately, I was not in a position to try out the taste of the drink, nor could I confirm the ultimate question whether the effects of the drink would result to its name. Fortunately, I had myself a test subject... which of course needed much persuasion...

wait for it... she's going for it... wait for it...

Success!!!

Apparently the drink tasted great, with the strong flavor of tequila is counter balanced by the lime and salt. Unfortunately not true about the effects...

All and all, the outing was a great success and I would definitely IMPLORE everyone out there to give this place a shot. Its truly a breath of new experience when it comes to fine dining and I can't wait for the next visit to try other things on the menu. Although, I am pretty sure that the owner would not want me to eye the piñata again...

If I can just get a stick...

Frontera Bar and Grill

Lights at Palm Square,

Jaya One,

Petaling Jaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan

46200, Malaysia

Tel: +603 - 79588515

http://www.fronterabar.com/