Don’t come looking for enchiladas and tequila. There’s not a culturally inflammatory sombrero to be found here
A family pub like The Mexico Inn, in Long Rock near Penzance, is a rare thing. Something often goes awry when a public house begins catering for mixed groups of toddlers, tweens, grans and friends with four legs. One size rarely fits all. “Pulled pork? Pghgh. Noooo! This place is your type of thing,” my octogenarian mother will groan, in tones heaving with Tony Soprano’s matriarch, Livia, whenever we tempt her to dinner. Likewise, only a sadist would by choice eat mozzarella sticks beside a slippery slide at a Brewers Fayre Fun Factory.
So I love it when places, such as this pub I stumbled upon in Cornwall last half-term, find that precarious “family” balance. I was slightly late to the game, because The Mexico Inn has lived on Long Rock’s high street for 200 years, though the village itself is now circumnavigated by a fast, shiny bypass. Reportedly, its first landlord was a man called Bill who had spent time mining silver in Mexico. The locals’ nickname for the joint has clearly stood the test of time, but is perhaps unhelpful if you stop by hoping for enchiladas and tequila. Relax, students, there’s not a culturally inflammatory sombrero to be found here.
Grace Dent’s restaurant reviews appear in the award-winning food magazine Feast, along with recipes by Yotam Ottolenghi and more top cooks, with the Guardian every Saturday.
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