if you need an antidote to eat Mexican food, maybe you shouldn’t

I live in Texas and have traveled some in Europe and Mexico. Maybe the Europeans like it, but let’s generously say it’s, well, not designed for the southwestern American palate, and definitely not for the Mexican palate. Restauranteurs do what they can do, though, and the ones that survive cook what will sell, so I shouldn’t judge too harshly, especially as an American who loves Chicken Tikka Masala and Sweet & Sour Chicken. Enjoy it for what it is, but don’t assume you understand the various varieties of Mexican cuisine from either side of the border.

Now that I’ve been nice, I’ll be personal: it ranges from god awful to utterly inauthentic but edible. The worst I ever had was at the late and unlamented “Texas Embassy” in London. Apart from a passable margarita, it was utter garbage. The “cheddar” looked like a dayglo shotgun site, the salsa was ketchup with varying amounts of weak-ass vinegar-pepper sauce stirred in, the white cheese was neither queso fresco nor Jack, but possibly mozzarella. All tortillas were clearly bagged and stale. Spice profile was all over the place, but never hot. Europeans think paprika belongs in Mexican food. It does not.

Perhaps not ironically, the better tacos come from your run of the mill “every fast food” takeaway. Some places trying to get “upmarket” from greasy American fare —that they can’t do right anyway— will have fresher tortilla-like flat breads and will come up with flavor profiles that sort of evoke the nicer “authentic Mex” places I’ve been to in Texas and Mexico (including CDMX and Monterey, in addition to your standard beach resorts), but it’s still off, saved by having actually been done well, though still within the inauthentic context.

personal antidotes

Its not that bad, that you need an antidote (anecdotes is what you want), but just doubt it’s very authentic.

Ok-ish? In the bigger cities you can find good Mexican restaurants. I know of at least one great one in Germany. But you probably won’t get anything authentic.

To survive restaurants have to adapt to the local taste. And to be fair, your typical central European thinks mayonnaise is spicy.

Bad, in my experience. There’s not much of it anywhere I’ve been, so there’s not a lot of competition or authenticity. I live in a state with about 10 billion Mexican restaurants, most of which are run by actual Mexicans, though, so my standards might be skewed as far as what a normal amount of Mexican restaurants looks like.

Lived in SoCal for a long while and have family in Germany. Have had access to inexpensive and incredible Mexican food. There are a host of cultural and economical reasons as folks have laid out already. One problem in particular is the cost of masa harina. It is incredibly expensive in Europe. One of those things where if you want it, you have to make it yourself. I recall a Jamie Oliver taco episode, I was appalled at what he made. His audience for this show was UK, it seemed. Should be against the law to call whatever that was tacos.

Apart from Spain, you’d be hard-pressed to find genuine Mexican food in Europe.

Mexicans restaurants aren’t Europe. Europe is Europe. What a silly question you silly person!

I haven’t found any mexican restaurants in Belgium. Just none. There is a taqueria where I live but it does not scream authentic at all.

As a kid I lived in Thailand and there was an excellent restaurant there with super yummy food - think not sure it was authentic.

Making Mexican food yourself is also tricky as the ingredients (dried chillis) are not easy to find.