The consumer consciousness craze continues with a Mexican chain now reusing leftover food waste and substituting mushrooms for meat.
The Super Loco Group, which owns Mexican restaurants Lucha Loco and Super Loco, has joined forces with Australian plant-based startup Fable Food to bring a carbon-conscious menu this month.
Starting Monday and for the rest of April, dishes at three of its restaurants will feature Fable Food’s signature meat alternative made from shiitake mushrooms, while diners will be invited to adopt trees in deforested areas and join activities such as farm tours, upcycling pottery workshops, and vegetarian cooking classes.
The group says it wants an “environmentally cleaner and kinder way” of eating and drinking during Earth Month. It says the ingredients are sustainably sourced and ethically raised with a low carbon footprint.
The menu is available at Lucha Loco on Duxton Hill and Super Loco outlets at Robertson Quay and Customs House.
Expect the staple Corn Chips, Guacamole and Salsa Roja (S$13) to start followed by the nutty Garden Flautas (S$19), crispy spinach herb tortillas filled with Mexican truffle, crispy quinoa, and goat cheese all served with a dip made with pumpkin seeds, lime sour cream, and cactus pico de gallo. The restaurant repurposes excess pumpkin seeds for the dish.
Then there is the Fable Al Pastor Taco (S$10) made with Fable Food’s signature slow-braised mushroom meat, crispy kale, roasted corn and watermelon radish wrapped in a soft bamboo ash tortilla. The shiitake mushrooms are foraged “sustainably” and substitutes as a smoky meat alternative.
The highlight of the meal was the Barramundi dish, which is served differently in each outlet. The fish is sustainably farmed from Kuhlbarra, a local fishery that raises its catches in regulated, open-sea pens.
Lucha Loco’s is served with nutty cauliflower rice, corn, amaranth grains with a verdant pepita dressing. The Super Loco Customs House’s version is served with zesty salsa verde, soft herb salad and corn tortillas, while the Robertson Quay outlet serves it spicy with piquillo pepper and grilled corn salad, chopped jalapenos, and salsa verde.
A vegetarian and gluten-free version of its house enchiladas is also available.
Moving on to dessert, the dense Pomegranate Tres Leches (S$14) is made of milk sponge and coconut cream, topped with sour tart pomegranate and surrounded by charcoal crumbles and tres leches sauce.
Finally, wash everything down with the Zero to Hero (S$21), a “zero-waste” tropical tequila cocktail that upcycles fruit waste. The restaurant infuses the typically discarded leftover pineapple, lemon, grapefruit, mango and lime with Arquitecto Blanco tequila. The brand says it discards up to 2 kilograms of fruit waste daily.
It doesn’t taste as wrong as it sounds. Instead, it gives a pleasant, refreshing taste that is balanced with smoky mezcal and lemon.
The menu also comes in a four-course set menu for dinner priced at S$80 per pax, which includes a tree planted under their name to help reforest Borneo’s endangered rainforests. The group will match every tree by planting one of their own. According to the brand, they have planted more than 1,500 trees in Borneo.
Clarification: Diners who purchase the set menu will not have to pay an additional S$6 to plant a tree in their name.
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