From Oaxaca to Coolangatta – Clay Cantina dishes up an authentic taste of Mexico with laneway vibes
Hidden down an unassuming Coolangatta laneway, Clay Cantina is not somewhere you’ll simply stumble across – chances are you’ll smell it before you see it. For the last little while, the back-alley space has been the backdrop for Mexican cooking classes under the skilled tutelage of Kristal Smith, who long-time locals may remember from Currumbin’s Pop Taco and as one of the original founders of Goodness Gracias in Palm Beach. Having stepped away from her business ventures to focus her efforts on the cooking school, Kristal began to feel that old familiar and impossible-to-resist pull back to the kitchen with renewed enthusiasm. Last week, Clay Cantina expanded its offering to serve traditional Mexican food (and booze) through the kitchen window and into the laneway. The word ‘authentic’ gets thrown around a little too frequently these days, but every now and then something comes along that is well and truly worthy of such a description. Clay Cantina is that place.
As for the succinct menu, it’s intended to evolve to further explore different regions of Mexico as well as tie into the upcoming cooking class. Grab a margarita and a starter of guacamole with totopos (corn chips) to munch while you decide where to go next. The venue’s speciality is sopes, which is a thick corn base that is the perfect combination of crispy-yet-soft, layered high with toppings such as chipotle chicken (tinga de pollo), mushroom (hongos) or pulled pork (cochinita pibil) with black beans, pico de gallo, queso and crema. There are three street-style tacos to choose from including the al pastor (pork belly with pineapple, onion and coriander), barbacoa (lamb, onion, coriander and lime) and poblano y corn (flamed poblano pepper, creamy corn, queso and pico de gallo), as well as a couple of flautas (chicken or potato), which are tortillas that have been stuffed, rolled and fried to crisp perfection. It goes without saying that everything that every morsel that makes its way onto a plate has been prepped, cooked or created from scratch. There are no shortcuts here and, in case you were wondering, there’s really no elegant way to eat tacos that are dripping with juicy goodness – you just have to go all-in with both hands and devour. There are vegetarian options as well as vegan-friendly adaptions. Thirsty folk can sip on a house-made horchata, Jarritos Mexican cola, or for something a little harder, crack a tin from Young Henrys, a Laneway margarita or a Paloma Fizz. There’s also a small selection of natural wines on the way as well as a dedicated retail nook that will stock traditional marinades, handmade salsas, hard-to-find ingredients, dried chillis, tortilla presses and ‘molcajetes’ – much like a mortar and pestle – which is said to be the key in bringing out the true flavours in the cuisine. There are no bookings here, just roll up and take a seat. If that sounds like your kind of place, roll over to our Stumble Guide for opening times.
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