There’s a lot to be said for standing out in a crowd. Especially if it’s for good reasons rather than bad. On busy restaurant Glebe Point Road, Flying Fajita Sistas stands out for its name and whimsical artwork depicting Mexican winged fairies. It’s not your typical sombrero decorated Mexican food joint. The atmosphere is that of a funky family or best friend run restaurant. I’m assuming the girl at the front in the bright blue Mexican style dress (with a touch of Tree of Life) is one of the said sistas.
We walk upstairs past the intriguing 4 row display of chili sauces named the “Wall of Pain” featuring such stomach clenching sauces as “Sudden Death” and “Kiss Your Ass Goodbye” and walk past 3 staff members who in turn greet us with a big smile and hello. It’s all very welcoming and we’re left to ponder the menu, full of sopes, dips, burritos, tamales, enchiladas, chimichangas and of course fajitas done with a myriad of different fillings from Achiote pulled pork, chicken and mole rojo, corn & cheese, mango & cheese (vegetarian), sweet chipotle chicken, King prawns, steak, frijole beans (vegetarian) and braised chile and onion (vegetarian) . Narrowing the choice down to just one is hard but I am convinced by my waiter’s recommendation of the Pulled Pork Quesadilla ($18.90). I also order a single tamale ($6) as I’ve yet to try one, only knowing of the phrase “hot tamale”.
We order and sit back and enjoy the view. There’s a cute little private balcony with enough space for two couples. It’s hard to talk as there isn’t a lot of soundproofing and since it’s Saturday night and everyone around is a bit jolly, we mostly lip read.
Whilst we are waiting two small trays of mexican spiced green olives arrive-they’re delicious and lightly spicy.
Quesadilla with Achiote Pulled Pork $18.90
We’re not waiting long when our dishes arrive on round edged rectangular plates and they’ve got us drooling from the look and aroma. My Quesadilla with Achiote Pulled Pork ($18.90) has four huge quarters of crispy edged quesadilla which are absolutely packed with soft, stringy but delicious pulled pork. There’s so much pork filling that it’s bursting out in a blissful, bounteous manner. They quesadillas are covered with a glorious riot of red cherry tomato salsa and accompanied by salad and mexican rice. Delicious as it is, I simply cannot finish this large a serve and the remaining half is gratefully snatched up by my eager and hungry husband who adores this. He has this earmarked for a future visit.
The King Prawn Fajitas come out on a sizzling cast iron tray on a bed of sauteed onions and capsicum along with a separate warmer of 4 flour tortillas and a cute compartmentalised tray of fillings ranging from sour cream, guacamole, jalapenos, pineapple, cheese, chili sauce and sour cream as well as salad, mexican rice and black beans.
Fajitas $24.90
They smell heavenly and I am eager to assemble my Fajita. There isn’t a great deal of each topping and each compartment is quite shallow to boot, with only a tiny handful of cheese and the chili sauce is very mild. The mexican rice and black beans are a great combo together though and I find myself going for these rather than a second Fajita (also due to impending satiety). My husband complains that while it tastes fabulous, he would need double the amount for him to get full. Anneli though finds it just right for her and the Assman wants another 1/2 serve to feel full. What is good though is that the cost of ordering King Prawn Fajitas is the same as the Vegetarian or Frijole bean version.
I try some of the Vegetarian Fajitas and the vegetables made up of sweet potato strips, zucchini and capsicum are delicious. Actually I could see myself ordering this and being quite happy with it.
Frijole Chimichanga $18.90
I try some of the Chimchanga ($18.90), a name that has Tuulikki stumped so that we resort to calling it a Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for her. It’s a deep fried flour tortilla filled with Frijoles and fried til crispy. It’s good if a touch dry due to the frying, the outer reminiscent of that of a Samosa. Still the filling is delicious and Tuulikki is immensely happy with her selection.
Frijole Enchilada $18.90
I try some of A’s Frijole cheese scorched Enchilada ($18.90) and whilst it’s good, I know that the Pulled Pork will always get my vote over the Frijoles although I do like the softer less crunchy at the edges of the Enchilada and melted cheese on top.
Throughout our meals, the water is regularly topped up by our waiter and we’re asked if anything is needed without being too pushy. Nothing is ever a problem and they seem genuinely interested to see that we enjoy our meals.
Curiously my Tamale never arrives but by then I am too full from my meal to even consider this and they deduct this from the bill without any fuss. Our bill arrives in a cute little card decorated with the Flying Fajitas design. As we can’t do much talking and we are full to bursting, we’ll forego the desserts, exit past the mix of traditional and modern Mexican painting and photographs and the Ubiquitous Wall of Pain and get farewelled by the Sista in the blue dress.
Flying Fajita Sistas, Flavours of Mexico
65 Glebe Point Road Glebe 2037
Tel: +61 (02) 9552-6522
Fax: +61 (02) 9552-6855
http://www.flyingfajitasistas.com.au/
19 Comments | Add your own
Looks fantastic! It’s so hard to find really good Mexican food here. Was it real guacamole (i.e. no cream cheese)?
Hi Amanda-I have to say it was rather good and I am having a pulled pork withdrawls right now
I only tried a little guacamole but I think it was real, cream cheese makes it thicker but this was like mashed avocado.
What a pity that with a Wall of Pain that their chili was very mild.
Hi Popeye-Yes, we would’ve loved to have tried a hotter chili but the Wall of Pain was downstairs and everyone was just so hungry so we couldn’t be bothered going downstairs
Interesting! Your pulled-pork meal sounded like just the ticket! I thought the olives at the start were a nice touch.. I know hubby and I would be won over.. as not many places we’ve been to offer complimentary snacks/canapes. Though we do have standards
And as long as the olives were different from the ordinary store-bought kind..we’d be happy!
Did they feature churro’s on their dessert menu? I’m not sure if you had a look? I LOVE them!
Hi Maria-I know, a little complimentary food always warms the heart and fires up the stomach. They were definitely better than the bottled supermarket variety although I think that the seasonings were more mexican than the usual italian/greek type seasonings.
I must admit I don’t really remember if they had churros on the dessert menu-due to my rather full stomach
But we had intended to have dessert at Chocolateria San Churro just a few doors down if we had stomach space as they do a mean freshly cooked churro there-delicious!
Wow definately keeping this place in mind when I hope to pop up to Sydney mid year.
Menu sounds divine and your photos are very enticing.
Hi BellaSIgnorina-definitely give it a go. I’d love to hear what you think of it too! Thanks
I discovered the Sista’s Taco Tuesday earlier this month, and now it’s an instituion among my friends. The tacos are $3 each and so are the tequila shots. The guacamole is real and everything else is really tasty…this coming from a California girl with high standards for Mexican food.
Hi Brittany-I saw the Taco Tuesday on the menu and it looks great. It’s a pity that it’s a bit far away from me or I’d be there every Tuesday
THanks to your review, my husband and i are going there this Wednesday to celebrate two years of dating!
Hi Genevieve-Cool! If the weather is good, I’d definitely recommend asking for one of those tables for two on the balcony. It can get loud on the second floor if you’re trying to have a romantic dinner. however it might mean having to be far away from the “Wall of Pain” (which may or may not be a good thing!). Have fun!
The real mexican restaurant is down the street. Its called Baja Cantina, its the real deal, everything from scratch! That’s where the mexicans and yanks eat, ie. those who know mexican food.
Hi rob-I’ve seen Baja Cantina, it looks interesting but I had to choose one and FFS won as it had a higher eatability rating (I had to go on something!
)
If you study many of there ratings, they read like advertisements, obviously by the owners of FFS. Not the real deal!
Hi rob-I think I have gotten savvy enough to tell who is spamming or not, usually the over-the-top, passionate endorsements combined with only 1 or 2 reviews is a good indication
Thanks for the recommendation though, I’m always on the lookout for good food!
haha that’s funny, I thought exactly the same thing about the comments for Baja Cantina on eatability, especially after going there; the food was horrible and the service just shameful. However, we LOVED FFS, even spoke with the chef who’s American and he’s making it all from scratch. He was really excited about bringing tamales to Sydney - the reason he said he knew FFS were first to do them was because the suppliers of Mexican ingredients are very few in Sydney, they all pretty much go through one importer and she had not had anyone ordering masa harina and banana leaves for tamales before FFS opened.
Sorry to disagree so vehemently Rob, but from my experience, the real Mexican is at FFS and so are the “yank” and Mexican clientele. If crowds are anything to go by, BC sits empty while the FFS has people spilling out the doors, very telling.
Hi Jen-That’s really the only issue I have with eatability, the fact that there are so many spammers. Although what is good is that they seem to do such a transparent job you immediately know they’re from the establishment in question.
I wish I had received my tamale, I was really curious to see how it tasted. Perhaps I’ll go back just to try some!
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[...] The Flying Fajita Sisters have been reviewed again, in some cases it’s a rave review http://www.notquitenigella.com/2008/03/26/flying-fajita-sistas-at-glebe/, and in some not as good. But take a close look at the people in the picture [...]
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