Savina Mexican Restaurant & Cantina, Duke Street, Liverpool

Nov 10 2006 by Emma Johnson, Liverpool Daily Post

Emma Johnson discovers a classy taste of Latin America

I LOVE all things Mexican. I love the country, I love the people and I really love the food. I have visited Mexico twice and actually got engaged there under a moonlit sky following a feast of tortillas.
 
Their cuisine vies with Italian as my favourite dining choice and I regularly eat it at home.
 
Someone once said to me that "all Mexican dishes are the same - you just fold the tortilla differently", and while there is an element of truth in that (the flour pancakes make appearances in entrees, main courses and even desserts) I don't care.
 
With a diet based mainly around cheese, rich spicy sauces, bread-type foodstuffs and lots of sweet, what is there not to like?
 
Sadly, while Italian, Oriental, Indian and even Greek restaurants can be found all over Liverpool, Mexican restaurants are in short supply in this city. That leaves me satiating myself with jar of Old El Paso.
 
So when I heard a Mexican had recently opened on Duke Street, called Savina, I was in there like a shot.
 
Sadly, on the night I went, I was one of very few people in there. Then again it was Halloween, it was a Tuesday, and most importantly Liverpool were up against Bordeaux in the Champions League.
 
People had better things to do than eat nachos.
 
Savina is not your average Mexican restaurant, there is none of your taverna business here. Like its neighbours Il Forno and Sapporo, Savina is trendy and smart.
 
So there are no sombreros and no mariachi band. Instead, the place is tastefully and minimally decorated - all dark wood tables and splashes of red.