Margarita's

Margarita's has been cooking Mexican food in Singapore since 1988 and calls itself the city's oldest Mexican restaurant. Its home on Dempsey Hill has high-beamed ceilings, wrought iron, colourful Mexican art and a veranda looking onto greenery, and there is occasional live music. The kitchen draws on La Paz, Baja and Veracruz, with a nod to Singapore's own Chinese influences.

Start with crab croquetas or queso fundido with tequila-spiked chorizo and Oaxacan cheese, then move on to birria tacos with consommé, soft-shell crab tacos or prawn tacos with pink guava salsa. The Kitchen Sink burrito is a long-standing favourite, and the larger plates include chicken adobado, snapper Veracruz and a 250g striploin carne asada. The frozen house margarita comes by the glass or the jug, and at Chinese New Year the restaurant serves its own Mexican yusheng.

It suits birthday dinners, long weekend lunches and groups who want space and a drink list. Bookings are taken through OpenTable, and the restaurant is open daily from 11.30am. Some recent reviewers note the menu is shorter than it once was.