After a few months, we're back to visit "Antojo", a restaurant with a modern, yet casual, setting located on Calle Colombia, Cacho neighborhood in the city of Tijuana, where we had the opportunity of tasting Chef's Alberto Casino cuisine.

Antojo offers quality service, with waiters that are always within reach. With a modern and minimalistic design, the restaurant has a very comfortable dining environment, where music plays at a level where you can enjoy it but still maintain a conversation with those that accompany you, with no problem whatsoever.

The restaurant also has a bar where you can delight yourself to delicious beverages that are quickly taken to your table, from water infused with herbs from the region, to soft drinks, whiskies and wines. And speaking of wines, Antojo has their own brand, made exclusively by them.

Once we were seated and started talking, our first appetizer was brought along, consisting of a cucumber and jicama salad, soaked in green juice with fresh cheese and dehydrated cucumber crust. It was a very soft salad, sweet but salty thanks to the flavor that the cheese added to it, merging both flavor in perfect harmony.

To conclude with our appetizers, a second salad was brought along. This was a beet salad soaked in olive oil, alongside cherry tomatoes, colorful peppers, sprinkled with feta cheese, and a beet sauce. With out a doubt, those beets were the main star of this dish, with a very soft texture that came apart in your mouth, it's taste was strong and earthy. The tomatoes and peppers were very juicy and tasty.

Minutes after, we tasted our first entrée: Grilled and baked Beef Marrow (Tuétano de Rest) alongside a morrón pepper dressing, avocado, fresh tortillas and a raddish just for color. Although it was only a small portion that we tasted, it was delightful. The only complaint that I have is that I finished with it so fast. This dish is perfect to taste the house's style, and for its small serving, its recommended for only person.

We also tried the new Octopus Enfrijoladas, grilled octopus inside a tortilla soaked in squid's ink, cilantro, onions, raddish and fresh cheese. We had previously talked about Antojo's octopus, and we are glad to see that Chef Cansino does take into consideration its patrons' opinions, given that this time the octopuses were cooked to perfection and the combination of the rest of the dish was exquisite.

When they brought us the meat knives, we had to hold on tight, as we knew the main course mas coming, and we weren't wrong, with our table welcoming what the chef likes to call Pork Hock (Chamorro de Credo), a big piece of pork glazed with honey juice, beer and star anise, resting on a risotto bed, which was delicious, it wasn't cold and it was cooked just right. Aside from a sauce that gave it even more flavor than it already had, at first when you tried cutting it looked dry, but au contraire, the pork was juicy, pink and very delicious.

Towards the end of our visit, they brought us dessert, the first one was a flan called Flan de la Abuela (Grandma's Flan), a homemade flan accompanied by whipped cream, crumbbled cookies, fruit that varies according to season, all laid over an ounce of a hibiscus and orange infusion. This has to be the best flan I'd ever tasted. In this case, the fruit that accompanied the dish was strawberry, providing a flavor that enriched your palate even more.

As a second dessert a Chocolate Culant was brought, commonly known as Lava Cake. When cutting in half, we were able to see how the chocolate flowed all over the cake, with a flavor so intense that any chocolate lover can't miss.

The best thing about Antojo is that, it's cheap, it's good and it's affordable. Aside from the area where it's located, their dishes are very affordable, given that you can enjoy a great meal for a very good price, especially now that they have an executive lunch menu that changes every day. Antojo is open daily from 1 pm to 11 pm and you don't have to worry about dressing fancy, although it might seem like the place to do so, dress code is casual attire.

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zyanya.figueroa@sandiegored.com