It’s been a while since Cathryn and I posted about a particular restaurant, especially one in Mexico. It’s not that there aren’t any good ones in the country, especially in a beach town like Melaque, because there are. But we get tired of the same old menus with the same offerings, just shuffled around. I’m sorry, but like the locals, I can’t eat tortillas at every meal.

We first met Li Xie a few years back at a house on one of the canals in Barra de Navidad, where she hosted a Chinese buffet in her own home. Everything was homemade – I watched her making the wonton soup right in her kitchen.

The following year, we were thrilled to see that Li opened her own restaurant on Hwy 200, across from the Pemex Gas Station. La Chinita bills itself as a Chinese Food restaurant with Mexican seafood. There is seating inside and out, and the menu offers favorites like wonton soup, spring rolls, and assorted rice or noodle dishes with meats or seafood.

We get to La Chinita at least once a season while we’re in Melaque and actually had Li cater to a group at our apartment complex on one occasion. On our latest visit, Li did up some of our favorites – spring rolls, wonton soup, beef & broccoli, and a mixed fried rice. They also serve adult beverages but we were taking a day off from the booze.

The spring rolls were fresh and crisp with good pork and veggie filler. The soup was actually a bowl, not a cup, and I detected an unusual but nice spice in the wontons. The beef was tender and the broccoli and carrots super fresh. We found generous portions of meat and shrimp in our fried rice. Everything was hot and came quite quickly. The food was simply delicious.

Cathryn and I both give La Chinta an 8 out of 10, our only complaint would be where the restaurant is situated, close to the highway, where we ate less than a meter from our parked car.