35 terms, defined.

A slow-cooked Mexican stew of beef or lamb braised in dried Mexican chiles (guajillo, ancho, chile de árbol) with garlic, cumin, oregano and bay. Traditionally served with corn tortillas, diced onion, cilantro, lime, and a side of consomé for dipping.

At Querida. Querida slow-cooks the birria for six hours. The Plato de Birria is the most-ordered dish on the menu.

Plato de Birria editorial →

The deeply-spiced cooking broth from braising birria. Served separately in a small cup with a wedge of lime — drunk straight, or used to dip the tortillas.

At Querida. At Querida, the consomé arrives in its own cup with the Plato de Birria. Most guests do both: drink some, dip the rest.

A Querida original — a 12-inch quesabirria made with a flour-corn hybrid tortilla, melted oaxaca cheese, slow-cooked birria, then crisp-griddled. Served with consomé for dipping.

At Querida. The cheese pull went viral on TikTok. Most-shared post on @querida.dxb.

Tacazo editorial →

Beef grilled over an open flame, typically served sliced and folded into a corn tortilla as a taco. The northern Mexican (Coahuila, Nuevo León) styles use mesquite wood for the smoke.

At Querida. Querida's Asada de Monclova is mesquite-grilled the Coahuila way.

Asada de Monclova editorial →

Mexico City–style street tacos: pork (or in halal kitchens, beef) marinated with chiles, achiote and pineapple, slow-roasted on a vertical spit. Pineapple's enzyme tenderises and caramelises the meat's edges.

At Querida. Querida uses halal beef instead of pork — same marinade, same caramel, same flavour profile.

Tacos al Pastor editorial →

Pueblan-style smoky chicken: poached and shredded chicken simmered in chipotle adobo with tomato, onion and bay. A staple home-style filling for tostadas, sopes and tacos.

At Querida. Querida's Tinga Tacos use halal poached chicken in housemade chipotle adobo.

Tinga Tacos editorial →

A complex Mexican sauce built from dried chiles, nuts, seeds, spices, and (in the negro variant) Mexican chocolate. Classic moles can use 20+ ingredients and cook for hours. Mole poblano is the most famous version.

At Querida. Querida's Enchiladas con Mole use a from-scratch mole — not a paste — slow-built over the course of a morning.

Corn dough — the foundation of tortillas, tamales, sopes, gorditas and most Mexican corn-based dishes. Made by nixtamalising dried corn (cooking it with calcium hydroxide, then grinding wet).

At Querida. Querida presses fresh masa each morning for the housemade corn tortillas.

A thin, unleavened flatbread made from corn (corn tortilla) or wheat (flour tortilla). Served warm and used to wrap fillings (taco), folded and fried (taquito), or topped (tostada).

At Querida. Querida presses corn tortillas in a 4-inch press, cooks them on a flat-top comal, then stacks them under a cloth.

A flat, smooth griddle — traditionally a circle of unglazed clay, today often cast iron — used to toast tortillas, char chiles, sear meats, and dry-toast spices in Mexican kitchens.

A bright green salsa made from tomatillos (green husk-tomatoes), green chiles (jalapeño or serrano), garlic, cilantro, onion and lime. Served raw or cooked. The acidic counterpoint to richer Mexican dishes.

At Querida. Querida's salsa verde is made fresh daily and sits on every table alongside the salsa roja and mango habanero.

A red salsa made from ripe tomatoes (or tomatillos and dried red chiles), garlic, onion, and salt. Less acidic than verde, with deeper roasted flavours. Smokier when made with charred ingredients.

A Mexican condiment-syrup blending pickled fruit, chile and lime — sweet, salty, sour and spicy at once. Drizzled over fresh fruit, frozen treats, or rimmed on glass edges.

At Querida. Querida's Mangonada is built around chamoy — drizzled through the mango sorbet, rimmed on the glass.

Mangonada editorial →

A Mexican spice blend of dried chile, lime and salt. Used to dust fresh fruit, popcorn, chamoy drinks, and the rims of mocktail glasses. Sharp, citric, with a slow chile burn.

A Mexican summer dessert: a glass of mango sorbet (or chamoy-blended slush) layered with fresh diced mango, chamoy, tajín and a tamarind candy straw. Sweet, salty, sour, spicy, cold — all at once.

At Querida. Querida's Mangonada is the cult dessert — guests describe it as "the best Mexican summer dessert in Dubai."

Mangonada editorial →

A Mesoamerican dish of corn masa and a savoury or sweet filling, wrapped in a corn husk (or banana leaf in southern Mexico) and steamed. Predates the Aztec empire — one of Mexico's oldest dishes.

At Querida. Querida's Tamales de Asada are hand-folded by Mama Lalis each morning, steamed for two hours.

Tamales de Asada editorial →

A Mexican dish of cheese (and optional fillings) folded into a tortilla, then griddled until the cheese melts. Mexico City quesadillas often include chorizo, mushrooms, or rajas.

At Querida. Querida's 12-inch quesadilla — flour-corn hybrid tortilla, oaxaca + mozzarella cheese pull — went viral on Instagram.

Quesadilla editorial →

Mexican corn salad: kernels of fresh corn cooked in butter, served in a paper cup with mayonnaise, cotija cheese, lime juice, chile powder, and chopped epazote (a Mexican herb).

At Querida. Querida's Mexican Corn Salad is the off-the-cob version of the famous elote (corn-on-the-cob street snack).

Mexican Corn Salad editorial →

A salty, crumbly aged cow's-milk cheese from Cotija, Michoacán. Used grated over enchiladas, esquites, beans and tostadas. Sometimes called "the parmesan of Mexico."

A semi-soft, stringy white Mexican cheese from Oaxaca state — the closest cousin to mozzarella. Used in quesadillas, queso fundido, and stuffed peppers (chiles rellenos) for its melt and pull.

At Querida. Querida's 12-inch quesadilla blends oaxaca and mozzarella for the perfect cheese pull.

A non-alcoholic Mexican fruit-water — fresh fruit (or flowers, or rice) blended with water and sweetened lightly. Served chilled. Common varieties: horchata (rice-cinnamon), jamaica (hibiscus), tamarindo (tamarind).

At Querida. Querida rotates three flavours daily: horchata, jamaica, tamarindo.

Agua Fresca editorial →

A creamy Mexican rice-water sweetened with cinnamon, vanilla and condensed milk. Mexican horchata uses long-grain white rice; the Spanish original uses tigernuts.

Star-extruded fried dough sticks, dusted in cinnamon-sugar, traditionally served with a cup of thick Mexican drinking chocolate for dipping. A Spanish import that became a Mexican breakfast and dessert staple.

At Querida. Querida's Churros con Chocolate are fresh-fried to order — hot, sugared, served with thick Mexican chocolate.

Churros con Chocolate editorial →

Mexican breakfast staple: stale corn tortillas cut into triangles, fried until crisp, then simmered briefly in salsa (verde or roja). Topped with cream, cheese, onion, and often a fried egg.

At Querida. Querida's Chilaquiles Verdes are a Sunday brunch fixture.

Chilaquiles editorial →

A traditional Mexican folk-music ensemble — typically violin, vihuela, guitarrón, guitar and trumpet — performing classical Mexican song forms (son, ranchera, bolero) in distinctive charro suits.

At Querida. Querida hosts mariachi nights periodically — three-piece bands play between tables.

Mariachi Night Dubai →

A smoke-dried jalapeño pepper. The drying process concentrates the smoke flavour and tames raw heat into a deep, brown smokiness. Often canned in adobo (a vinegary tomato-chile sauce).

A Mexican (and Spanish, and Filipino) marinade-sauce of vinegar, chiles, garlic, herbs and oil. The Mexican version is built around dried chiles like ancho, guajillo and chipotle.

Meat — typically pork, or in halal kitchens, beef — marinated in chile-vinegar adobo, then grilled or roasted. Closely related to al pastor but without the pineapple.

Strips of roasted poblano peppers, often served in a cream sauce ("rajas con crema") or used as a quesadilla / tamal filling. Mildly spicy, deeply roasted.

A small five-string Mexican guitar with a deep convex back. Provides the rhythm in mariachi music — its high, bright sound cuts through the trumpet and guitarrón.

A Yucatán slow-roasted dish — traditionally pork (in halal kitchens, lamb or beef) marinated in achiote paste and bitter orange juice, wrapped in banana leaves, and roasted underground in a pib (earth oven).

A traditional Mexican stew of hominy (large nixtamalised corn kernels) and meat — typically lamb, chicken, or beef in halal kitchens. Topped with shredded cabbage, radish, oregano, lime and chile. Three classic colours: blanco, rojo, verde.

A small thick masa cake with pinched-up edges, fried lightly and topped with refried beans, meat, lettuce, salsa, crema and queso fresco. Like a Mexican mini-pizza, smaller than a tostada and softer than a tortilla.

A Mexican home-style ground meat hash — beef simmered with diced potato, carrot, peas, tomato, garlic, onion, and chiles. Used as a filling for empanadas, tamales, chiles rellenos, and stuffed peppers.

A Sinaloa-style Mexican raw-shrimp dish — shrimp "cooked" in lime juice (like ceviche) with a bright cucumber-jalapeño-cilantro chile water. Served immediately, ice-cold.