New Bracebridge restaurant offers truly authentic Mexican food

The Hiram and Taylor area of Bracebridge is quickly becoming Muskoka’s go-to eclectic cuisine corner.

In just a few short years, this small section of downtown Bracebridge has added a market, a butcher shop, a bakery and now an authentic Mexican restaurant and an exciting new tapas restaurant and gastropub.

Launched on Canada Day Playa Cabana immediately began generating buzz around the community for its intimate atmosphere and eclectic menu. Building on that success, the Mas Playas restaurant group (which owns Playa Cabana) decided to launch Taberna Social Tap Room and Gastropub last month.

“The response has been incredible so far,” says Sandra Axelsson of Mas Playas. “This is really a passion project for our founder Dave Sidhu. He’s been in the kitchen essentially every day since we opened.”

Both restaurants rely heavily on local experience, with chef April Dixon working on culinary creations and experienced local server Siomonn Johann behind the bar.

“We really wanted this to be a tapas bar for locals, because what we had been hearing is that there really wasn’t an experience like this in Muskoka,” says Axelsson. 

In addition to the local talent on site, Mas Playas is also relying on the surrounding area to help provide ingredients for their culinary creations.

“We’re doing a lot of work with local farmers to help collect fresh ingredients,” says Axelsson. Breads from the nearby bakery, fresh cuts of meat from the butcher adjacent to the restaurant and even fresh mushrooms collected from a local farm to make mushroom tacos, Mas Playas has made their new restaurants truly local initiatives from top to bottom.

Mas Playas’ founder Dave Sidhu says he’s received a warm welcome since coming to the area and the local restaurants have hit the ground running. Being at the Bracebridge locations virtually every day has given him a chance to truly immerse himself in the community and get to know the people and places that make the region what it is.

“We’ve really been welcomed with open arms since we started,” he says. 

The overall philosophy for all of the restaurants is centred around the name Mas Playas, which literally translates to “more beaches”. 

“We like to think of each of our endeavours as a blank canvas of exploration – the same way you might look at the discovery of a new beach,” says Sidhu. “All of our venues were born out of a desire to take on the challenge of building an exciting and original venue as well as the challenge of creating a new and interesting menu, and I think that’s what we’ve been able to accomplish in Muskoka.”

This is a sponsored profile paid for by the featured advertiser.

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