Do you know that riding the cue (not to mess it up) has an international day?
Yes, it is a literary license, but it is that this dish - today an
emblem of Mexico
- that even
Moctezuma
used as a spoon to hold food (historians,
dixit
) celebrates its International Day on Wednesday 31st.
Honors are not lacking to enjoy such recognition, since few elaborations are so versatile.
Everything - Mexicans know it well - is susceptible to becoming a taco, you only need three things:
tortilla
(corn, almost always),
filling
(from the most humble products to haute cuisine) and
sauces
.
Don't believe it?
Well, take a look at these eight restaurants in Madrid where every day they assemble the taco with a lot of art.
Grilled sweet potato taco, in Barracuda MX.
Barracuda MX
We started with the great representative of Mexican signature cuisine in Madrid: Roberto Ruiz.
The Chilango has just inaugurated -one step from the Retiro- this restaurant, whose proposal has
its common thread
in the gastronomy of
the Pacific coast
and in which, of course, there is no shortage of tacos.
The offer includes six different types (with two pieces each):
octopus shaken on the coals
;
beef tongue;
grilled sweet potato with jalapeño kefir, crunchy kale and Mexican seeds;
of duck carnitas;
the black shepherd of Iberian pig
and doubled of txangurro.
All, on a
continent
that is
pure crafts
: corn tortillas made every day - with a fermentation and
nixtamalization
technique
that makes them more digestive and gives them a special flavor - in the middle of the room.
Price: from 12.20 to 19.80 euros.
Address:
Valenzuela, 7. Telephone: 91 108 89 99.
And, if you want to stay in the MX universe and its tacos, write down two more clues:
MXRR,
Roberto Ruiz's delivery, and
Salón Cascabel
, the Mexican snack located in the Gourmet Experience of El Corte Inglés (Serrano, 52).
The comal de Doce Chiles.
Twelve chili peppers
The comal,
that traditional iron plate used in Mexico for cooking, is the absolute king of this stall in the
Mercado de la Paz
.
In it, every day, tortillas, gorditas and other snacks are made by hand, which are kneaded and filled with patience and care.
The taquera proposal focuses on
stewed tacos
-cochinita pibil, chicken tinga or with mole oxaqueño with chicken (3.50 euros per unit; 10 euros, three) - and al
pastor
(3.75 euros; 10.50, three ).
And, for those who still want more, quesadillas, red and green chilaquiles, guacamole with its perceptive tortilla chips and refried beans.
Address
: Ayala, 28. Telephone: 91 449 70 43.
Mix of tacos, in Iztac.
Iztac
In this establishment, whose name comes from a tragic love story set in the
Aztec empire
, there is much more than tacos, but the truth is that its taco proposal can lead to a love affair with a happy ending.
There are four dishes on the menu right now: Arabic (
Iberian lizard marinated
with aromatic herbs, wheat tortilla, chipotle sauce and roasted onions);
Rosarito Style
(shrimp in black tempura of dried chiles with red cabbage, dried chipotle mayonnaise and avocado);
Mayan fish
taco
(sea bass marinated in achiote grilled in corn tortilla, refried beans, xnipec sauce of plantain and avocado) and
duck carnitas
(the bird confit in orange juice and aromatic herbs, corn tortilla, onion and cilantro).
Price: from 7 euros.
Address:
Plaza de la República del Ecuador, 4. Telephone: 91 009 02 35.
Grilled octopus taco with three chili adobo, in Mawey.
Mawey Taco Bar
The restaurant run by the restless chefs Fernando Carrasco and Julián Barros is one of the leading Mexicans in the capital.
And, although in this house it is always the
international day of the taco
, they join the celebrations of March 31 with a great signature dish: the
Yucatecan octopus taco
with three chilli marinade, which can be enjoyed all week (5 , 90 euros per unit).
And, to continue with the festivities, on
Thursday the 1st
a
tasting menu
will be served
(from 7 pm to 11 pm) with a starter;
five tacos, some stars of this dining room (governor -the
number
1- in blue corn tortilla; Tikin Xic with butterfish; al pastor; cochinita pibil and the aforementioned octopus taco), and three cocktails made with Herradura tequila.
Menu price: 38 euros.
Address:
Olid, 6. Telephone: 91 011 71 03. / San Bernardo, 5. Telephone: 91 878 52 01.
One of Regañadientes's tacos.
Reluctantly
In this place, which opened its doors less than two years ago in the heart
of the Salesas neighborhood
, what is king is market cuisine.
Abel Martellotti (an experienced chef who worked at Zuberoa and Goizeko Wellington) is committed to a
modern and urban Mexican cuisine
, based on the product, and in which, of course, there is no shortage of tacos.
The tables of this space -inspired by Mexican cantinas, with a marble floor and bar- pass a remarkable taco proposal: from the classics of chicken tinga, cochinita pibil and Baja California to
more personal tacos
, such as
El madrileño
(battered squid ,
txipis
in its ink and black garlic aioli), the
Pekín-Mex
(duck, plum sauce, pasilla chili, cucumber and spring onion), the crunchy suckling pig and chilanga sauce, the sirloin tips and the zucchini with corn and cheese (each taco has two pieces).
Prices: from 8 to 14 euros.
Address:
Almirante, 24. Telephone: 91 819 02 28.
Taco al pastor, in Santita. © Santita
Santita
Traditional
Ibero-Mexican
cuisine
.
That is the gastronomic proposal of this restaurant of the Con Fuego Group that opened its doors in 2019 and where
coal is one of its protagonists
, also in its tacos.
Now in their menu they have
seven charcoal dishes
: Canarian sirloin, cod with garlic, Rosarito, Pastor
Santita
, Iberian chingón, cochinita pibil and
chicken chidos
(from 3.90 to 4.90 euros).
And, for those who do not want to move from the sofa, their delivery offers the now famous
Taqueos de Santita
, different tacos accompanied by their perceptive corn tortillas, sauces, condiments and rice with beans.
Address:
Fuencarral, 74. Telephone: 91 496 53 70 / Virgen de los Peligros, 10. Telephone: 91 445 88 28.
One of the classic varieties of Tacos Don Manolito.
Tacos Don Manolito
With this name there are few doubts about the proposal of this renowned Mexican chain that landed in Madrid less than a year ago.
Authentic flavors, traditional recipes and
secret sauces
are the arguments used in Tacos Don Manolito, whose menu has about
20 taco varieties
, which change according to the season.
The offer ranges from classics such as al pastor to new ones, such as the young bull (with green pork rinds, campechano, chopped onion, cuaresmeño chili ...), although its
hits
are the
Campechano
(with jerky, longaniza, pork rinds, with or without Don Manolito sauce. 3 euros) and
Costeño
(jerky, longaniza, pork rinds, cuaresmeño chili and chopped onion. 3.20 euros).
Address:
Ponzano, 9. Telephone: 91 251 69 72.
Taco Baja California, in Tepic.
Tepic
Chef Sara Herrera flees Aztec clichés.
And the thing is that his restaurant is not a typical Mexican.
Its cuisine is rooted in tradition, without fusions and made with authentic products (many difficult to find in Madrid).
Authenticity that we also find in their tacos -some true classics of this dining room-, such as the
shepherd shrimp
and the
cochinita pibil.
The first is prepared with marinated meat marinated at home with a "secret" sauce and filleted by hand.
Afterwards,
the fillets are placed on the top
, where they are cooked slowly and acquire a unique smoky flavor, and a pineapple is placed on top of them, which, with the heat, releases its juice and sweetness.
The second taco also follows a traditional process: the meat is
marinated overnight
(in a mixture of achiote, orange, vinegar, spices and oregano), then simmered in the oven and, at the end, presented in a
banana leaf with red
onion pickled with vinegar and coriander and, apart, refried beans.
But there is more, chicken tinga, mushroom, sirloin, Governor, Baja California, carnitas ... Price: from 18 euros.
Address:
Ayala, 14. Telephone: 91 522 08 50.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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