Restaurant Review: Taco Love

By Betty Richardson, April 15, 2015

The Place

We’re starved of good Mexican food in this city, save for the oft valiant efforts of Luchador on Yongkang Lu and Dos Locos in the Kerry Center. How great, then, that longterm F&B personality Eduardo Vargas has channeled his culinary capabilities into a taqueria selling affordable and vibrant tacos, enchiladas, ribs and more.

Sounds great. One major snag is the location, it’s on Nanjing Dong Lu in a place called ‘Mosaic Mall’ (you might know it from the H&M on the ground floor) and tucked away on the top floor far, far away from any passing foot traffic. Not to mention, the vast majority of people strolling the streets below are locals or Chinese tourists, not exactly your target audience for Mexican food.

The Food

Tacos served on rustic handmade corn tortillas were very good and with some authentic flavor combinations, such as Baja-style fish tacos with lemon crema and salsa verde and taco de lengua (veal tongue with avocado, salsa and spicy sauce (both RMB30 for one or RMB85 for three) or Eduardo’s pork tacos with pineapple salsa and purple slaw (RMB25/70).

A fantastic little dish for sharing is the tamarind-glazed ribs with pineapple salsa (below, RMB48). Tasty, deep-fried and definitely not suited for the diet-conscience, we’re getting hungry even just writing about these.

And then the picadillo stuffed jalapeños with cheese and ground pork arrived (below, RMB28). Crisply battered and packed with flavor, these proved to be the undisputed highlight of the meal. A return-worthy delicacy that we've not found anywhere else in this city.

But wait, there was more. A steaming plate of seabass adobo Oaxaca-style (below) arrived with rice, refried beans and slaw arrived (RMB88). The smoky flavor of the fish was a fantastic, and a solid meal for well under RMB100. Next time we're coming back for the cheesy beef quesadilla and Mexican chocolate flan (both RMB38).

The vibe

Being relegated to such a random location, naturally the vibe here isn’t as buzzing and vibrant as you might expect a Mexican taqueria to be. But perhaps that’s no bad thing, staff were attentive and helpful in pointing out the lunch sets (RMB48-68 including main, nachos, soup and dessert)

Value for money

Exciting flavors, good-sized portions and a chilled out (if extremely colorful) atmosphere make for a returnable restaurant, and if it were in a better location we can imagine Taco Love would already be teeming with people. As for now, the place is all yours.