Taco Go Offers Up Quesabirria, Carnitas and Food Truck Vibes
When I was stranded in the Southwestern US in 2020 due to Covid, taco trucks and stands were the place to go for quick, socially distanced comfort food.
Of course, even before Covid, taco shops were always the region’s localized fast food option, with the ability to nosh on tacos at the stand – seating was often available – in your car, office, or wherever you wanted.
While there aren’t any taco trucks or stands here in Beijing – oh how I miss them so – the capital is blessed with a great many taco and Mexican food options. That being said, there’s only one place that mimicks that taco stand feel, even if it’s in the center of a mall: Taco Go.
Opened in June of last year in the 3.3 Shopping Center close to Taikooli and Nali Patio, it’s got the taco stand vibes right. The restaurant space is open, as if it’s a food court, with seating surrounded by light tan walls and fake cactuses, all centered around the star of the show, the stand.
The stand itself is red, silver, and streamlined, made to look like a trailer, complete with a flat top grill and all the makings of a proper food truck.
The design of the restaurant has since made it a wanghong foodie hot spot, with young Chinese going mostly for photo ops. Whether or not they pay attention to the food itself is another story, but that’s the only reason I’m going.
Tacos here are cooked up on the flat top, but they’ve also made new additions like soft street tacos and burritos.
In my opinion, these tacos can give Beijing’s many taco purveyors a run for their money – for their grilled varieties, there’s beef tongue (RMB 26) and chicken (RMB 26), while the carnitas tacos (RMB 28 for pork rib meat, RMB 25 for plain) are done up like al pastor with pineapple pieces thrown in and are filled to the brim with meat.
But perhaps the one addition that brings it all the more closer to what I got used to back home is their quesabirria tacos (RMB 28). Quesabirria is actually a hybrid, a cross between a quesadilla and birria tacos – tacos filled with stewed beef.
In this case, Taco Go’s quesabirria meat of choice is tender beef cheek. What sends it all home, though, is having it alongside a cup of birria soup (RMB 8, or RMB 53 for the taco and soup combo) – made with veggies, beef, and pasole in a tomato soup base.
Go for the combo to get the full quesabirria experience, dipping the taco back into the stew from whence its meaty interior was born.
Taco Go is a nice little gem in the capital’s Mexican food scene. Here, on point tacos, interesting venue design, and good prices combine for a nostalgic comfort food trip that brings me back home each time I take a bite.
Taco Go
5001, 5F, 3.3 Shopping Center, Sanlitun Road, Chaoyang District
朝阳区三里屯路33大厦5层5001
READ: Hutong Hunter: Hutong'er Offers Up Fresh Pies From New Andingmen Location
Images: Vincent R. Vinci, Dianping (users 囧子 and 小麦若叶)
