A Sneak Peek at All the Amazing Taco Vendors You'll Find at Taco Fest (Thus Far!)

Katie Coy, Managing Editor | May 11, 2023 9:55 am | Add a comment | 318 reads

We’re just over a week away from our first-ever Taco Fest and to get your mouths salivating here is a little sneak peek of just some of the vendors who'll be coming out (thus far). 

On our quest to find the best tacos in town to serve at the fest, we searched far and wide to find not only traditional taco places but other vendors who serve tacos or even places that serve Chinese tacoesque creations. Thus, we’ve grouped our vendors into four different categories: Classic Taco Places, “Hidden” Taco Places, Exclusive to Taco Fest, and “Tacoesque” Places.

Let’s take a look at who we have for each category, but remember this is just a selection of who will be there, and next week we’ll be releasing a detailed list of all the vendors and what specific tacos they’ll be serving at Taco Fest. 

Classic Taco Places

  • El Mercadito
  • HFFOUSA TACO
  • Las Musas
  • Morrow
  • Q Mex
  • Taco Bell
  • TacoGo
  • Taco GPT
  • The Taco Bar

It wouldn’t be a Taco Fest without some of Beijing’s finest taco specialists, so we’ve got a whole bunch of Mexican and taco restaurants joining us at the festival. We’re sure you’ll recognize many of the places on this list as quite a few of them are famous in the capital for their tacos, but maybe there are also a few unfamiliar names.

From these taco stalwarts, you can expect everything from classic tacos like Al Pastor or Fish Tacos to more unusual fusion offerings and perhaps a few tacos crafted specially for the festival. 

“Hidden” Taco Places

  • Circle Urban
  • GOLDEN HILL BREWING
  • Great Leap Brewing
  • Nashville
  • SUSU
  • Tsingdao 1903 青岛1903
  • VINN

This category is the places we found that aren't Mexican or taco restaurants per se, but still have tacos on their menu -- and a few on the list may come as a surprise! For instance, did you know that Great Leap added Beef Tacos to their menu back in April this year? Or that Vietnamese restaurant SUSU does some banging fusion tacos? 

Perhaps there are also a few restaurants on this list that you’ve never heard of like Circle Urban which quietly opened up in July last year. Well in any case, you’ll be able to try tacos from all the places below at the festival and maybe you’ll even find yourself a new favorite taco in town!

Exclusive to Taco Fest

  • Grassroots
  • Tacolicious

We are also really excited to have not one, but two exclusive taco vendors at the festival that you won’t be able to find in Beijing again, so if that isn’t motivation to join the fest we don’t know what is! 

First up we have Tacolicious, who are joining us all the way from Shanghai. A joint venture from Saira Shahzad and Thijs Oomens of BYFO (Burn Your Face Off) Hot Sauce, Adrian Wall of Joe's Pizza, and Logan Brouse of Logan's Punch, Tacolicious opened back in 2018 and has become one of Shanghai’s most loved taco spots. 

At Tacolicious, they not only serve up traditional tacos like Steak Asado, Fried Fish, or Birria but also a whole range of Chinese fusion tacos like Mapo Tofu and Szechuan Twice Cooked Pork. We, for one, are super stoked to see what incredible taco creations they’ll be bringing to the capital for Taco Fest. 

Our other exclusive vendor is plant-based creamery Grassroots. They’ve created a taco menu specifically for Taco Fest that will only be available over the course of the festival, so this is a one-time-only opportunity to try their delicious taco offerings!

“Tacoesque” Places

  • Furongji
  • Zhengde Chunbing (正德春饼)

Rather than just keeping to tacos in the traditional sense we also wanted to explore the idea of a “Chinese taco” and found two offerings that come damn close: Chunbing (spring pancakes) and Gua Bao (pork buns). 

When you think about it, chunbing are pretty similar to a taco: it has meat or vegetables, sauce, and normally some kind of garnish, it’s just got a different wrapping and is also folded a different way. Serving up their amazing chunbing at the festival will be Zhengde Chunbing (正德春饼). 

If you’ve ever seen a gua bao, it’s undeniable that there is a taco-like look to them. A flat steamed bun folded in half normally filled with braised pork belly, fermented vegetables, and some garnish like peanuts or coriander they look somewhere between a taco and a burger. At the festival, Furongji will have two different types of gua bao on offer for you to enjoy.

Now, remember this is just a selection of the vendors we have attending the festival and we will be releasing a full vendor list next week with all the juicy details of the delicious tacos they’ll be serving up.

If you’re a taco purveyor we can still squeeze in a couple of vendors, so if you want to jump in on what is going to be one of the hottest food festivals of the year contact Irene Yan via email: ireneyan@truerun.com for booth information, or ask TBJButler (WeChat ID:TBJButler) to connect you with her.

And of course, don’t forget to buy your Early Bird Ticket now and secure yourself some of our great taco-themed merch!

READ: Get Early Bird Tickets for Our First Ever Taco Fest Now!

Images: Unsplash, Canva, the Beijingers